First half thoughts

[CSF77]

If they traded Almora I wouldn't be sad. Over used defender

 

[Omeletpants]

This is the 9th or 10th best team in baseball and with that you get a good chance to make the playoffs and good chance for a first round exit

The Cubs future is pretty mediorce as they have many overrated, high priced players and little depth in the minor leagues.

Thank god they arent in the same division as Houston, Yankees, Dodgers or Braves or the year would be over

 

[SilenceS]

This is the 9th or 10th best team in baseball and with that you get a good chance to make the playoffs and good chance for a first round exit

The Cubs future is pretty mediorce as they have many overrated, high priced players and little depth in the minor leagues.

Thank god they arent in the same division as Houston, Yankees, Dodgers or Braves or the year would be over

I didnt know wild cards dont exist. Are we back in the 1960's again?

 

[Omeletpants]

I didnt know wild cards dont exist. Are we back in the 1960's again?

Never said wild card dont exist. Pay attention

 

[SilenceS]

Never said wild card dont exist. Pay attention

The year would be over? So, you are saying wild card doesnt exist because you are saying they wouldnt win the division. Amirite?

 

[anotheridiot]

If they traded Almora I wouldn't be sad. Over used defender

That was exactly what I said about Jayson Heyward the past two years. Now everyone in the Heyward circle jerk is saying, Look, now he is finally earning his contract, not just a pep talk during a rain delay. Almora is making what 1/22 of Heywards money and he is not worth keeping around? Peralta wont be pulled for a better defender in late innings?

 

[Rory Sparrow]

And I countered with RISP was the core problem this year and Schwarber hitting #1 Limits his opertunity to hit in those situations.

That is why you were wrong.

I don't recall saying the only reason the Cubs aren't living up to expectations is Schwarber and Heyward. For the third time, I was responding to the thought that Heyward's performance "counters" Schwarber's performance...I don't think either of them are setting the world on fire this year, and Heyward's contract continues to be an albatross.

But good to know that the reason the Cubs aren't doing better this year is because their 98 OPS+ hitter isn't getting more opportunities to come up with runners in scoring position. Makes sense.

Sorry that you are completely lost in this conversation.

 

[CSF77]

That was exactly what I said about Jayson Heyward the past two years. Now everyone in the Heyward circle jerk is saying, Look, now he is finally earning his contract, not just a pep talk during a rain delay. Almora is making what 1/22 of Heywards money and he is not worth keeping around? Peralta wont be pulled for a better defender in late innings?

Not a issue with his value. The problem is with Joe.

Joe's method is all hands on deck. And that is fine when you have too much talent and you have to try to manage it. Right now it is working against him where he is plugging in line ups with Russell, Descalso and Almora in the same line up. And not can hit out of a wet paper sack.

That was the comment. If Joe would use common sense and play early innings build the lead and late inning hold it then his players fit into their roles better. Guys like Descalso who provide neither get cut.

 

[CSF77]

I don't recall saying the only reason the Cubs aren't living up to expectations is Schwarber and Heyward. For the third time, I was responding to the thought that Heyward's performance "counters" Schwarber's performance...I don't think either of them are setting the world on fire this year, and Heyward's contract continues to be an albatross.

But good to know that the reason the Cubs aren't doing better this year is because their 98 OPS+ hitter isn't getting more opportunities to come up with runners in scoring position. Makes sense.

Sorry that you are completely lost in this conversation.

I quoted the post that I responded to. If you want to Strawman it it is fine.

But regarding the over all picture of

1. Has Heyward played up to his contract value? No. And he didn't in 2016 either. Well that didn't matter did it?

2. Has Schwarber played up to expectations? No. But he was injured in 2016 and played just 1 series. Did it matter? No. He factored when it counted.

So what has been missing? Jake vs Yu. But Cole has replaced that value loss.

Zobrist was impactful. He is gone.

Russell was peaking that year. He is gone.

Fowler is gone. Almora is not a quality replacement.

So every thing is relative here. If you want to point fingers that is fine. I'm just looking at it from a 2 year window. 2019 Jason is better than 2018. By 12 wRC+. Schwarber is worse. By 17.

Now IMO Schwarber needs to hit behind Contreras. That way his launches have guys on base every time he leads off his production takes a nose dive. And that is on Joe.

 

[Rory Sparrow]

1. Has Heyward played up to his contract value? No.

Love this forum. It provides insight you just can't get as a casual observer of the team.

I can't express how irrelevant your entire posting is to your original post:

Schwarber has been a disappoinment this year. Countered by Heyward's better season.

