when can we officially worry about the lack of homeruns?

[rocket]

because i'm worried right now. i'm sure it will improve as the season progresses, but the lack of homers is unsettling.

[inari]

Now.

 

I want everyone on the team traded away for blue chippers. Immediately.

[brinoch]

It's unsettling, no doubt about it.

[VanceJergins]

I think annoying is a good word for it.

[rocket]

cubs homeruns this year = 5

jimmy rollins = 6

 

wtf

[frostwyrm]

Our 3 big thumpers (Fonz, DLee, Aram) have produced a combined total of one home run. In my mind that's the Cubs' problem that really sticks out above the rest.

[Schwarber Fan]

When the weather warms up...

[Mephistopheles]

its not a problem.

[abuck1220]

soriano's killing the team right now.

[frostwyrm]

soriano's killing the team right now.

 

Wait til he's in his mid 30's making $19M per year.

[NCCubFan]

I'm more worried about the timeliness of runs, not the number of home runs. They can hit very few home runs for all I care as long as they find other ways to score runs. But outscoring your opponent 12-7 in a three-game series, scoring 5 or more runs in two games while your opponent scores more than one run in only one game, and yet still losing 2 of 3 games is unacceptable.

[TB_11]

League-wide, slugging is below last year's full-season numbers.

 

NL 2007: .386

NL 2006 (full-season): .427

 

As for the Cubs themselves, we have 26 XBH vs our opponents 27.

 

No reason for alarm right now.

[erik316wttn]

soriano's killing the team right now.

 

He didn't do badly today.

 

I seriously contemplated driving to Chicago and braining Jones with his own bat when he had a terrible AB when Soriano led off with a double. Professionals should not look that bad.

[CubinNY]

I wouldn't worry about the lack of HRs, I would worry about the lack of OBP. It is once again killing the Cubs. It's particularly appearent when I watch other games during the free MLBEI week.

 

JJ's AB with Soriano on third and Theriot on first was one of the worst ABs I've ever seen at the major league level.

[CubColtPacer]

I wouldn't worry about the lack of HRs, I would worry about the lack of OBP. It is once again killing the Cubs. It's particularly appearent when I watch other games during the free MLBEI week.

 

JJ's AB with Soriano on third and Theriot on first was one of the worst ABs I've ever seen at the major league level.

 

I don't agree with that. The Cubs this year are built to be a heavy slugging team that hopes to be middle of the pack in OBP. Their strength is their slugging-they just hope that their OBP is not a huge detriment.

 

Before today's game, their OBP was 12th out of 30 teams. 12th-I know that may be hard to believe, but it's true. Obviously today's game will take that down, but I'm not sure how much.

 

Their slugging was 15th-that is unacceptable for this team.

 

This team is tied for 25th in home runs-this is a team that should be top 5 that is 1 home run away from being tied for last.

 

OBP may end up being the worst area of this team, but it is not what it is right now. This team simply cannot hit home runs like they were supposed to do right now, and that is costing them. The middle of the league OBP is not.

[CubinNY]

I wouldn't worry about the lack of HRs, I would worry about the lack of OBP. It is once again killing the Cubs. It's particularly appearent when I watch other games during the free MLBEI week.

 

JJ's AB with Soriano on third and Theriot on first was one of the worst ABs I've ever seen at the major league level.

 

I don't agree with that. The Cubs this year are built to be a heavy slugging team that hopes to be middle of the pack in OBP. Their strength is their slugging-they just hope that their OBP is not a huge detriment.

 

Before today's game, their OBP was 12th out of 30 teams. 12th-I know that may be hard to believe, but it's true. Obviously today's game will take that down, but I'm not sure how much.

 

Their slugging was 15th-that is unacceptable for this team.

 

This team is tied for 25th in home runs-this is a team that should be top 5 that is 1 home run away from being tied for last.

 

OBP may end up being the worst area of this team, but it is not what it is right now. This team simply cannot hit home runs like they were supposed to do right now, and that is costing them. The middle of the league OBP is not.

 

You can disagree all you want. The Cubs won't win on a consistent basis until they learn to quit swinging at junk.

[CubColtPacer]

I wouldn't worry about the lack of HRs, I would worry about the lack of OBP. It is once again killing the Cubs. It's particularly appearent when I watch other games during the free MLBEI week.

 

JJ's AB with Soriano on third and Theriot on first was one of the worst ABs I've ever seen at the major league level.

 

I don't agree with that. The Cubs this year are built to be a heavy slugging team that hopes to be middle of the pack in OBP. Their strength is their slugging-they just hope that their OBP is not a huge detriment.

