Barrett - Double switch in a tie ballgame?

[bobbyd20]

I didn't get a chance to see tonight's game and am just browsing through the box score now.

 

Does MLB have it right that Dusty make a double switch in the bottom of the seventh and took out his leading hitter (Barrett - .314) when the game was tied?

 

How can someone do that with as anemic of an offense as they Cubs have displayed this season? Does anyone on the coaching staff have any common sense?

[Fred Hornkohl]

I didn't get a chance to see tonight's game and am just browsing through the box score now.

 

Does MLB have it right that Dusty make a double switch in the bottom of the seventh and took out his leading hitter (Barrett - .314) when the game was tied?

 

How can someone do that with as anemic of an offense as they Cubs have displayed this season? Does anyone on the coaching staff have any common sense?

 

08/21 - 08/27      AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR   TB  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
Blanco              9    1    4    2    0    0    6    1    0    1  0.444  0.444  0.667  1.111
Barrett            18    2    1    0    0    1    4    3    1    2  0.056  0.105  0.222  0.327

[RichHillIsABeast]

Barrett is also pretty poor with RISP this season, IIRC. Personally, I don't buy into that stat b/c of it's lack of predictability from season to season, but Dusty certainly does. At least there is some stat based evidence for his decision, besides Barrett's recent slump and Hank White's recent offensive dominance.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Barrett's also still not at 100%.

[Fred Hornkohl]

Barrett is also pretty poor with RISP this season, IIRC. Personally, I don't buy into that stat b/c of it's lack of predictability from season to season, but Dusty certainly does. At least there is some stat based evidence for his decision, besides Barrett's recent slump and Hank White's recent offensive dominance.

 

Barrett has actually done a pretty good job of driving in baserunners this year. Blaco's numbers look better, but the sample is smaller, and I don't think he could maintain that rate over a longer time.

 

04/03 - 08/27      BDI  LOB   RBI%
Blanco              21   58  0.266
Barrett             34  128  0.210

CUBS               379 1624  0.189

[RichHillIsABeast]

Barrett is also pretty poor with RISP this season, IIRC. Personally, I don't buy into that stat b/c of it's lack of predictability from season to season, but Dusty certainly does. At least there is some stat based evidence for his decision, besides Barrett's recent slump and Hank White's recent offensive dominance.

 

Barrett has actually done a pretty good job of driving in baserunners this year. Blaco's numbers look better, but the sample is smaller, and I don't think he could maintain that rate over a longer time.

 

04/03 - 08/27      BDI  LOB   RBI%
Blanco              21   58  0.266
Barrett             34  128  0.210

CUBS               379 1624  0.189

 

I'm not saying that Blanco is better than Barrett with RISP, just that Barrett isn't getting it done like he did last season. Last season Barrett was well above .300 and now he's hovering around .250-.260, IIRC. It's a pretty small sample size, so it doesn't mean a lot to me. But you can be darn sure Dusty cares. The "baseball insiders" really value that BA with RISP stat...along with individual pitcher vs. batter stats.

[Tracer Bullet]

I didn't get a chance to see tonight's game and am just browsing through the box score now.

 

Does MLB have it right that Dusty make a double switch in the bottom of the seventh and took out his leading hitter (Barrett - .314) when the game was tied?

 

How can someone do that with as anemic of an offense as they Cubs have displayed this season? Does anyone on the coaching staff have any common sense?

 

08/21 - 08/27      AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR   TB  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
Blanco              9    1    4    2    0    0    6    1    0    1  0.444  0.444  0.667  1.111
Barrett            18    2    1    0    0    1    4    3    1    2  0.056  0.105  0.222  0.327

 

I can only assume, since you didn't type any text, that you think these stats support Baker's decision. I don't care if Barrett is in a terrible slump (though he's also recovering from injury, may not be fully healthy, and some of the days covered by your stats, he clearly wasn't 100%). The fact that Blanco is 4/9 in his last 2 games doesn't justify putting him in a tie game w/ the division leader (and your rival) over the guy who has been your best and most consistent hitter all season. Seriously, we're making decisions based on 9 ABs?

[RynoRules]

Fred is the stat master. His research is always top notch.

 

Trust me, he doesn't support the decision; he was just posting to give you a window into what Dusty may have been thinking.

[CubColtPacer]

I didn't get a chance to see tonight's game and am just browsing through the box score now.

 

Does MLB have it right that Dusty make a double switch in the bottom of the seventh and took out his leading hitter (Barrett - .314) when the game was tied?

 

How can someone do that with as anemic of an offense as they Cubs have displayed this season? Does anyone on the coaching staff have any common sense?

 

08/21 - 08/27      AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR   TB  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
Blanco              9    1    4    2    0    0    6    1    0    1  0.444  0.444  0.667  1.111
Barrett            18    2    1    0    0    1    4    3    1    2  0.056  0.105  0.222  0.327

 

I can only assume, since you didn't type any text, that you think these stats support Baker's decision. I don't care if Barrett is in a terrible slump (though he's also recovering from injury, may not be fully healthy, and some of the days covered by your stats, he clearly wasn't 100%). The fact that Blanco is 4/9 in his last 2 games doesn't justify putting him in a tie game w/ the division leader (and your rival) over the guy who has been your best and most consistent hitter all season. Seriously, we're making decisions based on 9 ABs?

