Actually, the most interesting observation to be made about the last two nights' games is in comparing the Giants to the Cubs. If you look seriously at the Giants lineup, you have to scratch your head about how they can be a game or two out of first in their division and leading the Wild Card race in the NL.
Seriously, their infield has a SS on his last legs and a fat 3B who can hit but is having a sub-par season. They have Freddy Sanchez at 2B and he is a good hitter who is also having an off year and is an indifferent infielder. Aubrey Huff in RF is having a really good year, but Pat Burrell in LF, though he has helped them as a late season addition is hardly the stuff of legend. Their CF, Andres Torres is a Cub reject who wasn't even given a chance to hit in spring training, but who is having a breakout year. Their 1B, at least when Huff doesn't play there, Ishikawa, has 3 HRs and bats eighth in their lineup. Buster Posey, their catcher, is the only legitimate star, and he is a rookie.
I know they have great pitching, but they must be doing other things right like catching the ball and doing the so-called little things and they must be managed intelligently to be where they are today.
In a way this is a lesson for the Cubs. Remedy some chronic problems and you probably do not have to go out on a limb financially to succeed. The key is to recognize that these things actually matter and that the real challenge is to build a team based around your actual demonstrable strengths, which in the Cubs case is their starting pitching. The Cubs pitching is very good. It needs to become dominant, like the Giants and Yankees, I suppose, but this is not so daunting a task as may be supposed.
The last two games were fairly predicable given the strengths of the two teams. The Cubs lineup, especially against left-handers is designed more or less not to score runs and on Monday night they struggled and lost in extra innings. On Tuesday, they played a more balanced lineup and they caught Lincecum on an off-night. I really don't know what they have against the idea of platooning Soriano and Fukudome. Anyway, Fukudome had a really good night, as did Castro and Colvin except in the field.
As it played, the Cubs were able to overcome numerous miscues to hold on for an 8-6 win. I'm beginning to think Colvin's future is in LF or 1B. He made a really horrible play in CF after a long run on Posey's "double" which should have been an error.
Just as an aside, the more the Cubs protest they have not quit, the more it looks like they have, with a couple of exceptions, done just that. But then what do you expect of a team whose manager announces in mid-season that he is resigning at the end of the year and proceeds to go on not one but two extended bereavement leaves. Derrick Lee, not to be outdone, after refusing a perfectly reasonable trade, hops on a bus for Sacramento on a bereavement leave of his own. Now I have nothing against people tending to family issues, etc., but you have to ask yourself if this had happened in the middle of a pennant race, would the same thing have happened, and if it did, what does that tell you about this organization and its commitment to quality?
I read somewhere where lots of guys want to be Cubs. Think about it. Sure there is a lot of pressure, but then nobody expects to win, so it is really pressure you put on yourself. Otherwise, no expectations, you bat wherever you like in the lineup and otherwise you pout about it, lots of day games so you can hit the bars almost every night, big money, come and go as you please, you don't have to pay attention to anything while you are on the field if you hit at least one HR every week or so, no practice either. Must be nice.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Zambrano
Carlos Zambrano returned to the rotation last night and pitched well enough. I rather regard this outing as part of an extended rehab assignment. Actually, if you look at the whole season for the whole team in that light, things do not look nearly so bleak.
But anyway, I thought he showed some good signs. He pitched five innings and left with a 3-2 lead against a contending team. He walked seven or eight guys, but he really didn't have good command, nor did he seem able to find a consistent release point. He was only throwing in the high eighties, but the point is that he pitched. I mean he really pitched and managed his innings well rather than just throwing. He had to pitch, really pitch, to escape allowing so many baserunners and only two runs.
One of the more curious things about coverage of the Cubs is the consistently low quality of commentary available from the news media. Witness Gordon Wittenmeyer's article from the Sun-Times which advances the curious and convoluted argument that it is important to rehabilitate Zambrano to something close to the pitcher he once was so that you can trade him away and pay most of his salary and go out and get a free agent stopper who will likely cost twice as much money as Z. Duh! Is this guy just parroting some idiotic mantra he got from a front-office underling or is he seriously challenged on the subject of logical thought?
