CHICAGO — For the first time in a
month
Austin
Meadows Jersey , the Chicago Cubs will play after an off-day as they head
into the stretch run of what they hope leads to their third straight National
League Central Division title.With their magic number at eight to clinch, the
Cubs begin a three-game series against their crosstown rival Chicago White Sox
on Friday fresh off a difficult slate during which they played 29 games in 30
days. Over that time, the Cubs won 18 of the 29 games and will return to action
after catching their breath Thursday. They will attempt to use this weekend’s
three-game set at Guaranteed Rate Field to hold off the second-place Milwaukee
Brewers.As much as his team may be fatigued, manager Joe Maddon liked how the
Cubs closed off the long string of games. Despite a 9-0 loss to the Arizona
Diamondbacks on Wednesday, the Cubs enter Friday’s game having won five of their
last seven games, which closed out a successful stretch that Maddon was pleased
with overall.Article continues below ...“That’s a pretty good stretch right
there,” Maddon told reporters Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune. “What
was it? Eighteen and 11 during that stretch, something like that? Sign me up …
We’ll take that every day of the week.“I’m really pleased and happy and proud
how the guys have handled this.”Jose Quintana will start for the Cubs on Friday
as he faces his former team. Quintana (13-10, 3.95 ERA) had gone five starts
without a loss before he suffered a setback in his last outing, when he allowed
two runs over five innings against the Cincinnati Reds and struck out seven.
Quintana, who spent 5 1/2 seasons with the White Sox before joining the Cubs at
midseason last year, will start against the White Sox for the first time.The
White Sox will face the Cubs following an extra-inning 5-4 victory over the
Cleveland Indians on Thursday. That snapped a three-game losing streak as Matt
Davidson delivered a 10th-inning RBI single. The White Sox dropped two of three
games against the Cubs in May, but with some success this weekend, the White Sox
could provide some assistance to the Brewers in their attempt to chase down the
Cubs.The White Sox could get first baseman Jose Abreu back after he missed the
three-game series against the Indians when he was hospitalized with an ingrown
hair infection in his right thigh. Abreu has also been sidelined recently for
three weeks following testicular torsion surgery. Manager Rick Renteria didn’t
rule Abreu out against the Cubs.“Been a tough year (for Abreu),” Renteria told
reporters this week. “He’s been dealing with it as best as he possibly
can.”Reynaldo Lopez will start the series for the White Sox. Lopez (6-9, 4.05
ERA) has won two of his previous four
starts
Colin
Moran Jersey , including in his most recent outing when he threw seven
scoreless innings against the Baltimore Orioles. Lopez has surrendered only one
earned run in three September starts and will look to keep rolling Friday
against the Cubs, who he will face for the first time in his career. Renteria
has been impressed with Lopez as he winds down his first full big-league season,
which has included 175 2/3 innings. He is 2-0 with a 2.85 ERA over his last nine
starts.“He’s showing you he’s got endurance, strength (and) he’s gaining
understanding of the situation, how to work and manage the situations, which is
really big,” Renteria told reporters after Lopez’s last start. “It speaks a lot
for him because he continues to work and grind and learn.” NEW YORK (AP) — Good
but unexceptional veterans must realize teams find them less valuable in the age
of analytics, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred maintained ahead of season
openers.Players have expressed anger following the second straight slow
free-agent market, one that saw record deals for top stars and plummeting prices
for many journeymen.“Obviously what the clubs are saying, the Bryce Harpers, the
Mike Trouts, these free agents, Manny Machado, they have tremendous value,”
Manfred said Wednesday.Then he cited the example of a 33-year-old player with a
1 Wins Above Replacement last season.“That price has been disappointing for some
players, but that’s the market,” Manfred said. “What we’ve said to the players
is
look
David
Freese Jersey , if that’s your issue, you’ve got to tell us. That’s a
distribution issue. That means some guys are getting too much. Some guys are
getting too little. We’re largely agnostic on that one.”Manfred was interviewed
by New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay during a breakfast at The Paley
Center for Media. Manfred said front offices have transformed since the days
when general managers made decisions based on numbers in the Baseball
Register.“Now all these clubs have algorithms that you pump in how they perform,
what their ages (are), and it tells you on a predictive basis what you’re going
to get from that player,” Manfred said. “Players will say to you, I’ve served my
six years, right? I’m entitled in free agency to get a multiyear contract at X
level. The fact of the matter is, what the club is saying is I’m not paying for
you for what you did the last six years, I want to see what I’m going to get
going forward. You’re not going to be able to change that.”Players have since
1976 been able to become free agents after six years of major league service.
They are eligible for salary arbitration after about 2 2/3 years of service.“The
single biggest feature of our economic system that allows small-market clubs to
compete is the six-year reserve period,” Manfred said. “With the exception of
salary arbitration wins and losses, their cost is fairly predictable, right? So
that allows those small markets to compete. You start shaving those reserve
years, what’s happened in other sports, when they’ve moved down the free-agency
year, they’ve gone to a cap in order to preserve competitive balance. Our union
has always opposed to a cap.”Manfred rejects claims by the players’ association
that jettisoning veterans in favor of rebuilding is tantamount to not trying to
win.“Tanking is my least favorite word in the English language,” he said. “They
know analytically to go out and sign a $15 million a year free agent, that may
give them one or two more
wins
http://www.padresfanproshop.com/authentic-brad-hand-jersey ,
it’s just not worth the investment for those one or two wins. That player is not
going to make a difference. They’re better off taking that money holding on to
it and paying the group that they’re bringing along as they start to mature.”On
the offseason’s other big labor topic, Manfred remains intent on pushing ahead
with a rules change for 2020 that would require pitchers to face at least three
batters or end a half inning.“We think less pitching changes makes the game
shorter and forcing the pitcher to at least pitch to three increases the
likelihood that the hitter may have an outcome that produces action in the
game,” he said.Players refused to accept that change for 2019, but baseball’s
collective bargaining agreement gives management the right to unilaterally alter
playing rules with one year of advance notice. Manfred regrets that provision
was agreed to in the 1970s, believing it is difficult for teams to press ahead
with a proposal that was bargained over inconclusively.“It’s always a mistake
when you give up a fundamental management right, and it does create leverage for
the players in terms of what is a game going to look like,” he said.To speed the
pace of play, baseball plans to shorten inning breaks for the second straight
season.“Every time you have an inning break during a broadcast, it’s an
opportunity for the viewer to tune away and maybe not tune back,” he
said.Baseball also is using the independent Atlantic League for experiments,
such as increasing the distance from the mound to home plate to 62½ feet from 60
feet, 6 inches. When Kay suggested pitchers would get injured, Manfred quipped:
“That’s why we’re doing it in the Atlantic League.”
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