Moment too big for the Cubs

[Omeletpants]

Article explaining why Cubs arent ready for prime time..
http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/42624/cubs-swinging-their-way-to-an-early-offseason

 

[Omeletpants]

Yeah Omelet, they look like they went to the Starlin Castro School of Plate Discipline

 

[greg23]

I asked yesterday if anyone knew how many balls we swung at as the game was happening.....


We'll the article sums it up and it's sickening.

51% of the balls swung at were out of the zone....2nd highest % in all of baseball this year.

I also said baez needs to be benched.

One meathead wanted to hit him cleanup another meathead said no way you bench one of your best players.....well...

17 swings by baez with runners in scoring position...0....ZERO balls put in play

Sickening.

He HAS to be on the bench tonight to start.

On a side note......it pretty clear the w/s roster was flawed with 3 catchers (none other than contreras as really pH options), a dh/pH only in schwarber and most importantly almora over lastella was a mistake.......clev is all right handed making Almora useless as a pH, heyward is the defensive outfielder (don't think maddon has used heyward and Almora together in the field at the same time this postseason) and there was the risk of one or both of baez/Russell going in the tank vs all clev right handed pithcing.....having lastella at least gives maddon inf options.

For a team and manager that was super flexible all year I don't think bryant has played the of, zobrist played the inf and maddon pretty much rolled out the same starting inf all 14 games.

 

[fatbeard]

I asked yesterday if anyone knew how many balls we swung at as the game was happening.....


We'll the article sums it up and it's sickening.

51% of the balls swung at were out of the zone....2nd highest % in all of baseball this year.

I also said baez needs to be benched.

One meathead wanted to hit him cleanup another meathead said no way you bench one of your best players.....well...

17 swings by baez with runners in scoring position...0....ZERO balls put in play

Sickening.

He HAS to be on the bench tonight to start.

On a side note......it pretty clear the w/s roster was flawed with 3 catchers (none other than contreras as really pH options), a dh/pH only in schwarber and most importantly almora over lastella was a mistake.......clev is all right handed making Almora useless as a pH, heyward is the defensive outfielder (don't think maddon has used heyward and Almora together in the field at the same time this postseason) and there was the risk of one or both of baez/Russell going in the tank vs all clev right handed pithcing.....having lastella at least gives maddon inf options.

For a team and manager that was super flexible all year I don't think bryant has played the of, zobrist played the inf and maddon pretty much rolled out the same starting inf all 14 games.

There is nothing wrong with the roster construction. The Cubs are losing because in the past two games they have completely abandoned the offensive approach that won them 103 games and two playoff series.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Yeah Omelet, they look like they went to the Starlin Castro School of Plate Discipline

So they've morphed into one of the worst teams in baseball, but they made it to the WS. Got it.

 

[fatbeard]

So they've morphed into one of the worst teams in baseball, but they made it to the WS. Got it.

They also made it to the WS despite never winning a playoff series. It's magic!

 

[ijustposthere]

I asked yesterday if anyone knew how many balls we swung at as the game was happening.....


We'll the article sums it up and it's sickening.

51% of the balls swung at were out of the zone....2nd highest % in all of baseball this year.

I also said baez needs to be benched.

One meathead wanted to hit him cleanup another meathead said no way you bench one of your best players.....well...

17 swings by baez with runners in scoring position...0....ZERO balls put in play

Sickening.

He HAS to be on the bench tonight to start.

On a side note......it pretty clear the w/s roster was flawed with 3 catchers (none other than contreras as really pH options), a dh/pH only in schwarber and most importantly almora over lastella was a mistake.......clev is all right handed making Almora useless as a pH, heyward is the defensive outfielder (don't think maddon has used heyward and Almora together in the field at the same time this postseason) and there was the risk of one or both of baez/Russell going in the tank vs all clev right handed pithcing.....having lastella at least gives maddon inf options.

For a team and manager that was super flexible all year I don't think bryant has played the of, zobrist played the inf and maddon pretty much rolled out the same starting inf all 14 games.

LOL. You want to put Coghlan in over Baez. In what might be the last game of the season.

 

[Omeletpants]

Baez needs a fucking wake up call. I have a feeling that talking to him has zero impact. Sitting on the bench is the only way to get his attention

 

[ijustposthere]

Baez needs a fucking wake up call. I have a feeling that talking to him has zero impact. Sitting on the bench is the only way to get his attention

Maybe if this were Game 93 of the regular season and not Game 5 of the World Series.

 

[greg23]

LOL. You want to put Coghlan in over Baez. In what might be the last game of the season.

Personally I'd prefer lastella as the additional lhb on the roster over almora this series and said so before the series started.
And yes it's a bit of a flawed roster with 1 guy who can only pinch hit and 2 guys who can only catch (and a 3rd who can play lf but hasn't in the playoffs) and another guy (almora) who basically isnt allowed to start and doesn't even really come in much as a defensive replacement (which is the only reason he's on the roster). For a team that prided itself on its versatility all-year there are little to no fallback options if guys struggle.

If lastella was on the roster I'd absolutely have him starting this game at 3b with bryant in lf and zobrist at 2b.

Since he's not....I would not have baez starting. He has been awful all year vs rhp and especially this series.

So; the only options are coglhan or soler in lf.

I'm fine starting either one over baez...coglhan offers another lhb while soler offers more recent ab's that are productive but hits rh

Either one should be hitting 5th with Russell 6th heyward 7th Ross 8th and Iester 9th....get a lead and get baez in for defense around the 6th or 7th

 

[Bronze65]

Baez needs a fucking wake up call. I have a feeling that talking to him has zero impact. Sitting on the bench is the only way to get his attention

Do you enjoy listening to the sound of your own stupid voice?

 

[Omeletpants]

Do you enjoy listening to the sound of your own stupid voice?

Your voice sounds like that of a 15 year old. Put the Cheetos and grape juice down and come out of your Mom's basement for awhile

 

[DanTown]

Meh. They take the first pitch a lot which makes sense in a 4000 PA style approach over the entire year but against the truly elite pitchers in the playoffs, the Cubs simply struggle to get themselves out of 0-1 holes.

Regular season
0-1 slash
.223/.289/.357

1-0 slash
.281/.412/.488

Indians in this series first strike
Gm 1 - 20 for 36 (55.6% aka Francisco Liriano 69 of 73 qualified starters)
Gm 2 - 27 for 45 (60% aka Jason Hammel, 47)
Gm 3 - 22 for 34 (64.7% aka David Price, 11)
Gm 3 - 26 for 35 (74.3% aka 5% better than best in baseball Clayton Kershaw)

 

[Guess Who]

The Cubs are choking.

 

[fatbeard]

The Cubs are choking.

According to generally all intelligent people, the term "choking" is reserved for a team that has victory in the bag with a large lead and allows it to slip away at the last moment of a game, not when they get handily beaten from the opening pitch. Clearly you don't fit into this group of people.