Here's the deal. If Z were to return to form and pitch well, why wouldn't you keep him as he is a cheaper and more durable investment than anything you could get in return? And if he fails, he is your problem anyway and no one will want him without a hefty subsidy.
On the subject of the rest of his article, though, it makes sense to think the Cubs need a left-handed first baseman. I'm not absolutely sure it is Adam Dunn. Dunn has good numbers, but the last time I saw him play he was with Cincinnati and he either struck out, walked, or hit a home run and he couldn't catch anything. In short he played some sort of game that only vaguely resembled baseball. I think we have a guy like that playing left field now every day, except this guy doesn't walk.
On the topic of getting a pitcher in free agency, I guess this makes some sense if the pitcher is Cliff Lee. The Cubs are going to save around $25 million next season by not having to pay Ted Lilly, Derrick Lee, and Xavier Nady, so don't swallow this poor mouth baloney about not being able to afford a serious move on that front. $25 million is more than enough to get Cliff Lee.
But anyway, I thought he showed some good signs. He pitched five innings and left with a 3-2 lead against a contending team. He walked seven or eight guys, but he really didn't have good command, nor did he seem able to find a consistent release point. He was only throwing in the high eighties, but the point is that he pitched. I mean he really pitched and managed his innings well rather than just throwing. He had to pitch, really pitch, to escape allowing so many baserunners and only two runs.
One of the more curious things about coverage of the Cubs is the consistently low quality of commentary available from the news media. Witness Gordon Wittenmeyer's article from the Sun-Times which advances the curious and convoluted argument that it is important to rehabilitate Zambrano to something close to the pitcher he once was so that you can trade him away and pay most of his salary and go out and get a free agent stopper who will likely cost twice as much money as Z. Duh! Is this guy just parroting some idiotic mantra he got from a front-office underling or is he seriously challenged on the subject of logical thought?
Here's the deal. If Z were to return to form and pitch well, why wouldn't you keep him as he is a cheaper and more durable investment than anything you could get in return? And if he fails, he is your problem anyway and no one will want him without a hefty subsidy.
On the subject of the rest of his article, though, it makes sense to think the Cubs need a left-handed first baseman. I'm not absolutely sure it is Adam Dunn. Dunn has good numbers, but the last time I saw him play he was with Cincinnati and he either struck out, walked, or hit a home run and he couldn't catch anything. In short he played some sort of game that only vaguely resembled baseball. I think we have a guy like that playing left field now every day, except this guy doesn't walk.
On the topic of getting a pitcher in free agency, I guess this makes some sense if the pitcher is Cliff Lee. The Cubs are going to save around $25 million next season by not having to pay Ted Lilly, Derrick Lee, and Xavier Nady, so don't swallow this poor mouth baloney about not being able to afford a serious move on that front. $25 million is more than enough to get Cliff Lee.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Same Script, Same Result
Or to the reader who may have read yesterday's comments, I told you so. Today the Cubs got a nicely pitched game from Wells and entered the 9th inning down by three runs. Cordero, the Reds closer, seemed determined to continue his strategy of never throwing a strike if he could avoid it. The result was that he walked the bases loaded before he hit Starlin Castro to force in a run. By then even Dusty had seen enough so he summoned Nick Masset from the bullpen. Unfortunately, the Cubs were playing the righties of doom lineup or were at the beginning of the stretch where four straight guys who are essentially the same hitter bat one after the other. Lee struck out. Ramirez, who probably should not be lumped in with the others, walked, but Byrd again made the final out, this time seeing four pitches, three of which were balls, and striking out on a pitch that was a foot outside the strike zone. I should note that Lou helped matters along by allowing Hill to hit and strike out ear;ier in the inning when Fontenot and Colvin were still available as pinch-hitters.
For those who hate and despise Kosuke Fukudome and blame him for all the ills of the world, please note that he has started the last two games and has reached base in six of his nine plate appearances, twice on hits and four times on walks. He has also made two very good plays in the outfield, today making a nice diving catch and doubling up the Cincinnati runner who had strayed from first base. One may also note that Soriano continued to shine, striking out once and hitting into a double play.
