Encouraging offensive numbers

[jersey cubs fan]

The Cubs have the 8th best ERA in baseball, and the 5th best team Batting Average in baseball... we're nowhere near as bad as our record says we are.

 

Batting average is worthless. They had a pretty good one in 2006 or 2005 and it did nothing for them.

 

17th in average last year. 18th in average was the Phillies, and they scored 149 more runs than us.

 

Don't look at all MLB, NL is what matters. Cubs were 5th last year and 3rd in 2003.

 

right. still. the phillies. that was the point. i'm agreeing with you.

 

Understand, I was just pointing out that the 17th/18th ranking doesn't really fit, since AL teams trounce NL teams in offensive categories nearly all the time.

 

The Cubs were near the top in AVG and near the bottom in K's in each of the past two years, and they stunk. Even though media types who want to disect what's wrong with the Cubs still refer to them as a team that strikes out too much and doesn't put the ball in play.

[Soul]

Again, we've been over this before. The Cubs are clobbering a team in one game, then losing the next two by a close margin.

 

It doesn't matter if you outscore your opponent over the course of a series if you score 80% of your runs in only one of the games.

 

Sure, if the Cubs keep the same average but spread it out over all the games, then they'll start winning more. But that means they will have to become more consistent, which they aren't right now.

[OleMissCub]

We can score all the runs we want, but if they aren't timely i.e. when we need them, then all the runs in the world won't matter.

 

If they score all the runs in the world, the timing won't matter at all.

 

You know what I meant.

[TheDude]

Again, we've been over this before. The Cubs are clobbering a team in one game, then losing the next two by a close margin.

 

It doesn't matter if you outscore your opponent over the course of a series if you score 80% of your runs in only one of the games.

 

Sure, if the Cubs keep the same average but spread it out over all the games, then they'll start winning more. But that means they will have to become more consistent, which they aren't right now.

 

The majority of tools that operate on predicting wins work off of Runs scored for the season. I think all folks are saying is that, extrapolated across the season, you'd expect the Cubs to win more games on the current Runs trend.

[Soriano12]

The Cubs have the 8th best ERA in baseball, and the 5th best team Batting Average in baseball... we're nowhere near as bad as our record says we are.

 

That was my point, more or less. The Cubs should start winning series if the law of averages holds up. But it's not a given - as Cleveland proved last year.

 

Maybe we can foward those stats to Mr. Selig and he can up the Cubs a few victories?

 

:?

[OleMissCub]

The Cubs have the 8th best ERA in baseball, and the 5th best team Batting Average in baseball... we're nowhere near as bad as our record says we are.

 

Batting average is worthless. They had a pretty good one in 2006 or 2005 and it did nothing for them.

 

17th in average last year. 18th in average was the Phillies, and they scored 149 more runs than us.

 

An example of timely hitting, of which the Cubs have rarely had any. It seems like any time we absolutely need a run we have some scrub up there like Lenny Harris or Cesar Izturis to weakly ground out or our free swinging K machine happens to be up there.

[illiniguy]

Or if the bullpen wasn't crap. We have blown leads in more than half of our losses.

[Drew Doughty]

The Cubs have the 8th best ERA in baseball, and the 5th best team Batting Average in baseball... we're nowhere near as bad as our record says we are.

 

Batting average is worthless. They had a pretty good one in 2006 or 2005 and it did nothing for them.

 

17th in average last year. 18th in average was the Phillies, and they scored 149 more runs than us.

 

An example of timely hitting, of which the Cubs have rarely had any. It seems like any time we absolutely need a run we have some scrub up there like Lenny Harris or Cesar Izturis to weakly ground out or our free swinging K machine happens to be up there.

 

Philly was 13th in the NL in AVG w/ RISP that year.

[CubColtPacer]

The Cubs are 9th in OBP, 7th in SLG, 7th in OPS, 7th in runs. So far they've been average with many struggling members and only 2-3 hitters that are likely going to be above what they are for a full season (Lee, DeRosa, Theriot) with 2-3 hitters likely going to be better (Soriano, Murton/Floyd/Jones, Pie). The second group is likely to improve by more than the first group is likely to decline, so the offense should continue to get better-along with Theriot being inserted at SS, which should help the offense out as well. So I can see very encouraging signs that this will be an above-average to very good offense when all is said and done.

