Cubs 8, Twins 2: Joe Ryan Leaves Early, Lots of Things Fall Apart At Once

[chpettit19]

11 minutes ago, Aggies7 said:

Some probably refuse to talk about their injuries because they’re afraid they’ll automatically be out for weeks at a time, as precedent has shown. Royce made comments that seemed to indicate as much after his last injury.

Royce? As in the guy who just cracked 100 games played in what should be his 4th season? Not sure he's the guy to be pointing to when it comes to injury stuff. In fact, it wasn't his last injury he complained about not being back when he should be, it was the one before that. Meaning he got hurt again after having complained he should've been back sooner. So, yeah, not the best guy to be using in this argument.

And, again, Buxton and Correa both played through injuries much of last season. Many of us complain about them not ILing guys. Like Buxton right now. He's sat 3 games but he isn't "automatically out for weeks" just because he isn't 100%. Kepler has the same thing happen all the time. 

Like I said, I agree with the scheduled off days being less than ideal. But the idea that they just IL guys at every little ouchie is wrong. 

[wabene]

19 hours ago, Matthew Trueblood said:

Ehh. Even granting the premise that Richards isn't a long-relief guy, you don't bring in your long relief guy (especially an injury-prone one like Winder) to replace the injured starter. You go to a short reliever who should be able to get hot in a hurry, and then you warm the long reliever to come in the following inning. I thought RB managed the miserable situation fine; sometimes it's just a bad situation and can't be ameliorated.

Said it first and said it best. My thoughts exactly

[JD-TWINS]

3 hours ago, LA VIkes Fan said:

I think you're probably right here. Varland comes up as the 27th man who pitches the second game Friday. He then goes back to St. Paul. SWR goes Saturday, Festa Sunday, Lopez Monday. Ober goes Wednesday so that leaves Tuesday to cover. Too soon to bring Varland back so I think they probably go with either Winder or Dobank as an opener in a bullpen game.

The other wildcard here is  when they bring up Topa. You have to think that either Dobnak or Winder goes back to AAA to make room unless they decide to put Ryan on the IL. Based on the incredibly small sample size so far, the obvious choice to go back down is Dobnak.  My guess is they bring Topa up for the Cleveland series so my guess is that Ryan goes on the IL today or tomorrow for Topa and one of those two will be the opener next Tuesday. They're also going to have to make room for Okert soon. He has to come back from the bereavement list after seven days, which I think might be Tuesday the 13th but hopefully is Wednesday the 14th. Topa up today or tomorrow, then Okert for Winder or Dobnak next Tuesday or Wednesday, hopefully on Wednesday the 14th after Winder starts on the 13th. and then Varland up for whichever one of Winder or Dobnak is still on the roster so he can start next Friday the 16th.

The other potential wildcard is whether there's a waiver claim or recently released guy they can pick up to start Tuesday. That would probably mean a DFA of Dobnak, since no one will pick up his contract and he can then be reassigned to AAA. Fun times.

IMO, Varland is worth about 3 Dobnak’s! If they send Varland down after Friday, they can’t bring him back for 10 days - to me, that doesn’t work. Ryan will definitely go to IL - Hopefully, Topa for Dobnak as well for this weekend! Varland is now #5 guy in the rotation, for at least a month….,not going anywhere. I still think Matthews is a better risk than an opener approach on Tuesday.

[LA Vikes Fan]

3 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

IMO, Varland is worth about 3 Dobnak’s! If they send Varland down after Friday, they can’t bring him back for 10 days - to me, that doesn’t work. Ryan will definitely go to IL - Hopefully, Topa for Dobnak as well for this weekend! Varland is now #5 guy in the rotation, for at least a month….,not going anywhere. I still think Matthews is a better risk than an opener approach on Tuesday.

It's my understanding that if Varland comes up designated as the 27th man for a doubleheader they can send him back down and call him up without waiting 10 days. That's a "free" move. I agree, he is a better call than Dobnak now that we need a starter for Tuesday.  The problem is that if he pitches Friday he won't be ready to come back by Tuesday so we'll have to find someone else. 

I think maybe Matthews on a piggyback might be a good approach. Give Matthews basically one or two times through the order, then Winder, and hope you've covered 6 innings. I think Matthews going much more than once or certainly twice through could be a recipe for disaster once MLB hitters see his stuff. His AAA results show that he isn't a finished product yet. 

[USAFChief]

6 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

 If they send Varland down after Friday, they can’t bring him back for 10 days - to me, that doesn’t work. 

False.

A player brought up as the 27th man for a doubleheader isn't subject to the normal rules regarding recalls. He could be the 27th man tomorrow, returned the next day, and be recalled at any time.

https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/27th-man

[JD-TWINS]

20 hours ago, South Dakota Tom said:

So I get using Varland Friday with Ober as he’s 27th man.  Does Festa pitch Saturday then and SWR on Sunday?  Push Lopez back to Monday against the Royals….we still need a starter for Tuesday before getting back to regular rest (assuming, I guess, that Joe will miss a turn).  Votes?  Bullpen game seems like a stretch looking at the usage chart above.

The PLAN can’t be a bullpen “opener” game in the 6th game of 7 games in 6 days.

I cannot imagine it isn’t Matthews at this point on Tuesday. It’s too soon for him but they really don’t have any other plausible options that I’m aware of right now. Is there another starter at AAA that may be able to perform better than Dobnak? He’s not good enough to try on Tuesday!

[Danchat]

Looks like Ryan was right to leave the game, Grade 2 strain. Ugh.