 

[CSF77]

Love this forum. It provides insight you just can't get as a casual observer of the team.

I can't express how irrelevant your entire posting is to your original post:

The post was in value.

A +10 wRC+ IS ABOUT EQUAL TO A -17

10 + -17= -7 wRC+. That amount is negated in a good game.

That means player A has been 17% worse. Player B has been 10% better.

Then you went into this whole tangent of contract value and not becoming babe Jr.

Those are expectations of the VIEWER.

 

[DB012031]

Offensively, we actually in a good place, the issue IMO is how the every day line-up is constructed.

• Stop tinkering with the damn line-up on a game by game basis. Let the guys get into a rhythm and stop trying to be the smartest man in the room (Looking at you Joe).
• Move Kyle back to 6th in the line-up, just after Rizzo and Wilson. Let those homeruns drive in more runs instead of solo shots with no one on base
• Call me crazy, bat Heyward Lead-Off. This is his highest OBP since his 1 year in St. Louis and if memory serves, he batted lead-off that year as well. Take advantage of his speed (that year in St. Louis was also his highest base stealing year) which brings me to my next point
• FUCKING STEAL BASES!!! We have 24 for the year, second to LAST in the NL. We have smart, athletic runners in Heyward, KB, Baez, Almora, Wilson.....put their speed to good use.
• Russell is useless, just leave him on the bench for late inning replacement and to spot start for Baez when he needs a break. Live and Die with the new Kid...Shit in 3 games he has already shown more than Russell has all year.
• BUNT BUNT BUNT......We have the shift played against us more than any other team in baseball....If they are giving you a base, TAKE IT. I don't care if its Rizzo, Kyle or whomever, take what they give you. I guarantee, if Rizzo bunted at least 1x a game with that huge gap at 3rd, he probably gets onbase 75% of the time. He does that enough time, teams will stop playing the shift, which will open up the rest of the field for him.

 

[anotheridiot]

I don't recall saying the only reason the Cubs aren't living up to expectations is Schwarber and Heyward. For the third time, I was responding to the thought that Heyward's performance "counters" Schwarber's performance...I don't think either of them are setting the world on fire this year, and Heyward's contract continues to be an albatross.

But good to know that the reason the Cubs aren't doing better this year is because their 98 OPS+ hitter isn't getting more opportunities to come up with runners in scoring position. Makes sense.

Sorry that you are completely lost in this conversation.

Our lineup is based on putting a square peg in the leadoff spot, putting a guy in the 9th spot to act as another leadoff hitter (even though he is not considered good enough to be THE leadoff hitter), then get our best hitters next so we can get them more chances per game.

I really dont know where this started to make sense to anybody. It makes some sense if you want to give the square peg in the 1 hole a chance to drive in runs, but if you want that guy to have a chance to drive in runs, then hit him cleanup for christs sake.

Think of it in the dont clog up the bases sense and have runners like KB and Javy ahead of the slow guy Rizzo and give up on the RLR o rLRL deal.

The best lineups get a leadoff guy that can steal a base, or does not need to be sacrificed over, then two chances to drive him in. That is why Javy should lead off, then someone who wants to spread the ball all over the field to at least get him to second or third, so KB and Rizzo can get him home. Then you get 5 and 6 making outs and 7-8 (pitcher) making outs in the third. Then you get to start off with that other leadoff guy sometimes.

They left Heyward in the 2 hole all the first half of 2015 and he could not handle it the pressure. Otherwise it makes sense for him to be up there. But he gets pull happy, ground out hard right at someone for 10 games in a row.

If they are just holding the leadoff spot for Nico, them bring him up here. He is finally playing again and we can use him before he gets hurt again. That would be a nice start of Nico, Javy, KB and Rizzo. But if Nico can spread the ball around, maybe you just plug him in the 2 hole and let Javy leadoff and leave him there.

I really dont think the answer is trade for a leadoff guy. That is why part of seeing if Joe gets fired would be to see how someone else would handle this talent.

 

[Omeletpants]

• BUNT BUNT BUNT......

The only player on the team that can bunt is Quintana. Bunting is a skill that can be learned and the Cubs hitters are too prideful to learn or actually do it. That's on the players and also on Maddon. If he wanted it they would do it, but Maddon thinks he is fucking Earl Weaver

It's all about massive egos, which is why we need a guy like Girardi

 

[CSF77]

Offensively, we actually in a good place, the issue IMO is how the every day line-up is constructed.

