In defense of Jay Cutler (mostly)

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Room for two in Iowa?  And in defense of Jay Cutler (sort of)

In their most frustrating loss of the year, the Cubs lost to the Yankees 3-2. The Cubs lost when Brett Gardner hit a 3 run, 2 out, 2 strike homer off Hector Rondon. There are so many could have, would have and should haves in this game. Rondon hasn't been effective as a closer since he dealt with injuries in the latter part of the 2016 season. Wade Davis had pitched in three games in a row and was unavailable. I'm guessing Rondon is no longer the backup closer.

Missed it by this much

The Cubs two runs were the result of sole homers by Kris Bryant and Kyle Schawarber. Kyle Hendricks continues to be the Cubs most effective starter, going 5.1 scoreless innings. Brian Duensing added a scoreless1.2 innings and Pedro Strop added a scoreless 8^th. Then came the Hector Rondon fiasco.

He chose poorly

There are a lot of things to second guess about in the top of the 9^th, but pitch selection has to be near the top of the list. Calling for a slider down and in in that situation seems like an exceedingly poor choice. The wind was blowing from left to right and the pitch Rondon threw was the one that was most likely to be hit out by Gardener.

Willson Contreras has hit a rough patch. Is average is down to .225 and while he has a great arm, his defense is spotty. I also wonder about his pitch calling if he's the one that called for that slider to Gardener. Contreras has too much talent not to succeed, but right now Miguel Montero is the Cubs best catching option except when Jon Lester is on the mound. Lester's inability to throw to a base magnifies Montero's throwing issues.

Grimm outlook

Justin Grimm was sent down to Iowa. Grimm has been inconsistent this year. Grimm has a big curve ball that he has trouble throwing for strikes and a mid 90s fastball that is straight. Grimm needs to find the range with his curve ball to be effective.

Will this change?

Jay Cutler is apparently retiring to go into the Fox broadcasting booth. Critics will look for Jay to make a misstatement at a big moment in a game as well as getting a play by play guy fired.

Warning!  Trestman flashback!

Actually, while I wasn't a huge fan of Jay's, I think he was scapegoated by incompetent coaching and management. Marc Trestman was shameless in trying to pass the buck to Jay. Jay definitely could have done more to produce Bears wins but incompetence in other areas were bigger problems.

Somethings about Jay you can't question

I remember some criticizing Jay for missing the second half of the 2011 NFC championship game against the Packers, saying he lacked toughness. That strikes me as a crock. You can question his body language and judgment, but not his toughness. If the Bears had better leadership elsewhere, Cutler's flaws wouldn't have been as big an issue. Cutler has been called a coach killer, but honestly, in a lot of those cases it was a mercy killing.

I still think Cutler could help a number of NFL teams, but he'll probably feel better in the booth. I also think he might be surprisingly good in his new role. Nobody ever questioned his intelligence.

More next time.