 

I think the more important numbers were Barrett there. He is just coming back from his injury, and he is 2 for 18 since-and didn't look that good on his swings Sunday night. So even if Blanco remains at his career numbers, he might be just as good as Barrett right now (obviously Barrett when he gets his hitting stroke back is 100 times better). Also, Dusty was looking at a tie game and already using his 3rd reliever in the 7th inning. He didn't want to have to use his 4th reliever in the 8th already in case the game went into extras (especially since we knew the limit for Howry was 1 inning and Ohman can't go all that long either-so the only people who could give you innings down there was Dempster and Rusch). He had to try to stretch Novoa out to a couple innings at the time, and so he had to double switch-and Barrett not hitting well was the most obvious choice at the time.

[Tracer Bullet]

Fred is the stat master. His research is always top notch.

 

Trust me, he doesn't support the decision; he was just posting to give you a window into what Dusty may have been thinking.

 

I'm not arguing with the accuracy of his stats. But without additional comments, it's difficult to understand the point he was trying to make (i.e., whether he supported the switch or not).

[Tracer Bullet]

I didn't get a chance to see tonight's game and am just browsing through the box score now.

 

Does MLB have it right that Dusty make a double switch in the bottom of the seventh and took out his leading hitter (Barrett - .314) when the game was tied?

 

How can someone do that with as anemic of an offense as they Cubs have displayed this season? Does anyone on the coaching staff have any common sense?

 

08/21 - 08/27      AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR   TB  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
Blanco              9    1    4    2    0    0    6    1    0    1  0.444  0.444  0.667  1.111
Barrett            18    2    1    0    0    1    4    3    1    2  0.056  0.105  0.222  0.327

 

I can only assume, since you didn't type any text, that you think these stats support Baker's decision. I don't care if Barrett is in a terrible slump (though he's also recovering from injury, may not be fully healthy, and some of the days covered by your stats, he clearly wasn't 100%). The fact that Blanco is 4/9 in his last 2 games doesn't justify putting him in a tie game w/ the division leader (and your rival) over the guy who has been your best and most consistent hitter all season. Seriously, we're making decisions based on 9 ABs?

 

I think the more important numbers were Barrett there. He is just coming back from his injury, and he is 2 for 18 since-and didn't look that good on his swings Sunday night. So even if Blanco remains at his career numbers, he might be just as good as Barrett right now (obviously Barrett when he gets his hitting stroke back is 100 times better). Also, Dusty was looking at a tie game and already using his 3rd reliever in the 7th inning. He didn't want to have to use his 4th reliever in the 8th already in case the game went into extras (especially since we knew the limit for Howry was 1 inning and Ohman can't go all that long either-so the only people who could give you innings down there was Dempster and Rusch). He had to try to stretch Novoa out to a couple innings at the time, and so he had to double switch-and Barrett not hitting well was the most obvious choice at the time.

 

Given Dusty's inability to use the double-switch properly this season, I just can't assume that this was his thinking.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Fred is the stat master. His research is always top notch.

 

Trust me, he doesn't support the decision; he was just posting to give you a window into what Dusty may have been thinking.

 

I'm not arguing with the accuracy of his stats. But without additional comments, it's difficult to understand the point he was trying to make (i.e., whether he supported the switch or not).

 

Maybe he was offering no interpretation at all, just data.

[Tracer Bullet]

Fred is the stat master. His research is always top notch.

 

Trust me, he doesn't support the decision; he was just posting to give you a window into what Dusty may have been thinking.

 

I'm not arguing with the accuracy of his stats. But without additional comments, it's difficult to understand the point he was trying to make (i.e., whether he supported the switch or not).

 

Maybe he was offering no interpretation at all, just data.

 

Also a possibility. My only response would be (as I pointed out above), are we really making decisions based on 9 ABs?

[Careless]

Fred is the stat master. His research is always top notch.

 

Trust me, he doesn't support the decision; he was just posting to give you a window into what Dusty may have been thinking.

 

I'm not arguing with the accuracy of his stats. But without additional comments, it's difficult to understand the point he was trying to make (i.e., whether he supported the switch or not).

 

Maybe he was offering no interpretation at all, just data.

 

Also a possibility. My only response would be (as I pointed out above), are we really making decisions based on 9 ABs?

Dusty has said he makes them based on less. He's talked about what, "3 for 6" vs "1 for 5" against a specific pitcher not that long ago

[Tracer Bullet]

Fred is the stat master. His research is always top notch.

 

Trust me, he doesn't support the decision; he was just posting to give you a window into what Dusty may have been thinking.

 

I'm not arguing with the accuracy of his stats. But without additional comments, it's difficult to understand the point he was trying to make (i.e., whether he supported the switch or not).

 

Maybe he was offering no interpretation at all, just data.

 

Also a possibility. My only response would be (as I pointed out above), are we really making decisions based on 9 ABs?

Dusty has said he makes them based on less. He's talked about what, "3 for 6" vs "1 for 5" against a specific pitcher not that long ago

 

I don't doubt that Dusty thinks 4/9 justifies this move. I just think it's stupid.