For those who hate and despise Kosuke Fukudome and blame him for all the ills of the world, please note that he has started the last two games and has reached base in six of his nine plate appearances, twice on hits and four times on walks. He has also made two very good plays in the outfield, today making a nice diving catch and doubling up the Cincinnati runner who had strayed from first base. One may also note that Soriano continued to shine, striking out once and hitting into a double play.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
The Lineup
People are always wondering why I harp so much on the lineup and batting order. The simple answer is that it is the key to winning games. It is one of the little things that go unnoticed. It is certainly a weakness in Lou Piniella's game and a weakness in Jim Hendry's planning. Hendry may be willing to spend money on free agents, but it is pretty clear that as the years have passed, he has no clear plan on building a team that can win consistently, and it is increasingly clear that in general the Cubs front office has no idea what such a team really looks like. A similar failing has afflicted Cubs managers, who generally speaking have a very limited idea of how a good lineup and batting order should be constructed.
Now some of a team's success is just luck. I have no doubt, for example, that had Ramirez not been hurt the last two seasons, the Cubs would have been much more of a force in the NL Central. That being said, however, there are certain misconceptions the Cubs manifest almost all the time, and these failures have more to do with the team's consistent shortcomings than fans ordinarily realize. A good analysis of statistics could help them here, but some of the stuff is just so basic it is hard to understand why they don't get it.
One of the more obvious issues the Cubs have is an almost total lack of understanding of what the leadoff hitter is supposed to do. Leadoff hitters get on base, work the count, run the bases well, and score runs. If they have speed and steal bases, that is nice, but they need to get on base before they can do any of those things. In the Piniella era, we have had Soriano for 2 1/2 years. Soriano hit home runs, never walked or took pitches, and never ran the bases well. Before he came to the Cubs, there was a time when he stole bases, but since his arrival, he was never a base-stealing threat, and actually he was hardly ever on base anyway. We then went into the Theriot era. Theriot also never walked or worked the count. He was not a particularly intelligent baserunner and when he did steal, he was often thrown out. We are now in the Colvin era. There is a good chance Lou will succeed in ruining this guy by the way he has handled him.
I like Colvin. He is a potentially excellent player. He does not now have the experience and knowledge of the strike zone to hit first. His frustrations in the leadoff spot are going to lead to bad habits at the plate. Why they do not drop him down in the order and in the process break up the string of essentially similar RH hitters is anybody's guess. Why they stuck with Soriano and Theriot is a similar question. They do it because they are stupid and, in the case of Piniella, stubborn as well. The only reason Colvin is playing everyday is because Piniella was embarrassed by Steve Stone calling him out for his mishandling of the outfield logjam and essentially telling him to play Colvin in RF everyday at the expense of Fukudome. Piniella initially rejected the idea for all the wrong reasons and then followed Stone's advice out of spite. Batting Colvin leadoff not only hurts the team, but it considerably retards his development as a ballplayer. Why the Cubs are doing this is anybody's guess, but it makes no sense. When they brought up Castro, they played him everyday and protected him for a while by batting him lower in the order while he learned the pitchers and the strike zone. Why they haven't treated Colvin the same way is a bit of a mystery unless the real idea is to prove to everyone that Lou was right in not playing him regularly and that he really isn't all that great. In any case, if you look down the Cubs roster, they probably do not have a true leadoff hitter. Throwing out guys like Soto who is having a great year from an on-base point-of-view and other guys like Lee and Ramirez who historically have good OBA largely because they are power-hitters that teams pitch around, the only really decent OBA guys they have are Fukudome and Castro.
The second perennial flaw in Cubs thinking is that they overvalue power and home-run hitting and they especially overvalue RH power based, I suppose, on the mistaken belief that the wind always blows out to left in the summer. Even if this were the case and even if weather data did not consistently demonstrate this surmise to be untrue, having a bunch of HR hitters in the lineup does not automatically insure success and frequently it leads to failure, especially in the big games. Whitey Herzog was fond of saying that speed never slumps. He could have said the same thing about pitching and defense. The truth is that nobody hits the best pitchers with any consistency and you face the best pitchers in the post-season. What it does do, though, is put fans in the stands. Witness the Andre Dawson and Sammy Sosa eras, when the Cubs by and large drew big crowds to watch inferior teams. The Cubs are now a major market team whose fans expect them to contend every year, so they ought to be beyond this kind of thinking.
