Bruce hits it on the head again.....

[baseball7897]

Awesome article Bruce. =D> Any chance you can be the GM?

[E.J.]

Top 5 teams in OBP:

 

1. NY Yankees

2. Boston

3. Toronto

4. LA Dodgers

5. Cleveland

 

 

Top 5 teams in Runs Scored:

 

1. Cleveland

2. NY Yankees

3. Toronto

4. LA Dodgers

5. Texas

 

Boston comes in at #9 in runs scored.

 

 

Bottom 5 in OBP:

 

26. San Diego

27. LA Angels

28. Kansas City

29. Cubs

30. Tampa Bay

 

 

Bottom 5 in Runs:

 

26. Tampa Bay

27. San Diego

28. Colorado

29. Cubs

30. Kansas City

 

 

 

It really is no surprise that teams who get on base more score more runs. It still amazes me that Hendry and Company are still more worried about getting toolsy players instead of players who get on base. It's such a simple concept to understand, yet the Cubs are clueless.

[Bruce Miles]

Great article, Bruce! I know its an article, not a book, but I get the feeling the casual baseball fan who loves his batting average and rbis won't really grasp how important OBP is and just view it as some secondary stat that would be nice to have. But even so, for those who know what you're talking about, its a refreshing read, and well done.

 

You make a great point. I had an older gentleman ask me what slugging percentage was. So no, not everybody grasps the OBP concept yet (some of them are working in baseball), but it's catching on, thanks in large part to great fans like you guys.

[Tracer Bullet]

Even by traditional measures, like AVG, Pierre and Neifi are terrible this year. There's no excuse for continuing to run Pierre out there at the top of the order every game.

[ltb]

So no, not everybody grasps the OBP concept yet (some of them are working in baseball)

 

this was a good one.

[cubfan1955]

I wonder how much of it is just pride and stubborness with Hendry and Baker? It seems the more criticism they get, the more they dig their heels in to keep doing it their way like signing Rusch and Neifi to multi year contracts and batting Neifi 2nd.

 

It's really scary what this team would be like had Hendry found a taker for Walker.

[BigbadB]

It's so refreshing to see an article like this.

 

The 4 players that are blasted in this article are the same 4 players I've been harping on all along. Each signing or trade was a horrible decision on their own. Combining any two of the signings or trades borders on ridiculous. Combining the 4 of them together should be enough to justify losing your job. Instead, we saw an extension, which is beyond mind-boggling.

 

I can't think of a single baseball man outside of the Cubs organization that could sit here and analyze what Hendry and Baker have done with this team and honestly say that this organization hasn't been moving backwards ever since they made the last out in the 2003 playoffs.

 

Not every move has been a bad one. But, way too many have been horrible.

 

Since the end of 2003, the Cubs have added approximately 20m to the yearly payroll, they had quality players on the major league roster and had one of the top farm systems in baseball. They shed their roster of all the bad contracts, and they were in a position to build a powerhouse team. The words dynasty were being spoken around here after the 2003 season, myself included.

 

I'm not a pessimist. As much as I speak negatively about the Cubs these days is how I spoke positively about the Cubs as the 2003 season came to a close. The future was bright.

 

The farm system isn't nearly the strength as it once was. The increased payroll was wasted on non-difference makers and lost causes. The talent at the major league level was sent packing for little or no return (Patterson, Nomar).

 

If baseball people were to write a book on how to screw up an organization, they could just go back and look at what Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker have been doing since 2003 came to a close and write the perfect recipe for a best seller.

 

They are getting exactly what they paid for. Awesome article, Bruce!

[3Dog]

That's the problem, he and Baker are baseball men. Their arrogance prohibits them from thinking that fans, sabrematicians, media, statisticians, etc. could possibly know what is valuable to a baseball team.

 

Excellent point, Dalgreen. Arrogance is exactly what it is. Matter of fact I can hear a voice that sounds just like Joe Morgan's saying "unless you played the game, you can't have a true understanding of it".

[BigbadB]

That's the problem, he and Baker are baseball men. Their arrogance prohibits them from thinking that fans, sabrematicians, media, statisticians, etc. could possibly know what is valuable to a baseball team.

 

Excellent point, Dalgreen. Arrogance is exactly what it is. Matter of fact I can hear a voice that sounds just like Joe Morgan's saying "unless you played the game, you can't have a true understanding of it".

 

There's probably a lot of truth in this. As there is probably a lot of truth that Hendry doesn't really know how to build a winning team. Instead of copying teams like Atlanta or the New York Yankees, he emulates the Florida Marlins and Chicago White Sox.

 

Copying another teams success because you aren't creative enough to build a winning team yourself wouldn't be such a bad thing if you copied organizations that establish long term success, not just one year wonders.

 

But, what would I know? I'm not a "baseball man".

[Jon]

Great article.

 

I particularly enjoyed seeing the phrase "sickly OBP."

[Tracer Bullet]

I can't think of a single baseball man outside of the Cubs organization that could sit here and analyze what Hendry and Baker have done with this team and honestly say that this organization hasn't been moving backwards ever since they made the last out in the 2003 playoffs.

 

Not sure if he qualifies, but I'm pretty sure Joe Morgan wouldn't see these actions as taking a step back. He'd probably just blame it on injuries.

[Derwood]

Instead of copying teams like Atlanta or the New York Yankees, he emulates the Florida Marlins and Chicago White Sox. .