[jersey cubs fan]

The Cubs have the 8th best ERA in baseball, and the 5th best team Batting Average in baseball... we're nowhere near as bad as our record says we are.

 

Batting average is worthless. They had a pretty good one in 2006 or 2005 and it did nothing for them.

 

17th in average last year. 18th in average was the Phillies, and they scored 149 more runs than us.

 

An example of timely hitting, of which the Cubs have rarely had any.

 

That's not an example of timely hitting. That's an example of a team that had a really high OBP and a really high SLG. The Cubs may or may not take advantage of their opportunities, the biggest problem is they don't give themselves enough opportunities.

[Soul]

Again, we've been over this before. The Cubs are clobbering a team in one game, then losing the next two by a close margin.

 

It doesn't matter if you outscore your opponent over the course of a series if you score 80% of your runs in only one of the games.

 

Sure, if the Cubs keep the same average but spread it out over all the games, then they'll start winning more. But that means they will have to become more consistent, which they aren't right now.

 

The majority of tools that operate on predicting wins work off of Runs scored for the season. I think all folks are saying is that, extrapolated across the season, you'd expect the Cubs to win more games on the current Runs trend.

 

Except that the way the Cubs have scored those runs, you shouldn't expect that.

 

You would only expect the Cubs to win more games if they hold the same rpg output while more consistently hitting that average in a greater percentage of games.

[C.C.]

Or if the bullpen wasn't crap. We have blown leads in more than half of our losses.

 

Bad Bullpen meaing Ohman and Eyre. The rest has been pretty good.

[OleMissCub]

Thing is, you have to have 2 of 3 things to consistently win games: good starting pitching, timely hitting, and good bullpen work. Usually any two of those three things will put you in a good position to win a ball game.

 

This season the Cubs seem to have great starting pitching, crappy hitting, crappy bullpen or poor starting pitching, good hitting, crappy bullpen.

 

Yesterday we had good starting pitching and timely hitting at the same time.

[jersey cubs fan]

Thing is, you have to have 2 of 3 things to consistently win games: good starting pitching, timely hitting, and good bullpen work. Usually any two of those three things will put you in a good position to win a ball game.

 

This season the Cubs seem to have great starting pitching, crappy hitting, crappy bullpen or poor starting pitching, good hitting, crappy bullpen.

 

Yesterday we had good starting pitching and timely hitting at the same time.

 

You need good hitting.

[OleMissCub]

The Cubs have the 8th best ERA in baseball, and the 5th best team Batting Average in baseball... we're nowhere near as bad as our record says we are.

 

Batting average is worthless. They had a pretty good one in 2006 or 2005 and it did nothing for them.

 

17th in average last year. 18th in average was the Phillies, and they scored 149 more runs than us.

 

An example of timely hitting, of which the Cubs have rarely had any.

 

That's not an example of timely hitting. That's an example of a team that had a really high OBP and a really high SLG. The Cubs may or may not take advantage of their opportunities, the biggest problem is they don't give themselves enough opportunities.

 

I'll agree with that.

[illiniguy]

Or if the bullpen wasn't crap. We have blown leads in more than half of our losses.

 

Bad Bullpen meaing Ohman and Eyre. The rest has been pretty good.

I agree, but we have used those two along with Miller enough that we have given away games.

[CubColtPacer]

Or if the bullpen wasn't crap. We have blown leads in more than half of our losses.

 

Bad Bullpen meaing Ohman and Eyre. The rest has been pretty good.

I agree, but we have used those two along with Miller enough that we have given away games.

 

Yup, not to mention that our hitting has been awful in those close and late situations, which has cost us in 4-5 games already this season and prolonged games (which is why the team has had so many extra inning games already). If that comes up to anywhere near the level that the team is hitting at overall (and there's no real reason it shouldn't), the team will win a lot more games.

[OleMissCub]

Thing is, you have to have 2 of 3 things to consistently win games: good starting pitching, timely hitting, and good bullpen work. Usually any two of those three things will put you in a good position to win a ball game.

 

This season the Cubs seem to have great starting pitching, crappy hitting, crappy bullpen or poor starting pitching, good hitting, crappy bullpen.

