Chicago Cubs Lineup (8/2/24): Happ Leads Off, Bellinger DH, Assad Starting
The Cubs debuted their new Motorola sleeve patches yesterday, but not every player is sporting them in the same place. While most have a patch on their non-dominant arm so as to maximize air time, today’s starting pitcher will sport it on the seat of his pants. You know, because then it’s an ass ad.
Javier Assad has been decidedly mid over the last couple of months spanning his IL stint with a forearm issue, but he’s done it in different ways. Even though he held the Brewers scoreless in his outing on July 22, he walked six batters over just 3.1 innings. He tossed six innings of three-run ball against the Royals last time out and probably needs to do something similar this afternoon.
Looks like Craig Counsell has settled into a new lineup, with Ian Happ up top in left and Michael Busch following at first. Seiya Suzuki is in right, Cody Bellinger is the DH, Isaac Paredes is at third, and Nico Hoerner is at second. Dansby Swanson takes short, Pete Crow-Armstrong is in center, and Christian Bethancourt does the catching.
They’re facing Erick Fedde, who is making his first Cardinals start since a miraculous run that saw him post a winning record with the White Sox. I know most of us have come around to the idea that pitcher wins and losses mean little, but it’s mind-blowing that this dude was 7-4 for a team that was more than 50 games below .500 during his time with them.
Fedde started against the Cubs back in June and got a no-decision after giving up three earned runs over five innings in a game the Sox eventually lost. He struck out seven with no walks and left with a lead, but Mike Tauchman hit a walk-off homer because his wife went to see her OB/GYN that morning.
The Cubs will see a lot of cutters and sinkers today, with the former working up in the zone and getting just a little movement to the glove side. That pitch sits around 90 and the sinker comes in at 93 with a heat map that lights up all over the zone. Fedde’s sweeper has been really good as well, it’s just more of a soft-contact pitch than a wipeout whiff-getter.
Batters perceive his velocity as being a little greater than it is due to his extension, which helps him to limit hard contact despite throwing a lot of strikes without much raw stuff. Fedde doesn’t walk many batters and he’s been able to limit damage by getting double plays and other outs via contact, so the Cubs need to make their hits count in this one. To wit, he’s allowed just one unearned run this season.
I’d like to see them get aggressive on the bases for exactly that reason, especially since he’s now playing for a much more competent organization. First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.
Here is today’s #Cubs starting lineup vs. St. Louis!
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— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 2, 2024