Advance Scouting/pre-game preparation

[questionmarkgrace]

Does anyone else notice that everytime we face an unknown quantity such as Nick Masset, Jorge Sosa, the Astros' Chris Sampson, the cubs are absolutely clueless? Last year everytime a team brought up a crafty lefty from the minors our guys would swing at the first pitch and make him look like cy young. Even Kyle Lohse who is a pretty well known quantity but has only started a handful of games in the last two years. He gets the start vs us on 4/15 and strikes out 12. His current record is 1 and 5. His only win vs the cubs. what I'm getting at is this team is often ill prepared to face the opposing pitcher.

 

So who's to blame, the advance scouts, the players them selves, or Lou? My guess would be that the advance scouts should shoulder most of the blame. The majority of these guys are hold overs from the dusty baker era which is why we keep suffering from the ills of the the dusty baker era. Discuss.

[NewUserName]

What I dont understand is if you have not seen a guy before why dont you take some pitches to get a feel for what he throws? I know the Cubs dont have a lot of patient hitters, but this should be common sense like taking a couple when you are down a couple of runs late in the game.

[hitamprun]

Does anyone else notice that everytime we face an unknown quantity such as Nick Masset, Jorge Sosa, the Astros' Chris Sampson, the cubs are absolutely clueless? Last year everytime a team brought up a crafty lefty from the minors our guys would swing at the first pitch and make him look like cy young. Even Kyle Lohse who is a pretty well known quantity but has only started a handful of games in the last two years. He gets the start vs us on 4/15 and strikes out 12. His current record is 1 and 5. His only win vs the cubs. what I'm getting at is this team is often ill prepared to face the opposing pitcher.

 

So who's to blame, the advance scouts, the players them selves, or Lou? My guess would be that the advance scouts should shoulder most of the blame. The majority of these guys are hold overs from the dusty baker era which is why we keep suffering from the ills of the the dusty baker era. Discuss.

 

Even if a guy has only pitched in the minors or the pen, there is still a scouting report about him out there somewhere. It's true, the Cubs have struggled in these situations (even going back to 04), and some of that is because they have not been loaded with patient hitters. The advance scouting has nothing to do with Baker or any manager, but everything to do with Jim Hendry and his staff.

[C.C.]

Just 'tip your cap to the man and move on....

[Handlebar McSkullet]

Just 'tip your cap to the man and move on....

 

+1

 

Massett was hitting the lower inner and outter half of the plate with precision. He was consistently at a 93-95 mph on his fastball, and curveball had good movement and he was locating them very well. When he was not locating his pitches, we were getting on base ala the 1st and 6th inning.

 

Tip your cap to him... he is a keeper for them.

[questionmarkgrace]

of all those guys masset has by far the best stuff. So that didn't completely suprise me as much as a 12 k performance by klye Lohse and when jorge sosa & chris sampson dominated us. True not having a very pateint team doesn't help but shouldn't the game plan in these situation emphasize patience? And I never said that Baker had anything to do with the advance scouts but I was making a point that this seems to be an organizational problem. But then again, how the scouting reports are interpreted by a manager can also be part of that problem. Sorry I cant just tip my hat to a guy like Kyle Lohse who was previously in our system, so our scouts should know him well enough, and has been terrible aside from that start against us. Either way something isn't working because it has been a problem for 2 1/2 years.

[Derwood]

i blame 4+ years of a "hit, don't walk" hitting philosophy

[Soul]

of all those guys masset has by far the best stuff. So that didn't completely suprise me as much as a 12 k performance by klye Lohse and when jorge sosa & chris sampson dominated us. True not having a very pateint team doesn't help but shouldn't the game plan in these situation emphasize patience? And I never said that Baker had anything to do with the advance scouts but I was making a point that this seems to be an organizational problem. But then again, how the scouting reports are interpreted by a manager can also be part of that problem. Sorry I cant just tip my hat to a guy like Kyle Lohse who was previously in our system, so our scouts should know him well enough, and has been terrible aside from that start against us. Either way something isn't working because it has been a problem for 2 1/2 years.