The last of the flawed mindsets I want to mention is that the Cubs undervalue defense and just fundamental good baseball instincts. Making a good play in the infield or catching a difficult chance in the outfield, making an intelligent throw even if an out is not recorded or even stopping a wild pitch is just as important as hitting a home run or an extra-base hit. Just having the speed or baseball instincts to play, for example, in a large park, makes a big difference. The Cubs got killed by the Rockies last weekend in Denver, but even watching the games on TV you could see their outfield defense was overmatched. The Rockies outfielders made catch after catch of hard-hit balls that the Cubs didn't come anywhere near. The Cubs outfield looked lost out there. Granted, Soriano always looks lost because he actually is lost, but Colvin, despite his speed, failed to get a jump on several balls and misjudged others hit over his head, balls the Rockies outfielders usually caught. Byrd played pretty well, but he did not have the speed to go back on several long hits.
Friday's game against the Reds perfectly illustrates some of my points. Fukudome in RF made one really nice catch of a potential gapper. There were no outs, but that play over the long haul is worth at least half-a-run and maybe more if he doesn't get it and it leads to a big inning. Colvin in LF made a throw to home plate on the play the Reds scored their third run. The runner was a third of the way down the line when the throw was made and it went over the cutoff man's head, allowing the hitter to advance to 2B. Now it made no difference, but it might have cost the Cubs a run. These things add up, along with all the other botched plays and over the course of a season, I would argue that teams that give away outs or fail to take away hits lose more often than teams that don't hit a lot of home runs.
Now these things cannot be fixed right now, but as to Friday's lineup, I think it is the best lineup the Cubs can field right now against RH pitching both offensively and defensively. They did not score runs for sure, but they left nine runners on base and they might have scored with a couple of breaks. What has often been remarked is the Cubs tend to mount rallies with the bottom of the order and they put together innings that build scoring chances too often from that part of the order. That is not an accident. Unlike other teams they bat their most patient hitters lower down and because they don't have the same level of confidence in these guys, they mix them up more in terms of lefties and righties and batting styles. The problem, of course, is that when this works, they are on base for the top of the order or the middle of the order which does not deliver.
So if this lineup was so great, or at least the best they could muster, how come they got shut out? First off, Colvin led off. He was an automatic out in this position. Castro was OK batting second, but he had an unproductive game. Next comes the real trouble, Lee, Ramirez, Byrd. These guys are the same hitter, aggressive RH power hitters. You need to break them up with LH hitters or guys with a different mindset or style, like Soto. The 9th inning was a perfect example of this. Lee led off and struck out on ball four. Ramirez got on. Byrd struck out on a bad pitch. Fukudome walked, leaving the game in the hands of DeWitt who made the final out. The Reds closer did not vary his approach to the big three one bit, nor did he throw them strikes, yet he got two outs in short order when by rights the bases should have been loaded for Fukudome.
Things might be better if the Cubs had a LH hitting 1B, but that will have to wait until next year when they will either sign a free agent or move Colvin to the position. Right now, Fukudome should lead off when he plays, which should be in a platoon with Soriano. Castro should bat second, but Lee needs to drop in the order way down. Byrd, Soto, and Ramirez should be the middle three, followed by Colvin, Lee, and DeWitt.
Now some of a team's success is just luck. I have no doubt, for example, that had Ramirez not been hurt the last two seasons, the Cubs would have been much more of a force in the NL Central. That being said, however, there are certain misconceptions the Cubs manifest almost all the time, and these failures have more to do with the team's consistent shortcomings than fans ordinarily realize. A good analysis of statistics could help them here, but some of the stuff is just so basic it is hard to understand why they don't get it.
