The Brewers Series

It's still April and already I am sick of watching this team.  Same old, same old.  They figured to lose Friday as Villanueva was pitching.  They lost again on Saturday because Wood had a bad outing.

One of the surprises this year has been the consistent performance of Jason Hammel, whom I admit I did not hold in much regard, especially after a pretty awful spring training.  He pitched another gem on Sunday to salvage at least one game from the Brewers.

Of course, everyone expects the Cubs to trade him at the deadline along with Samardzija.  This, as readers of this blog will note, is a strategy I cannot grasp.

Taking just Samardzija into account, it has taken the Cubs six years to develop Samardzija into the pitcher he is today.  It makes some degree of sense to acquire a player that another organization spent some years to develop to the point of becoming a sure-fire major league talent the following season, but, in the main, the Cubs have received players in exchange who are similar projects of three or four years duration.  I don't get it.

It is a measure of the disgrace this franchise has fallen to that players now regard getting traded as some kind of prison break they must work toward.  Here's a link to a Gordon Wittenmyer article on the subject.

Some relatively predicable developments that are occurring earlier than usual in another seemingly lost season:

• Even though the Cubs main problem is failing to score runs, they have gone to the 13 man pitching staff in the aftermath of the Ruggiano injury.  The bench was notably short of options in Saturday's loss.

• The Cubs continue, in the main, to score runs only when they hit home runs.  I suppose this is because when they bat, they try to hit a home run all the time or else because they have no idea how to hit based on the game situation and every now and then they get lucky.

Anyway, they make for very boring viewing and I can only imagine what the clubhouse must be like after all these years of hopeless defeat.

What Can You Say?

The Cubs were poised to win their third game in a row going into the 9th inning on Wednesday, ahead 5-2 after another superb performance by Jeff Samardzija.  I guess it was not a surprise that after pitching well enough to be appointed the official closer, Pedro Strop just fell apart.  Of course, he had help from both the baseball gods and Starlin Castro and his own wildness.

I've got to say that was some freaky inning.  The ball that bounced off the corner of second base was just weird.  Castro's error was simply inexcusable.  It's also a little strange that after the game, Castro explained that he hurried the play because he wanted to get two even though he knew that was improbable given Campana's speed.  He should have known that then, but, then again, that is why in his fifth year as the starting shortstop on a major league team, he is still considered a work-in-progress.

In reality, the Diamondbacks made like six outs in the inning and hit only one ball hard, the Montero single.  I only saw the play on TV, but the winning hit, the blooper that resulted in the Ruggiano injury, looked catchable.  Ruggiano played both that ball and the Montero hit very tentatively, although for sure, given his positioning, the Montero ball was clearly going to be a hit.

I wonder if I am the only one who has noticed how tentatively all the Cubs outfielders are playing this year.  Every time they go back on a ball they start feeling for the wall with one hand as soon as they hit the first stride of the warning track.  Maybe they need to get someone to coach outfield play like Dave McKay, who managed to teach Soriano how to play a passable left field.

All in all, a rather typical end to the big ballpark anniversary.

Thursday's game the team looked flat and exhausted all the way through after the first inning.  Jackson got himself behind early before turning in a decent start.  After the game, Renteria opined that Veras looked a lot better, had better command.  Geez, sometimes you wonder what game these guys are watching.  Veras gave up two runs in the 8th inning and effectively turned a close game at 3-1 into a hopeless cause.

Wood Tops D-Backs 5-1

It was the Travis Wood show last night.  Wood pitched seven innings of one-run ball and drove in four runs with a three-run homer and an RBI double.  The rest of the team?  Meh.

Some of my friends think I am too critical of Renteria's lineups and that I am being too hard on him in general, but I really think that after eighteen games and all of spring training, some conclusions are possible beyond the platoons and bunts and that it is time to make them.

Last night's lineup is a case in point.  Strictly platoons and matchups.  What did it produce?  Nothing.  The whole game hinged on the performance of a single player, Travis Wood.

Last night the lefties were 4 for 22 with two walks; the righties were 5 for 9 with one walk.  Great production from that platoon system, eh?  The point is that platoons are great with players of relatively equal ability and potential.

The problem with the Cubs platoons is the left-handed side of them is generally, with the exception of Anthony Rizzo, inferior in talent and ability.  So playing these guys to the detriment of establishing a regular everyday lineup that promotes the development of players who may have a higher ceiling is counter-productive.

An Epiphany of Sorts

Rick Renteria finally figured out that the Cubs played sloppy baseball and said so.  Wow!  Now maybe we can take some steps to correct the problem.

At least the Cubs played a good game today and Edwin Jackson even pitched an acceptable game, in large measure because he finally decided to change speeds once and a while.

Most of the Cubs improvement came from playing their right-handed hitting lineup.  Actually this lineup is, right now, the best lineup they can field on an everyday basis with the exception of having Schierholtz and Ruggiano platoon in RF and dropping Castro to #6.

I cannot understand why a team like the Cubs would not play Olt everyday.  He pretty much hits a home run whenever he plays and for a team that lacks power and the ability to score runs, what's wrong with playing a guy who can produce, at least occasionally.