• Stop tinkering with the damn line-up on a game by game basis. Let the guys get into a rhythm and stop trying to be the smartest man in the room (Looking at you Joe).
• Move Kyle back to 6th in the line-up, just after Rizzo and Wilson. Let those homeruns drive in more runs instead of solo shots with no one on base
• Call me crazy, bat Heyward Lead-Off. This is his highest OBP since his 1 year in St. Louis and if memory serves, he batted lead-off that year as well. Take advantage of his speed (that year in St. Louis was also his highest base stealing year) which brings me to my next point
• FUCKING STEAL BASES!!! We have 24 for the year, second to LAST in the NL. We have smart, athletic runners in Heyward, KB, Baez, Almora, Wilson.....put their speed to good use.
• Russell is useless, just leave him on the bench for late inning replacement and to spot start for Baez when he needs a break. Live and Die with the new Kid...Shit in 3 games he has already shown more than Russell has all year.
• BUNT BUNT BUNT......We have the shift played against us more than any other team in baseball....If they are giving you a base, TAKE IT. I don't care if its Rizzo, Kyle or whomever, take what they give you. I guarantee, if Rizzo bunted at least 1x a game with that huge gap at 3rd, he probably gets onbase 75% of the time. He does that enough time, teams will stop playing the shift, which will open up the rest of the field for him.

I somewhat agree with you except on a main point.

Ok I love the idea of moving Kyle down. But not leading off with Heyward.

This is a line up that could work.

1. Baez SS.
2. Rizzo 1B
3. Bryant LF
4. Contreras C
5. Heyward CF
6. Garcia 2B
7. Bote 3B
8. Schwarber LF
9 pitcher.

Well the idea is Garcia, Bote and Schwarber all take walks. And there might be pick up runs at the bottom. Pitcher in general is there to bunt. Then Baez is going to put the ball into play more than not. It is not really about the first up or OBA. It is more about table setting the top.

Almora and Russell are late inning defenders.

DFA Descalso.

Simple enough. Schwarber and Garcia get bumped to hold the lead. If tied or behind they need runs.

Outside of that getting Hamels healthy and Hendricks pitching into the 7th again will impact the 2nd half more than anything.

I wouldn't be shocked with a .650 clip as is if Joe just keeps things static. I get days off I do. Not killing the O.

 

[CSF77]

The only player on the team that can bunt is Quintana. Bunting is a skill that can be learned and the Cubs hitters are too prideful to learn or actually do it. That's on the players and also on Maddon. If he wanted it they would do it, but Maddon thinks he is fucking Earl Weaver

It's all about massive egos, which is why we need a guy like Girardi

Wouldn't shock me. I believe it would be good for the team. The adaptable line up works better when you are trying to fit in PA for Zobrist and Baez. Not Descalso and Russell. Joe's methods work better with a ship with out flaws.

 

[Omeletpants]

Wouldn't shock me. I believe it would be good for the team. The adaptable line up works better when you are trying to fit in PA for Zobrist and Baez. Not Descalso and Russell. Joe's methods work better with a ship with out flaws.

When the Cubs win there are high fives and smiles all around. But when they lose there barely seems to be any disappointment even when a pitcher totally screws up. All ho hum and Maddons has them back in the line up the next day

 

[SilenceS]

This thread has been beautiful with assumptions and random conjecture. Come on Friday

 

[anotheridiot]

I somewhat agree with you except on a main point.

Ok I love the idea of moving Kyle down. But not leading off with Heyward.

This is a line up that could work.

1. Baez SS.
2. Rizzo 1B
3. Bryant LF
4. Contreras C
5. Heyward CF
6. Garcia 2B
7. Bote 3B
8. Schwarber LF
9 pitcher.

But this is what cloggs up the bases. Its not as bad as Javy lapping Rizzo when he hits fourth, but same deal. Let Rizzo stay 4th to drive in the runs.

Maybe Contrares can handle the 2 hole, Schwarber might, but there we go clogging the bases again.

It would help to have someone in RF too.

 

[CSF77]

But this is what cloggs up the bases. Its not as bad as Javy lapping Rizzo when he hits fourth, but same deal. Let Rizzo stay 4th to drive in the runs.

Maybe Contrares can handle the 2 hole, Schwarber might, but there we go clogging the bases again.

It would help to have someone in RF too.

You act like having people on base is a bad thing. I really don't understand. So a runner on base means that they are clogging up the running lanes or something of that nature?

Oh boy.

Ok let me explain something. Man walks to first base. Pitcher bunts him to 2B. Javy hits the ball and run scores.

Basic enough for you now?