One of the more obvious issues the Cubs have is an almost total lack of understanding of what the leadoff hitter is supposed to do. Leadoff hitters get on base, work the count, run the bases well, and score runs. If they have speed and steal bases, that is nice, but they need to get on base before they can do any of those things. In the Piniella era, we have had Soriano for 2 1/2 years. Soriano hit home runs, never walked or took pitches, and never ran the bases well. Before he came to the Cubs, there was a time when he stole bases, but since his arrival, he was never a base-stealing threat, and actually he was hardly ever on base anyway. We then went into the Theriot era. Theriot also never walked or worked the count. He was not a particularly intelligent baserunner and when he did steal, he was often thrown out. We are now in the Colvin era. There is a good chance Lou will succeed in ruining this guy by the way he has handled him.
I like Colvin. He is a potentially excellent player. He does not now have the experience and knowledge of the strike zone to hit first. His frustrations in the leadoff spot are going to lead to bad habits at the plate. Why they do not drop him down in the order and in the process break up the string of essentially similar RH hitters is anybody's guess. Why they stuck with Soriano and Theriot is a similar question. They do it because they are stupid and, in the case of Piniella, stubborn as well. The only reason Colvin is playing everyday is because Piniella was embarrassed by Steve Stone calling him out for his mishandling of the outfield logjam and essentially telling him to play Colvin in RF everyday at the expense of Fukudome. Piniella initially rejected the idea for all the wrong reasons and then followed Stone's advice out of spite. Batting Colvin leadoff not only hurts the team, but it considerably retards his development as a ballplayer. Why the Cubs are doing this is anybody's guess, but it makes no sense. When they brought up Castro, they played him everyday and protected him for a while by batting him lower in the order while he learned the pitchers and the strike zone. Why they haven't treated Colvin the same way is a bit of a mystery unless the real idea is to prove to everyone that Lou was right in not playing him regularly and that he really isn't all that great. In any case, if you look down the Cubs roster, they probably do not have a true leadoff hitter. Throwing out guys like Soto who is having a great year from an on-base point-of-view and other guys like Lee and Ramirez who historically have good OBA largely because they are power-hitters that teams pitch around, the only really decent OBA guys they have are Fukudome and Castro.
The second perennial flaw in Cubs thinking is that they overvalue power and home-run hitting and they especially overvalue RH power based, I suppose, on the mistaken belief that the wind always blows out to left in the summer. Even if this were the case and even if weather data did not consistently demonstrate this surmise to be untrue, having a bunch of HR hitters in the lineup does not automatically insure success and frequently it leads to failure, especially in the big games. Whitey Herzog was fond of saying that speed never slumps. He could have said the same thing about pitching and defense. The truth is that nobody hits the best pitchers with any consistency and you face the best pitchers in the post-season. What it does do, though, is put fans in the stands. Witness the Andre Dawson and Sammy Sosa eras, when the Cubs by and large drew big crowds to watch inferior teams. The Cubs are now a major market team whose fans expect them to contend every year, so they ought to be beyond this kind of thinking.
The last of the flawed mindsets I want to mention is that the Cubs undervalue defense and just fundamental good baseball instincts. Making a good play in the infield or catching a difficult chance in the outfield, making an intelligent throw even if an out is not recorded or even stopping a wild pitch is just as important as hitting a home run or an extra-base hit. Just having the speed or baseball instincts to play, for example, in a large park, makes a big difference. The Cubs got killed by the Rockies last weekend in Denver, but even watching the games on TV you could see their outfield defense was overmatched. The Rockies outfielders made catch after catch of hard-hit balls that the Cubs didn't come anywhere near. The Cubs outfield looked lost out there. Granted, Soriano always looks lost because he actually is lost, but Colvin, despite his speed, failed to get a jump on several balls and misjudged others hit over his head, balls the Rockies outfielders usually caught. Byrd played pretty well, but he did not have the speed to go back on several long hits.