 

Of course, if he ACTUALLY copied the White Sox, we'd be in good shape. Instead he copied what the media made up about the White Sox (Ozzieball) instead.

 

White Sox 2005 = Healthy pitching + lots of homers

 

Chicago Cubs 2006 = Injured pitching + no homers

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm leaning toward not reading Bruce's columns anymore. They have been making me feel a bit depressed of late. It's one thing to gripe about the same old stuff here, but it really hits home when it's printed for all to see.

 

Man, I hate the Cobs.

[gus_dog]

I wonder how much of it is just pride and stubborness with Hendry and Baker? It seems the more criticism they get, the more they dig their heels in to keep doing it their way like signing Rusch and Neifi to multi year contracts and batting Neifi 2nd.

 

Dusty Baker is one of the most stubborn folks I've ever seen. He will refuse to throw in the towel on something he believes should work, even though all evidence illustrates the failure. :x

[cubfan1955]

I wonder how much of it is just pride and stubborness with Hendry and Baker? It seems the more criticism they get, the more they dig their heels in to keep doing it their way like signing Rusch and Neifi to multi year contracts and batting Neifi 2nd.

 

Dusty Baker is one of the most stubborn folks I've ever seen. He will refuse to throw in the towel on something he believes should work, even though all evidence illustrates the failure. :x

I agree. He and Hendry have dug themselves a large hole. The only way out is to admit they've been wrong all this time and I don't see either man being big enough to accept that fact.

[BigSlick]

Great article, Bruce! I know its an article, not a book, but I get the feeling the casual baseball fan who loves his batting average and rbis won't really grasp how important OBP is and just view it as some secondary stat that would be nice to have. But even so, for those who know what you're talking about, its a refreshing read, and well done.

 

You make a great point. I had an older gentleman ask me what slugging percentage was. So no, not everybody grasps the OBP concept yet (some of them are working in baseball), but it's catching on, thanks in large part to great fans like you guys.

 

Thanks, and thank you for trying to impart true baseball knowledge on the rest of us.

[Abe Frohman]

I don't get it. What is so hard about understanding the correlation between getting on base and scoring runs? For a team with such a lack of power, you would think the Cubs at least had players who could get on base.

 

I think that since defenses have taken the bunt away from Pierre (is that not what has happened), we see that he really isn't that good of a hitter.

 

Florida raped us with that deal. I guess it is fair, because we have been raping Pittsburgh so far this century.

[Magnetic Curses]

you can learn much about a philosophy by studying it's polar opposite.

 

you can learn much about the a's by studying the cubs, an inefficient, big market, big payroll team.

 

lewis should follow around jim hendry and gary hughes for a year and write a book called "moneyball II: burning money out of spite and reaction."

[Mark Priors Calves]

I hope MacPhail doesn't yell at you in his office.

[beowulf28]

Great article Bruce! The downside is I guess Hendry won't be granting you any interviews in the near future, but since that is like talking to a brick wall, I guess it doesn't really matter. The proof is in the pudding and not the excuses this organization continually makes for it's non success.

 

 

You're right about that! I heard Hendry talking to David Kaplan on WGN's Sports Central last night, and it seemed to be just more of the same drivel. While Hendry's made good moves in the past (D. Lee, Aramis), he's made more bad moves. I agree with the person who also can't figure out why Dusty gets frustrated about teams getting on base and scoring runs against us, and then can't figure out how good that would be for our team. I just don't get this regime.

 

Oh yeah, great article, Bruce! =D>

[FergieJ31]

you can learn much about a philosophy by studying it's polar opposite.

 

you can learn much about the a's by studying the cubs, an inefficient, big market, big payroll team.

 

lewis should follow around jim hendry and gary hughes for a year and write a book called "moneyball II: burning money out of spite and reaction."

 

Absolutely! Well said. I've often commented about how the Cubs are the very antithesis of Moneyball. I remember a section in the book where Beane (or maybe Lewis himself) comments about the pitfalls of scouting a player based on how he looks, or his athleticism. Billy Beane LOOKED like a great ballplayer but he couldn't hit a lick at the big league level. As a player he has Cub written all over him. As a GM, well ... if only :roll:

 

Lenny Dykstra, on the other hand, apparently wasn't fazed in the slightest about facing Steve Carlton :) That's the type of player you want on your team, career OBP 0.375

[JC]

By "it", I was hoping the title to this thread was referencing Dusty...

[NorthsideAvenger]

The problem with Hendry (I WAS a backer of Hendry, not a hater, just not a supporter) is that he focuses too much on a certain need.

 

Hendry has been focusing too much on specialists type players (Hairston for versatility, Perez for his glove, Mabry because he hits left handed, and Rush because he "throws" left handed), and not enough on "jack of all trades" players. Guys who can hit, field, throw, run...have baseball instints, and produces.

 

And until the Cubs learn how to spend the money CORRECTLY, this team will continue to be mocked as a "Major League franchise."

[BigbadB]

Fun facts:

 

Derrek Lee has as many walks as Juan Pierre and Neifi Perez combined.

Derrek Lee has 3 more walks than Jacque Jones.

 

The Cubs pitching staff has 5 more RBI than Juan Pierre.

 

The Cubs 2 spot in the order is now officially worse than the lead off spot.

 

Lead off= .290 OBP

#2 spot= .288 OBP

 

Brilliant!

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Derrek Lee has as many walks as Ronny Cedeno and Neifi Perez combined.

 

Fixed. Wish it was better news, though. :cry: