Bruce Miles New Article and JJ Is (not) Crazy

[Balsa]

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp

 

Some exerpts:

 

The Cubs as a whole are up to their old tricks of not taking walks, and that seems to be in line with the “aggressive” style of hitting Baker favors, even as he laments his pitchers giving up walks and watching the other team score runs as a result.

 

Entering Saturday, they Cubs ranked last in the National League in walks with only 36 in their first 15 games. They were 15th of 16 teams in on-base percentage (.321). Cubs batters drew 4 walks Saturday.

 

Gotta love the biting truth by Mr. Miles.

 

And this quote by Jacque Jones has my head spinning:

 

Manager Dusty Baker said he and hitting coach Gene Clines have been “visiting” with Jones, who has 1 homer and 4 RBI.

 

“I’m not hitting, you know what I mean?” Jones said. “I know what they’re doing. They’re trying to walk me, but I won’t let them. They’re throwing everything in off the plate. It’s a ball. They’re trying to walk me. They’re just not throwing strikes.”

 

:shock: :shock: :shock:

Edited April 23, 2006 by Balsa

[Balsa]

From the previous article (http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp?id=180859)

 

 

Just one day after manager Dusty Baker talked about the need to take advantage of situations, the Cubs did just the opposite during a yawner of a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

To wit:

 

•With a man on first base and one out in the first inning, Todd Walker singled to right-center but got himself thrown out by a wide margin at second base on the return throw from third base. The Cubs, whose offense needs every boost it can get, scored nothing that inning.

 

•Baker double-switched two of his better bats, Walker and Matt Murton, out of the game in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. Into the game came light-hitting subs Neifi Perez and Freddie Bynum.

 

Way to go Mr. Miles! I was hoping someone would call Baker on that....

[FergieJ31]

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/cubs.asp

 

Some exerpts:

 

The Cubs as a whole are up to their old tricks of not taking walks, and that seems to be in line with the “aggressive” style of hitting Baker favors, even as he laments his pitchers giving up walks and watching the other team score runs as a result.

 

Entering Saturday, they Cubs ranked last in the National League in walks with only 36 in their first 15 games. They were 15th of 16 teams in on-base percentage (.321). Cubs batters drew 4 walks Saturday.

 

Gotta love the biting truth by Mr. Miles.

 

And this quote by Jacque Jones has my head spinning:

 

Manager Dusty Baker said he and hitting coach Gene Clines have been “visiting” with Jones, who has 1 homer and 4 RBI.

 

“I’m not hitting, you know what I mean?” Jones said. “I know what they’re doing. They’re trying to walk me, but I won’t let them. They’re throwing everything in off the plate. It’s a ball. They’re trying to walk me. They’re just not throwing strikes.”

 

:shock: :shock: :shock:

 

On the surface this is an astonishing statement, but in JJ's defense there are two ways to parse this:

 

The bad way, arrogant: "Hey, I don't want to take a walk."

 

The good way, sarcastic/self-deprecating: "I should be taking more walks but I'm swinging at everything."

 

Everything else I've read about JJ suggests he's a relatively humble guy (I read the backpage feature on him in the Trib last week), so I prefer to go with the 2nd interpretation.

[Balsa]

Okay, that makes a bit more sense. There's got to be a better way of phrasing it though.

[RynoRules]

Either the Herald or you missed the end of that JJ quote (which appeared in this morning's Trib). It ended with (paraphrase): "I've got to do a better of job of taking walks."

 

In any case, what you posted above is not accurate. It omits the context /follow-up.

[Balsa]

I'm quoting the Herald directly. Thanks for the additional line, it really clarifies things.

[Balsa]

This is the direct quote from the Tribune:

 

"They're trying to walk me, bottom line," Jones said. "They're throwing everything in off the plate, trying to walk me. They're just not throwing strikes, and I'm not letting them walk me. … It'd be good to take some walks."

[E.J.]

