A Really Bad Homestand

The Cubs lost all five games at home last week, as well as the finale of a two-game set in St. Louis.  What's wrong?

Well, first off, their pitching came down to Earth and their defense disintegrated.  And their bullpen is just a shambles in need of a total makeover.  But really what's wrong is they don't score runs.  They don't score runs because they are, by and large, an impatient team at the plate that swings at pitcher's pitches.

This isn't likely to change until there are more personnel changes.  It is also unlikely to change so long as Rudy Jaramillo is their hitting coach.  Look at the record.  Their run production has steadily declined since he was hired.  Also, the Rangers run production and OBP has steadily increased since he left the team.  This guy is sadly overrated.

Dale Sveum is thinking about shuffling the lineup.  Good luck with that if he isn't willing to face some unpleasant truths.  One is that you have to stop playing for one run and start playing for a big inning.  This means taking pitches and not bunting.

A couple of changes they could make right now.  Get Campana out of the #2 spot.  He never takes pitches and he seems to bunt every other time at bat.  This is good if he is bunting for a hit, but he is not very good at it.  Even if he gets on - and he is almost a sure thing to steal - he always runs and everybody knows it.  If he is in the lineup, he needs a patient hitter behind him who will give him the opportunity to steal.  That hitter is not Starlin Castro who almost never takes a pitch with a runner on base.  Campana, to my mind, doesn't get on base enough to bat high up in the order.  However, if you are going to hit him up there, he should be flipped with DeJesus who will take pitches.

I was of two minds about the experiment of batting Castro third.  Now I'm convinced it is a big mistake.  Castro is not learning in the position.  I'm afraid the pressure of hitting third is just aggravating his already over-aggressive tendencies.  As of today, Castro is batting .311 with an OBP of .324.  That OBP is just terrible.  He has four walks all year, which means he is on a pace to walk fewer than twenty times all season.

Castro has 25 RBI, but that doesn't mean that much simply because he has had a lot of opportunities to hit with men on base, and also, because he has shown very limited power so far this season, his style right now is not at all suited to the #3 hole.  Another telling factor is how often he makes the final out of the inning and forces LaHair, a legitimate power threat, to lead off an inning.

After the #4 slot, the Cubs have pretty much a series of automatic outs, at least until they get back one or two of their injured catchers.  Stewart and Barney can sometimes be tough outs with men on base, but they haven't really consistently produced down in the order.

There probably isn't a solution to these problems until the Cubs feel their best prospects, Rizzo and Jackson, are ready.  I'd like to see more of Joe Mather either at 3B or in CF.  Rizzo would be a natural #3 hitter.  Maybe they should move LaHair up and drop Castro down in the order to take some pressure off.

It will be interesting to see if Sveum does shake up the lineup and it will offer some insight into how he is thinking or whether he is thinking at all.