Attention Cubs Pitchers: Throw Strikes

[TheDude]

166 Walks in 37 games.

 

Are you kidding me? That's 2nd worse in baseball. The Cubs pitchers' BAA is actually 5th best in all of baseball at .248 and the 300 hits against is bested only by Detroit's staff league leading 284 hits against.

 

Fans are tired of watching Cubs pitchers give up one hit in an inning that results in 1-2 runs. We're tired of seeing boxscore lines that show the Cubs hitters with equal or more hits than the opposing team, but with significantly fewer runs.

 

For the love of baseball stop giving away free base runners. If you can't walk fewer than 4 guys per 9 innings, then you are going to lose.

 

Props to Howry for only 2 walks in 18 innings. Props to Maddux as always. Slops to all other pitchers.

 

I don't care if the hitting is slumping right now, the fact of the matter is that the Cubs should still be .500 given the current numbers and could be a few games over .500 without this obscene walking problem.

 

Pitchers need to step up, throw strikes, and quit giving away free runs. Take control of this floundering magpie and make the other team earn their victories.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

They've only given up 300 hits because they're too busy walking everyone else. I refuse to see that as a good sign yet.

 

However, they should take a page from every other team's book in that by not walking so many, you just might put yourself in better shape to win. We just had another masterful 2-hit performance against "some guy". Once in a while against a good pitcher is fine, but it's happening against the likes of Chan Ho Park and Clay Hensley. The major difference is, the other teams are patient and taking walks while our pitchers are nibbling and being cute. They are attacking our hitters (using the law of averages that more than 70% of the time, a player will make an out).

[LoneStarCubFan]

Yet Larry Rothschild still has a job.

[MustangMike]

Yet Larry Rothschild still has a job.

 

My thoughts exactly...how do either the pitching coach or the hitting coach have jobs? Everyone bashes dusty, I don't see them doing their jobs either! My big problem is with Rothschild, what has he doen with the talent he's been given?

[TheDude]

They've only given up 300 hits because they're too busy walking everyone else. I refuse to see that as a good sign yet.

 

I think the low hit total is a good sign. There are guys on this team with serious movement. A guy like Zambrano isn't going to give up many solid hits on good pitches - only on occasional mistakes. That applies to half the staff, though to a lesser extent as Zambrano is the guy with the most bat-missing capability.

 

I mean hell, the year Zambrano stops walking guys is the year he wins a Cy Young. This whole staff is good. When healthy, it can be the best in baseball top to bottom, but not until the free runs stop.

[soapy]

One of the amaizing things about the Cubs (as has been for a few years) is that they have pitchers who continually give up too many walks and hitters who continually take too few.

 

 

I wonder why some people think Cubs' management doesn't properly value the walk (and indirectly, OBP).

[YearofDaCubs]

It's time for changes and the first thing that needs to go is the coaching staff. How much more of this can we take?

[goonys evil twin]

Yet Larry Rothschild still has a job.

 

My thoughts exactly...how do either the pitching coach or the hitting coach have jobs? Everyone bashes dusty, I don't see them doing their jobs either! My big problem is with Rothschild, what has he doen with the talent he's been given?

 

It's pretty clear they should all go. Any Baker bashing implicitly includes his coaches. Just like Neifi bashing extends to the men who signed and now play him.

[Captain Barnicle]

I think those stats might be directly correlated, thus invalidating your argument. If we have pitchers throwing crap off the plate and walking people, you aren't going to have a whole lot of hits. There will be lots of walks (check) and a low opposing player BA (check).

 

If they start putting stuff right down the pipe, I would guess that the BA will go up and the walks will go down. Hopefully you can find a ballance in-between.

[TheDude]

I think those stats might be directly correlated, thus invalidating your argument. If we have pitchers throwing crap off the plate and walking people, you aren't going to have a whole lot of hits. There will be lots of walks (check) and a low opposing player BA (check).

 

If they start putting stuff right down the pipe, I would guess that the BA will go up and the walks will go down. Hopefully you can find a ballance in-between.

 

Sorry but they are not directly correlated stats historically. Bad pitching is bad pitching, and there are a number of teams that give up a lot of walks and a lot of hits (both Florida teams).

 

It is a misconception to think that there are fewer opportunities for hits because of walks. More plate appearances means more opportunities for hits - all a walk does it delay one plate appearance. Not only that, but having baserunners often puts a pitcher into an alternate pitching pattern that is not as good as a full motion, decreasing his effectiveness and thus increasing the hitters' opportunities.

 

You can have wild pitching that is also good pitching, primarily with starting pitchers. Anytime you target guys with lots of movement as the Cubs have done in the MacPhail/Hendry era, you take the wildness with the top rate performances. But there accepted wildness (Zambrano's previous years) and the current team's unnacceptable wildness.