Braves Series

The Cubs continued to play really good baseball this week.  The pitching and defense is carrying the team right now.  With the exception of a single miserable inning turned in by Kerry Wood on Tuesday, the Cubs completely shut down the Braves.

I saw a piece that describes the Cubs advanced scouting system that goes some way towards explaining the defensive resurgence.  The Cubs employ two advance scouts who report back on the teams they are due to oppose.  Evidently these guys know what they are doing because the Cubs are positioning their players a lot better and it is paying off in key plays that are saving games, like the one Barney made Wednesday to rob Chipper Jones.

The Cubs were always considered cheap and backward in their scouting techniques and practices.  Maybe this is evidence of real progress from the new regime.  Also evidence that Sveum is not afraid to do something new.

On the subject of Sveum, I wish however that he or his coaches would start managing the game with the idea that Bryan LaHair is in the lineup and that he is a pretty good player.  I can't even count how many times Starlin Castro has made the last out on the bases recently.  On Wednesday, Castro hit a triple down the right field line in a scoreless tie, but was out by a long ways going for the inside-the-park home run.

Right now Castro is a terrific natural hitter.  He needs to learn how to hit, though, in certain situations.  Notably with men on base and two outs.  He is very antsy then and just seems to let the pitcher dictate his at-bat.  Even though he is a rookie, LaHair, who is in general a more disciplined hitter, looks more comfortable in these spots.

Castro has a lot of speed, but he is not really a good base-runner yet.  This is going to come with experience, but right now it seems to me the Cubs take too many chances with him on the bases and lots of times it costs them runs.  This is not a team that is going to score much anyway.

There is quite a controversy about Kerry Wood since his inauspicious return from the DL.  I'm on the record as pretty much disapproving of his signing this spring.  Wood was returned more or less as a mascot and for sentimental reasons, more likely than not at the insistence of Tom Ricketts, as it is not a Theo Epstein type move.

Even when he is going well, Wood needs to be used very sparingly because he is a walking arsenal of potential injuries, from his shoulder to his back to his knee to his perennial blisters.  Wood is a long way removed from his glory days.  Actually, even when he was a dominant pitcher in his early days, Wood was a peculiarity among power pitchers in that he only threw his fastball about 60% of the time.  He had a great slider and a great curve and these were his out pitches.

I had occasion to look at Fangraphs the other day and this one thing really stood out.  Wood hasn't thrown a slider since 2008.  I'm sure it has got to do with his mechanics and not wanting to stress his shoulder and all that or maybe he just can't control it anymore.  He has replaced that pitch with a cut fastball that he really doesn't consistently command.  When he gets control of this pitch, he can deliver a small number of effective innings, usually around July or August after he has recovered from his annual back and blister problems.

I like Kerry Wood and he has had a gutsy career, but it is time to call it quits and his presence on the Cubs roster - though we are stuck with him because he will never be released and he will never quit - is an expensive and sentimental luxury.  I suppose his temperamental outburst Tuesday night indicates he is more aware of his situation than he cares to admit to himself.