 

Yesterday we had good starting pitching and timely hitting at the same time.

 

You need good hitting.

 

I consider that the same thing as timely hitting. There could be a team full of .300 batters but if they don't get hits when it matters then they won't win games.

 

You could have three singles in a row then three pop ups in a row, so those three hits were pretty much pointless. It's hitting when it matters that is important.

[CubinNY]

Again, we've been over this before. The Cubs are clobbering a team in one game, then losing the next two by a close margin.

 

It doesn't matter if you outscore your opponent over the course of a series if you score 80% of your runs in only one of the games.

 

Sure, if the Cubs keep the same average but spread it out over all the games, then they'll start winning more. But that means they will have to become more consistent, which they aren't right now.

 

The majority of tools that operate on predicting wins work off of Runs scored for the season. I think all folks are saying is that, extrapolated across the season, you'd expect the Cubs to win more games on the current Runs trend.

 

The problem is the extrapolation. There isn't enough data to extrapolate.

[David]

Thing is, you have to have 2 of 3 things to consistently win games: good starting pitching, timely hitting, and good bullpen work. Usually any two of those three things will put you in a good position to win a ball game.

 

This season the Cubs seem to have great starting pitching, crappy hitting, crappy bullpen or poor starting pitching, good hitting, crappy bullpen.

 

Yesterday we had good starting pitching and timely hitting at the same time.

 

You need good hitting.

 

I consider that the same thing as timely hitting. There could be a team full of .300 batters but if they don't get hits when it matters then they won't win games.

 

You could have three singles in a row then three pop ups in a row, so those three hits were pretty much pointless. It's hitting when it matters that is important.

 

The problem isn't when the hits are coming. You have no control over that. It's not about being timely. It's about having guys on base more often (which is much easier to control than when hits come) so that there are more opportunities with runners on, and more of those hits will come when there are runners on.

[RyCubsFan]

What's hurting the Cubs pitching is the longball.

 

In the NL, the Cubs pitchers have more strikeouts (165) than other team. BAA the Cubs pitchers is a mere .229, second to only the Mets (and that's with Miller on the team!). Despite these good numbers, the Cubs are only 6th in the NL in ERA. The reason? The Cubs have given up more homers than any team, save the Nationals.

[killthegoat06]

What's hurting the Cubs pitching is the longball.

 

In the NL, the Cubs pitchers have more strikeouts (165) than other team. BAA the Cubs pitchers is a mere .229, second to only the Mets (and that's with Miller on the team!). Despite these good numbers, the Cubs are only 6th in the NL in ERA. The reason? The Cubs have given up more homers than any team, save the Nationals.

 

And it's not even warm yet....

[RyCubsFan]

I suggest pitching around Prince Fielder. Thanks!

[UBlink]

How does a player go about improving the consistency or timeliness of his hitting? Is there a way to somehow say this AB isn't really important so I'll save some for when it would really help? Or that this AB is really important so I'll give it a little extra knowing that it is coming at the expense of some future AB? Is there a way of changing your hitting approach so you hit .310 spread consistently over several games instead of .320 in streaks? What exactly are we asking the hitters to do?

[jersey cubs fan]

Thing is, you have to have 2 of 3 things to consistently win games: good starting pitching, timely hitting, and good bullpen work. Usually any two of those three things will put you in a good position to win a ball game.

 

This season the Cubs seem to have great starting pitching, crappy hitting, crappy bullpen or poor starting pitching, good hitting, crappy bullpen.

 

Yesterday we had good starting pitching and timely hitting at the same time.

 

You need good hitting.

 

I consider that the same thing as timely hitting. There could be a team full of .300 batters but if they don't get hits when it matters then they won't win games.

 

You could have three singles in a row then three pop ups in a row, so those three hits were pretty much pointless. It's hitting when it matters that is important.

 

If a team full of .300 hitters failed, it would probably be because their OBP wasn't much higher and their SLG was low. Average doesn't matter.

 

Good hitting is getting on base and hitting for power. OBP and SLG. Timeliness is a distraction this club has worried about far too long. You can't work on timing, you can't acquire timing, you can't develop timing. You can work on, acquire and develop OBP and SLG. Too bad the Cubs don't know how.