OF Defense

[UMFan83]

Is there anyway to quantify how bad our OF defense is? I was just thinking that this is one area where we HAVE to improve next year. First of all, there isn't one OF on this team who has anything better then a below average arm (power and accuracy). Other then Pierre, not one OF has average range. How many extra bases have the opponents gotten because of this? How many extra runs have been scored?

 

I don't think enough emphasis was placed on defense last offseason, despite Hendry's supposed desire to look for people who can 'catch the ball'. The problem is, defense is so hard to quantify, and when you can quantify parts of it, people don't think its important enough. Honestly, we need help in all 3 main fascets of the game, probably moreso then defense, but it shouldn't be ignored completely.

 

Anyone agree or have any additional insights?

[SouthSideRyan]

Is there anyway to quantify how bad our OF defense is? I was just thinking that this is one area where we HAVE to improve next year. First of all, there isn't one OF on this team who has anything better then a below average arm (power and accuracy). Other then Pierre, not one OF has average range. How many extra bases have the opponents gotten because of this? How many extra runs have been scored?

 

I don't think enough emphasis was placed on defense last offseason, despite Hendry's supposed desire to look for people who can 'catch the ball'. The problem is, defense is so hard to quantify, and when you can quantify parts of it, people don't think its important enough. Honestly, we need help in all 3 main fascets of the game, probably moreso then defense, but it shouldn't be ignored completely.

 

Anyone agree or have any additional insights?

 

With our pitchers being high K guys, I don't think we should focus on defense nearly as much as on guys who actually get on base. As you said, it's so hard to quantify, and what happense when you have Hendry looking for good defense, you wind up with the team you have now. I definitely have to disagree on Jones's range though, he's pretty stellar when it comes to tracking balls down in RF, he just has a horrendous arm.

[goonys evil twin]

I think it would be a huge mistake to focus on OF defense this offseason. They need offense. If they can improve the defense with guys who can hit, great, but you have to get guys who can hit first. OF defense is not what is costing this team. Just like last year defense was not the reason for the failure. The Cubs have to realize that the reason for their failure is very simple.

 

The offense has take too few walks and hit too few homers.

The pitching has given up too many walks and too many homers.

 

Fix those areas long before you worry about improving OF defense.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Agreed. I'll start complaining about our defense when our pitching staff's ERA is 3 and we're losing games 11-10.

[UMFan83]

I agree, like I said its not the most important issue. I am really not an expert, so I can't really judge how many runs it has cost the Cubs. It maybe only be like 5 runs for all I know. I'm not saying that we should go out and get people who play D and not focus on their offense. Give me Carlos Lee and Bobby Abreu in the offseason and I am not complaining.

 

But I dunno, I'm just sick of seeing Juan Pierre three hop the cutoff man, and then watching not only the runner score, but the hitter get to third and lead to another run. Murton as we know has been pretty terrible in right, and Jones seems to forget to use his brain a few times a week out there.

[cubfan1955]

I agree with the others that it's not our most pressing need but it's pretty comical at times to see Pierre and Jones throwing. Pierre probably has the weakest throwing arm I've ever seen and Jones will throw a ball straight into the ground one time and then turn around and lob a wedge into the pitchers mound the next. Murton isn't great but he's not nearly as bad as Jones and Pierre. I remember a lot of people ragging on how badly Soriano would be in the outfield and he has something like 13 or 14 assists in LF this year.

[biittner77]

I think it would be a huge mistake to focus on OF defense this offseason. They need offense. If they can improve the defense with guys who can hit, great, but you have to get guys who can hit first. OF defense is not what is costing this team. Just like last year defense was not the reason for the failure. The Cubs have to realize that the reason for their failure is very simple.

 

The offense has take too few walks and hit too few homers.

The pitching has given up too many walks and too many homers.

 

Fix those areas long before you worry about improving OF defense.

 

I was in Chicago last week and the Trib had the Cubs and Sox stats side by side. The pitching stats aren't all that much different in terms of team ERA. What really jumps out is that the Sox have hit about twice as many HRs, scored at least a hundred more runs and- to the surprise of no one not named Hendry or Baker- the Sox have a significantly higher OBP.

[frostwyrm]

When a team needs offense as desperately as the Cubs it has to make defense a secondary priority. I'd even be willing to put up with Pierre's girlie arm if I really liked his offensive game.

[halplm]

the problem with this team is not that they're bad at any one area... it's that it's made up of people Dusty and Hendry "like" with no regard for their actual execution.

 

half the Cubs roster shouldn't even be playing, much less starting for a major league team...

[Fro]

The bigger issue is they all have noodle arms except for Jacque, and he can't hit the broadside of a barn when he throws, not the range.

[Rob]

Murton is actually 12 FRAA this year. The other guys come in at league average.

[UMFan83]

Murton is actually 12 FRAA this year. The other guys come in at league average.

 

I must have missed the meaning of that stat. What is FRAA?

[goonys evil twin]

Murton is actually 12 FRAA this year. The other guys come in at league average.

 

I must have missed the meaning of that stat. What is FRAA?

 

Fielding Runs above average?

[Texas Goat Farmer]

Murton is actually 12 FRAA this year. The other guys come in at league average.

 

I must have missed the meaning of that stat. What is FRAA?

 

Fielding Runs above average?

 

 

And how exactly is that used in evaluating an outfielder? Not asking to be smart, but would like to know. I, too, had not heard of that stat.