Originally Posted by
50PoundHead
I think with the Royals it was different because Yost pretty much used everyone in a similar role to the regular season (Herrera, Davis, Holland in 2014 and Herrera, Madson, Davis in 2015). Some multiple inning appearances for those guys, but it was all pretty much late game.
Early use of the closer/set-up man has been advocated by the deep stat community for a long time and some are now subscribing to it. It has its strengths and weaknesses, but in a series of close games, you're always going to have to roll the dice at some point. I think the use of Miller and Chapman with five run leads borders on the ridiculous and that showed last night when they both showed signs of being worn down. I don't know what Rodon did to Maddon's dog to make room for himself in the doghouse. Cubs' acquisition of Montgomery hasn't been talked about enough as a key move at the deadline. Really helped the Cubs a lot. Cleveland could have used a proven LOOGY in their pen for the earlier high-leverage situations and preserved Miller. I think we are going to see a run on second-tier relievers at next year's deadline. Just my take.
As for Theo, very good GM and he took the long view with the Cubs. They were terrible early in his tenure, but he drafted well and made some solid international signings. He didn't make any stupid FA signings to look like was competing before the team was ready to compete. But while money isn't everything in the building of a team (although I don't know where the Cubs are without Lester), it's huge in maintaining a team. There will be some big bills coming due shortly and having financial resources at his disposal will help keep the core of this club together.