The other thing I don't get is why Barney doesn't play everyday as well.  If you do not score a lot, defense becomes an issue as well. Today Barney contributed on offense and defense as well, but he really did excel in the field, as he usually does.  Runs the other team does not score are often as important as runs they do score.

In contrast to Barney's performance, take Bonafacio's defense in Friday's game.  Missed tag on a pickoff attempt because he was positioned a foot away from the base, wild throw on a sure double play.  Two runs allowed.

I don't mean to single out Bonafacio either.  He has been a pleasant surprise so far and played a good game today.  I continue to believe his career performance will ultimately prevail, but while he is doing well, let him play CF where he can do the least harm defensively.  He is not a good infielder and never has been, which is why he has never been able to stick in the infield on any team.

Today was the sixteenth game of the season, roughly one-tenth of the year.  5-11.  Which is on a pace to lose well over 100 games.

Worse Than You Ever Thought Possible

The Cubs were shut out in a doubleheader at New York.  Not all that surprising when you look at the lineups tossed out there.  Here's another piece of unsolicited advice for Renteria: Don't play utility players every day.

Case in point: Tonights lineup contains three utility players, viz., Bonafacio, Sweeney, and Valbuena.  No excuse for this, coupled with all the bunting and the complete lack of plate discipline with men on base and you get a 4-10 start.

Incidentally, the inevitable cooling off of Bonafacio has started a little quicker than even I anticipated.  He is 1 for 21 in his last six starts and 0 for 13 since his rest day last Saturday.

Rain Delay

Lets hope it rains long enough to prevent Jackson's return.  I hate to be negative, but what on Earth the Cubs saw in this guy to give him a lucrative four-year deal, I do not know.

Speaking of poor management decisions, one cannot help but note that the Cubs used Villanueva as a starter in Saturday's game.  After he had pitched badly, they brought in Chirs Rusin to mop up.  Five innings, one run.

Before the end of spring training, there was a big debate as to whether they should bring Rusin north and use him in the fifth starter role until Arietta was ready or go with Villanueva in that role.  Guess what looks like the conventional but wrong decision now.

I only offer these jabs at management because they have uniformly gotten a free pass from most commentators and the established press for the past three years.  There seems to be some thought in their moves, but they sure are wrong a lot and no one ever mentions it in polite company.

Updates

The Cubs managed to pull out an extra-innings victory last night against all odds in a game they had won already going into the ninth.  Is anyone else getting tired of Jose Veras?

The Cubs have a significant investment in Veras whom they undoubtedly intend to flip at the trade deadline just as the Astros did last year.  The problem, of course, is that Veras stinks this year.  Maybe he is hurt.  I don't know.  But to justify the strategy, the Cubs and Renteria will have to risk losing games in order to showcase expendable "talent."

One of the problems I have with the Cubs and have had since the new regime took control is that they are run for the purpose of marketing and acquiring "assets," not, apparently, for winning games or building a team capable of winning games right now, today.

On that subject, it is hard to know whether what we have seen from Renteria is actually Renteria or some sort of front office directed style or just a guy who is afraid of making a mistake, so he makes lots of mistakes and takes care to manage in the most conventional fashion in order to avoid being accused of making mistakes.

In any case, one observation one may hazard is that if a new manager is given a lot of options, even if those options are inferior, he will use them to his detriment.  Hence, all the platoons.  Enough already.  The Cubs left-handed platoon is the weakest lineup the Cubs could field both offensively and defensively.  Moreover, the Cubs have three or four guys who either have some potential or have something to prove, namely, Lake, Olt, Barney, and maybe Kalish.  They almost never play.  Go figure.

On the theory that the Cubs are playing guys who are either established regulars or guys they intend to flip, I suppose this augurs well for their future.  Maybe they are safe.

Some unsolicited advice for Renteria:

• Enough with the bunts.  Bunts are outs.  If you only score an average of three runs or fewer a game, you cannot give up outs.  Last night the Cubs won only because the Cardinals manager made a blunder in allowing Rosenthal to hit for himself and pitch a second inning and because, after a miserably managed inning, Castillo hit a three-run homer.

• Enough with the platoons.  Find a regular lineup and stick to it with only a couple of exceptions like Schierholtz/Ruggiano.  I know that Bonafacio is hot and plays a lot of positions.  As long as he is hot, put him in CF and leave him there until he hits that inevitable 0 for 30 streak.  The alternative is Sweeney.  Come on.

• Figure out the bullpen.  If you do not have a traditional closer, don't pretend you do.  Russell is not the quick out lefty, Wright is.  Is something wrong with Wright, because he almost never pitches and hardly ever in the role he was acquired to fill?  By and large, the bullpen is OK, but has been overused.  Renteria needs to go an out or two longer with effective starters like Wood and Samardzija and Hammel.

I should note that the Pirates series confirmed our earlier observations that there was not a lot of difference between the two teams.  The Cubs went 2-4, but could easily have split or taken the series 4-2 with a couple of breaks and better decisions.  I actually think the Pirates will not be serious contenders this year.  They made very few off-season moves to repair weaknesses and their starting pitching is weaker.  They don't score runs either, much along the lines of the Cubs in that respect.