Tough Losses

The Cubs lost another tough one yesterday, 2-1.  The wind was howling out of there, and it is a tribute to the pitching on both sides that there were only three solo home runs to account for all the scoring.  That or everybody was just swinging for the fences and getting themselves out.

The Cubs have experienced a notable drop in quality at-bats lately and in run scoring as a result.  Who can account for these apparent cycles of concentration or lack thereof?  I still say that moving Castro to cleanup was and is a big mistake.  The guy is barely hitting .200 in the spot.  Bryant and Rizzo are always on base, so this is not a trivial concern.

I've seen some rumblings on some of the Cubs boards and blogs about Maddon's managerial style.  He has always had the reputation as something of a tinkerer with a tendency to over-manage.  Actually, his lineups have been pretty stable thus far, but his bullpen management has, to my mind, been a little eccentric.

There is an old adage that managers do not win games, but they can lose them.  I'm not saying that Maddon has cost the Cubs more games than the usual generic manager by his pitching moves, but the plain fact is that when you pull your starter in the fifth or sixth inning, you are asking for trouble.  Relievers, except for the elite eighth and ninth inning guys and the young guys you are bringing along, are in the bullpen for a reason.  They are not good enough to start.

In yesterday's game, Wada was in the 80 pitch range starting the inning.  Sure, he was pitching in and out of trouble, but he was strong enough to strike out Harper to start the frame.  Worst case scenario is one of the subsequent right-handed hitters gets on base or hits a solo homer.  OK, maybe you wait to go to the bullpen and buy yourself an inning.  Maddon instead pulled Wada.  Grimm gave up the solo homer that won the game.

So you can certainly justify the move based on the matchups, but it is not the first time it has happened to the Cubs and you may want to rethink this approach given the fairly woeful results thus far.