Friday's game against the Reds perfectly illustrates some of my points. Fukudome in RF made one really nice catch of a potential gapper. There were no outs, but that play over the long haul is worth at least half-a-run and maybe more if he doesn't get it and it leads to a big inning. Colvin in LF made a throw to home plate on the play the Reds scored their third run. The runner was a third of the way down the line when the throw was made and it went over the cutoff man's head, allowing the hitter to advance to 2B. Now it made no difference, but it might have cost the Cubs a run. These things add up, along with all the other botched plays and over the course of a season, I would argue that teams that give away outs or fail to take away hits lose more often than teams that don't hit a lot of home runs.
Now these things cannot be fixed right now, but as to Friday's lineup, I think it is the best lineup the Cubs can field right now against RH pitching both offensively and defensively. They did not score runs for sure, but they left nine runners on base and they might have scored with a couple of breaks. What has often been remarked is the Cubs tend to mount rallies with the bottom of the order and they put together innings that build scoring chances too often from that part of the order. That is not an accident. Unlike other teams they bat their most patient hitters lower down and because they don't have the same level of confidence in these guys, they mix them up more in terms of lefties and righties and batting styles. The problem, of course, is that when this works, they are on base for the top of the order or the middle of the order which does not deliver.
So if this lineup was so great, or at least the best they could muster, how come they got shut out? First off, Colvin led off. He was an automatic out in this position. Castro was OK batting second, but he had an unproductive game. Next comes the real trouble, Lee, Ramirez, Byrd. These guys are the same hitter, aggressive RH power hitters. You need to break them up with LH hitters or guys with a different mindset or style, like Soto. The 9th inning was a perfect example of this. Lee led off and struck out on ball four. Ramirez got on. Byrd struck out on a bad pitch. Fukudome walked, leaving the game in the hands of DeWitt who made the final out. The Reds closer did not vary his approach to the big three one bit, nor did he throw them strikes, yet he got two outs in short order when by rights the bases should have been loaded for Fukudome.
Things might be better if the Cubs had a LH hitting 1B, but that will have to wait until next year when they will either sign a free agent or move Colvin to the position. Right now, Fukudome should lead off when he plays, which should be in a platoon with Soriano. Castro should bat second, but Lee needs to drop in the order way down. Byrd, Soto, and Ramirez should be the middle three, followed by Colvin, Lee, and DeWitt.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Falling
The Cubs always seem to find inventive and imaginative ways to lose games and last night was no exception. The theme was set in the first inning when the irrepressible Alfonso Soriano started back, then forwards on a weakly hit ball, eventually diving to the turf, rolling over, and dropping the ball in an evident effort to convince everyone that he had made a great play. Give the Brewers one run as the next guy singled home the run. Soriano managed to go 0 for 4 and strike out twice, killing several rallies, but it was hard for anyone to top his first inning heroics.
The evening was also notable for Derrick Lee falling over first base after lacing a sure double to drive in Starlin Castro, the only guy on the team who seems to be playing something that resembles baseball these days. Castro also had his share of bad luck when he grounded a single to center to knock in a run in the bottom of the ninth. He rounded first aggressively and it looked as if this tactic forced Jim Edmonds to bobble the ball. Unfortunately, Castro almost fell down changing gears to hustle toward second and was cut down, killing the Cubs comeback chances.
The night also saw the long-delayed major league debut of Thomas Diamond, whose career had been plagued by injuries until yesterday. I'd have to say the jury is still out on the rookie. He pitched well enough, but he threw 122 pitches in just six innings. Looks like he has a decent but not overpowering fastball and a good changeup. I wonder if he has a good enough breaking ball now to succeed as a starter at the major league level. He didn't really have an out pitch last night despite the ten strikeouts. His future may be in long or middle relief if he can improve his control, but he is worth another look, especially in what has now become a lost season.
The evening was also notable for Derrick Lee falling over first base after lacing a sure double to drive in Starlin Castro, the only guy on the team who seems to be playing something that resembles baseball these days. Castro also had his share of bad luck when he grounded a single to center to knock in a run in the bottom of the ninth. He rounded first aggressively and it looked as if this tactic forced Jim Edmonds to bobble the ball. Unfortunately, Castro almost fell down changing gears to hustle toward second and was cut down, killing the Cubs comeback chances.