So we're last in walks and 2nd to last in OBP, but Clines and Sarge want probably our most patient hitter at this point (Murton) to be more aggressive. We're never going to be good until Hendry, Baker, and company realize the importance of a walk, which means we'll probably never be good.

[minnesotacubsfan]

This is the direct quote from the Tribune:

 

"They're trying to walk me, bottom line," Jones said. "They're throwing everything in off the plate, trying to walk me. They're just not throwing strikes, and I'm not letting them walk me. … It'd be good to take some walks."

 

wow, for a moment I thought Jones was competely brainwashed by sarge

[MembersOnlyJacket]

 

On the surface this is an astonishing statement, but in JJ's defense there are two ways to parse this:

 

The bad way, arrogant: "Hey, I don't want to take a walk."

 

The good way, sarcastic/self-deprecating: "I should be taking more walks but I'm swinging at everything."

 

Everything else I've read about JJ suggests he's a relatively humble guy (I read the backpage feature on him in the Trib last week), so I prefer to go with the 2nd interpretation.

 

He is suggesting the second point, but this is a hitter who has walked more than 50 times just once with a career .327 OBP. What you see is what you get. He was a terrible addition to this offense.

[David]

So we're last in walks and 2nd to last in OBP, but Clines and Sarge want probably our most patient hitter at this point (Murton) to be more aggressive. We're never going to be good until Hendry, Baker, and company realize the importance of a walk, which means we'll probably never be good.

 

Until they're gone, any success we have will be a fluke. Luck.

[Coach C]

I guess I cannot understand the purpose of "aggressive" hitting or whatever the concept is.

 

Simple rule: If it's a good pitch, hit it. If it's not, lay off of it. Take walks.

[bhogg]

i'll bet ya dollar to a donut that they sure as hades ain't trying to walk jacques jones.

[gflore34]

i'll bet ya dollar to a donut that they sure as hades ain't trying to walk jacques jones.

 

Same here, the point is he'll swing and miss at anything so why throw strikes?

[frostwyrm]

Either the Herald or you missed the end of that JJ quote (which appeared in this morning's Trib). It ended with (paraphrase): "I've got to do a better of job of taking walks."

 

In any case, what you posted above is not accurate. It omits the context /follow-up.

That's a pretty charitable paraphrase.

[cubfan1955]

i'll bet ya dollar to a donut that they sure as hades ain't trying to walk jacques jones.

 

Same here, the point is he'll swing and miss at anything so why throw strikes?

Ala Corey Patterson...

 

Jones - 1 hr - 4 RBI - .194

Patterson - 1 hr - 4 RBI - .156

 

We coulda saved millions by keeping Patterson and got the same production.

[Guest]

I'm not sure if any of Jones' perceptions are very accurate. He is seeing more pitches off the plate than a normal batter, but not by much. 56.8% of the pitches thrown to Jones have been in or near the strike zone, compared to a league-average rate of 58.8%. Jones had seen 148 pitches through Saturday's game, translating into three fewer pitches in the zone over 16 games. I'd say it's safe to say that opposing pitchers aren't afraid of pitching to Jacque.

 

What is a true is that Jones is doing a terrible job of laying off those pitches out of the zone. The typical MLB batter will swing at a pitch out of the zone about 8.8% of the time. Jones exands his strike zone about twice as often, 15.6% of the time.

[RynoRules]

Either the Herald or you missed the end of that JJ quote (which appeared in this morning's Trib). It ended with (paraphrase): "I've got to do a better of job of taking walks."

 

In any case, what you posted above is not accurate. It omits the context /follow-up.

That's a pretty charitable paraphrase.

 

Which is why I noted that it was a paraphrase. I never claimed to be Woodward or Bernstein. Since there is a tendency to rush to judgemnt around here these days, I thought it important to judge JJ's thoughts based on what they actually were, and not what was posted above. If you don't like my qualifiers, go do your own research.