Do you even lift, Zom-bro?
The Cubs add to their pitching staff...no, not THAT pitching staff



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The Cubs infuriated many when they announced they were going to be adding to their analytics staff this offseason, but also firing scouts and not bothering to replace them. Nothing says flexing your financial muscle like cutting to add.
Rumors still persist that the Cubs are more likely to add to their pitching staff than their offense, and there are some aces (Corbin Burnes, for example) available but the Cubs would like to interest you in more of a Michael Soroka.
But yesterday, the Cubs did make a big addition to their pitching staff. Well, not the actual pitching staff, more like the pitching research and development staff.
They hired Tyler Zombro, perhaps best known as a promising Rays pitching prospect who took a line drive right off the dome during a minor league game, forgot nearly a week of his life and when he returned to the mound had too much nerve damage to ever be effective again.
While rehabbing various injuries he took an interest in using data and analytics and more of the things that sportswriters like to pretend they actually understand. Zombro is being lauded by the weirdos in the stat community as being a great hire for the Cubs.
More reputable types like Jeff Passan described him as “one of baseball’s preeminent pitching trainers.”
All of this is well and good, except for the fact that it would all be better if the plan was to keep trying to hire bright minds and pair them with really good players to work with. Does anybody really think that’s the Cubs’ plan?
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