 

Before today's game, their OBP was 12th out of 30 teams. 12th-I know that may be hard to believe, but it's true. Obviously today's game will take that down, but I'm not sure how much.

 

Their slugging was 15th-that is unacceptable for this team.

 

This team is tied for 25th in home runs-this is a team that should be top 5 that is 1 home run away from being tied for last.

 

OBP may end up being the worst area of this team, but it is not what it is right now. This team simply cannot hit home runs like they were supposed to do right now, and that is costing them. The middle of the league OBP is not.

 

You can disagree all you want. The Cubs won't win on a consistent basis until they learn to quit swinging at junk.

 

Are you saying they cannot win with a middle of the road OBP?

[Soul]

I'll worry about lack of power if it shows staying power past the first few series of the season.

[UK1679666180]

Anytime you score 3 runs or less in 5 of your 1st 11 games (before mixing in slow starts from your 2 main set-up guys), you're going to have a bad record.

 

Hopefully (like Piniella), this team is in the final stages of a feeling out process of becoming a unit.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't think it's going to be this barren for the rest of the year, but I feel that this team still needs a significant offensive push. My "trade Z NOW" sense is in overdrive, and I think they use him to ultimately get a #3 hitter and Lee gets moved to being #2.

[Dirt Dog Sparly]

Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.

 

Right now the offense is not clicking, period. Am I worried? Not at this time. Am I a little peeved? Yes. But not at the lack of homers.

 

What has me peeved is the hangover from last year where when something bad happens it cascades over out of control. I am not so certain that they expect to win at this point so much as they expect for something to go wrong and then lose.

 

The one thing that gives me hope is that Piniella wont tolerate losing. That is what this team needs the most. Someone to dig them kicking and screaming out a losing mindset. Once that is accomplished then I will start worrying about OBP with this team.

[TB_11]

I wouldn't worry about the lack of HRs, I would worry about the lack of OBP. It is once again killing the Cubs. It's particularly appearent when I watch other games during the free MLBEI week.

 

JJ's AB with Soriano on third and Theriot on first was one of the worst ABs I've ever seen at the major league level.

 

I don't agree with that. The Cubs this year are built to be a heavy slugging team that hopes to be middle of the pack in OBP. Their strength is their slugging-they just hope that their OBP is not a huge detriment.

 

So it's problem of design and not execution.

[Derwood]

I just hate to see great pitching performances wasted, no matter if that's a lack of homers, situational hitting, bad defense, or whatever

[CubColtPacer]

I wouldn't worry about the lack of HRs, I would worry about the lack of OBP. It is once again killing the Cubs. It's particularly appearent when I watch other games during the free MLBEI week.

 

JJ's AB with Soriano on third and Theriot on first was one of the worst ABs I've ever seen at the major league level.

 

I don't agree with that. The Cubs this year are built to be a heavy slugging team that hopes to be middle of the pack in OBP. Their strength is their slugging-they just hope that their OBP is not a huge detriment.

 

So it's problem of design and not execution.

 

In a way, yes. With the pieces that were there already though, it would have been almost impossible to build a high OBP/high SLG team in one year. SLG was available, and so that's what the team went out and got. This team is hoping to be similar to Atlanta/Texas/Mets/Detroit of last year (who finished 5th/6th/7th/8th in RS). Here are their OBP, SLG, and HR ranks

 

Atlanta: 15th in OBP, 5th in SLG, 2nd in HR

Texas: 12th in OBP, 8th in SLG, 13th in HR

NY Mets: 17th in OBP, 9th in SLG, 7th in HR

Detroit: 24th in OBP, 6th in SLG, 6th in HR

 

Now, it's not the ideal-the Cubs offense probably cannot be top 3-4 in the league because of their OBP deficiencies. They have built a team like these teams of last year though-if you can get around middle of the pack in OBP, and one of the top 10 in SLG and HR, you can have an offense between 5-10 in the league.

As of the last updated stats before today's game, they had accomplished the middle of the pack OBP status so far-but they are severely lacking in the SLG component that was supposed to be their strength. This can still be one of the better offenses in the league even if the OBP is not in the top 10.

[Fred Hornkohl]

thru 11 games      AB    R    H   2B   3B   HR   TB  RBI   BB   SO     BA    OBP    SLG    OPS
2007              377   43   98   21    1    5  136   40   30   78  0.260  0.319  0.361  0.679
2006              378   66  109   21    4   13  177   59   31   61  0.288  0.341  0.468  0.809
2005              399   56  105   23    3   10  164   54   36   77  0.263  0.328  0.411  0.739