The night also saw the long-delayed major league debut of Thomas Diamond, whose career had been plagued by injuries until yesterday. I'd have to say the jury is still out on the rookie. He pitched well enough, but he threw 122 pitches in just six innings. Looks like he has a decent but not overpowering fastball and a good changeup. I wonder if he has a good enough breaking ball now to succeed as a starter at the major league level. He didn't really have an out pitch last night despite the ten strikeouts. His future may be in long or middle relief if he can improve his control, but he is worth another look, especially in what has now become a lost season.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Thus Ends the Reign of Alan Trammel
And none too soon. 32 runs in three games. Bullpen a shambles. Same dumb lineup, same ineffectual results. Look, what can you say?
I thought I detected - although this may be my cynical self reading more into it than it merits - a note of relief and a subtext criticism of the Cubs and Piniella gestalt in the remarks of Lilly and Theriot in this article from MLB. Theriot did go 0 for 4 Sunday with two strikeouts and 1 for 4 Monday night whilst DeWitt was 3 for 4 Sunday and 0 for 3 today.
I came across an interesting statistic today. Alfonso Soriano's numbers in June and July are .234/.310/.468 and .225/.271/.450. In other words, he is getting paid around $18 million to put up what look a lot like Fukudome type numbers at his worst, though at least the latter gets on base more often even when he is in a funk. However, nobody seems to notice this tail off as the season wears on and he plays every day and some people think he is having a good year. It just bothers me no end to think this guy is likely to be the starting left fielder for the rest of this season and the next four years thereafter and that he was the leadoff man for his first 2 1/2 seasons with the team. It is an indication of just what a joke the Cubs front office and management has become.
I thought I detected - although this may be my cynical self reading more into it than it merits - a note of relief and a subtext criticism of the Cubs and Piniella gestalt in the remarks of Lilly and Theriot in this article from MLB. Theriot did go 0 for 4 Sunday with two strikeouts and 1 for 4 Monday night whilst DeWitt was 3 for 4 Sunday and 0 for 3 today.
I came across an interesting statistic today. Alfonso Soriano's numbers in June and July are .234/.310/.468 and .225/.271/.450. In other words, he is getting paid around $18 million to put up what look a lot like Fukudome type numbers at his worst, though at least the latter gets on base more often even when he is in a funk. However, nobody seems to notice this tail off as the season wears on and he plays every day and some people think he is having a good year. It just bothers me no end to think this guy is likely to be the starting left fielder for the rest of this season and the next four years thereafter and that he was the leadoff man for his first 2 1/2 seasons with the team. It is an indication of just what a joke the Cubs front office and management has become.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
About Last Night
I think I am going to stop posting detailed analysis of each game or even pithy observations. Just too depressing. Just too much of the same thing.
Two things about last night. Zambrano looked rusty but managed to pitch out of a jam that was partly of his own making. All in all a nice performance.
Second observation. I thought the Cubs just hired a new stat guy. That being said, how come they still think they have to use a lefty against Carlos Gonzalez when it is obvious from even a cursory glance at the stats, not even going into the heavy Sabermetrics and Fangraphs stuff that this guy hits lefties as well as (actually better) than righties. He had also just rapped out a single, double, triple, and sacrifice fly against the lefty Gorzelanny.
So that being said, having warmed up Marmol, who hasn't pitched in a week or so, they chose to stick with Marshall, evidently in an effort to prove that even though he pitches two innings every day, his arm will not fall off by the end of the season.
Enough already.
Two things about last night. Zambrano looked rusty but managed to pitch out of a jam that was partly of his own making. All in all a nice performance.
Second observation. I thought the Cubs just hired a new stat guy. That being said, how come they still think they have to use a lefty against Carlos Gonzalez when it is obvious from even a cursory glance at the stats, not even going into the heavy Sabermetrics and Fangraphs stuff that this guy hits lefties as well as (actually better) than righties. He had also just rapped out a single, double, triple, and sacrifice fly against the lefty Gorzelanny.
So that being said, having warmed up Marmol, who hasn't pitched in a week or so, they chose to stick with Marshall, evidently in an effort to prove that even though he pitches two innings every day, his arm will not fall off by the end of the season.
Enough already.
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