 

Masset's been highly touted true. Some of these other bums though man. There's got to be an advance scouting deficiency in play, at least a little bit.

[Soriano12]

Just 'tip your cap to the man and move on....

[Amazing_Grace]

Lack of patience is the culprit here. Against a pitcher you haven't seen before, it helps if, as a team, you take a few more pitches, even strikes, the first couple times through the order both to tire the pitcher and give yourself and your teammates a chance to see his stuff and learn what he throws and in what situations.

 

The Cubs have been, up until this year, the least patient team in MLB. As a result, young pitchers and guys they haven't seen much of give them a lot of trouble.

 

EDIT: On a side note, does anyone know a site that has peripheral stats like P/PA and BABIP and such. Neither MLB nor ESPN has them, at least not for teams.

Edited May 21, 2007 by Amazing_Grace

[Derwood]

you mean, "he's a lefty, go get em'" isn't enough for you?

[Soriano12]

I get mad alot when some "lesser known" pitcher owns the Cubs, but it happens to alot of teams, we just notice it because we follow the Cubs day in and day out.

 

Yesterday:

 

Sergio Mitre held the D-Rays 3 Runs of 5 hits

 

Kason Gabbard held the Braves to 2 runs in 5 innings(MLB debut)

 

Bradon McCarthey(who has been terrible so far) gave up 4 hits and 1ER against Houston

 

Tyler Clippard of the Yankees won his MLB debut vs the Mets giving up 1 ER over 6 innings

[Guest]

I get mad alot when some "lesser known" pitcher owns the Cubs, but it happens to alot of teams, we just notice it because we follow the Cubs day in and day out.

 

Yesterday:

 

Sergio Mitre held the D-Rays 3 Runs of 5 hits

 

To be fair, Sergio has a 2.25 ERA in 40 innings this season with a 1.10 WHIP and a .235 BAA.

[Soriano12]

I get mad alot when some "lesser known" pitcher owns the Cubs, but it happens to alot of teams, we just notice it because we follow the Cubs day in and day out.

 

Yesterday:

 

Sergio Mitre held the D-Rays 3 Runs of 5 hits

 

To be fair, Sergio has a 2.25 ERA in 40 innings this season with a 1.10 WHIP and a .235 BAA.

 

I don't believe he will keep up that pace, but if he does, thats another knife in the heart from the Juan Pierre trade.

[jacey]

Who are the advance scouts that are holdovers from the Dusty era? Might be a valid argument on this one.

[thedaymen]

I don't believe he will keep up that pace, but if he does, thats another knife in the heart from the Juan Pierre trade.

 

Its like somehow the Cubs became the Minor Leagues for the Marlins' pitching staff.

 

If Ricky Nolasco starts making rehab starts at Wrigley.....

[hitamprun]

Who are the advance scouts that are holdovers from the Dusty era? Might be a valid argument on this one.

 

The scouts are picked by the GM and they work for the GM, the manager has no say in this area.

[questionmarkgrace]

scouts are picked by the GM and they work for the GM, the manager has no say in this area.

 

which is so ass backwards. Shouldn't a manager have his own scouts that he entrusts with important things like scouting reports? It stupid some of these guys have been around for alot of losing and thus have been part of a lot of mistakes. Heck, Hendry himself has been around since 95. The head advance scouts are Brad Kelly and Randy Bush. Kelly has been around for a while and I think Bush joined the org in 99.

Check out this gem:

 

Cubs GM Jim Hendry, Stockstill's predecessor as scouting director, was present for the workout, as were special assistant Gary Hughes and Brad Kelley, the organization's western crosschecker. They watched Brownlie throw three simulated innings, and Hendry told the Chicago Sun-Times, "He looked like he was healthy, but you can only go so far with that type of performance."

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/leagues/NCAA/brownlie0303.html

 

Ah the great Bobby Brownlie.