beckdawg
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Minor correction and a comment.
I said league average on non-pitchers for k rate was 20.6%. I had only the cubs selected. It is actually 21.6%. So, if you exclude happ the cubs are ~2% below average. The only teams that would be better in the league than the 19.2% without Happ are the braves at 18.7% and the Indians at 18.8%.
As for the comment, i think it matters where the power loss is. I had more I was going to say but I'll summarize because it's not that important. Cubs traded HRs for doubles and triples more or less but I'm not sure that's entirely fair given they were missing one of their better HR hitters in Bryant for much of the season. The thing is we know the cubs have hitters with power. Schwarber could probably hit 40 HRs in his prime. However, I'd easily sacrifice 10 or so HR's to have him go from a .230-.240 type hitter to say .270. And obviously he's still got work to do to get there but i'm just talking generally here that I'm willing to sacrifice some power for average.
And more over, what's the longstanding gripe cubs fans have about the hitters, hitting with RISP. I'd like to say those numbers are dramatically better this year. They aren't. However, if you look at the type of hitter that does well in those situations on this roster and you see sitting at the top of the wRC+ list it's Jason Heyward with .333/.433/.455 and a 142 wRC+. Baez is #2 hitting .280/.340/.524 with a 118 wRC+. Zobrist is #3 at .315/.358/.438 with a 107 wRC+. Happ is #4 at .227/.424/.379 and 105. Rizzo is #5 at .298/.389/.427 with a 101 wRC+. Everyone else is under 100 wRC+ with RISP.
My takeaway there is that your three best bb/k rate guys in Heyward, Zobrist and Rizzo are there. Happ is really weird there in that he's sorta just walking his way to a decent wRC+ so I'm not sure he really counts. Baez as I mentioned hasn't really fit into the whole bb/k mold so I don't really have answers for why he's as great as he's been. I'd also point out that Almora is hitting .281/.340/.326 with RISP which is good just he has no power which wRC+ dings him for.
So, simply put I think it matters how you look at the game. the 2017 and prior cubs were a type of team that could just absolutely pound you if they got the HR. But when those HRs didn't come they would often stall out and that leads to a lot of frustrating games that were winnable. If they continue improving on their K rate and get a little bit of that power back they will be much better in scoring situations.
That's why I'm encouraged. Plus I mean you're going to have some of the younger guys add muscle as they go into their primes and some power will naturally come that way as well. But, I've said since like 2013 that I felt the way to build a team was via high contact hitters like Rizzo/Zobrist. That's the reason I never gave up on Heyward when most people had buried him.
