Lou: We will try to steal third base

[killthegoat06]

Bruce Levine interviewed Lou yesterday morning on ESPN 1000 that the team was going to work hard on stealing third base this year.

 

He also reiterated that Sam Fuld is in the running for the CF job. Nothing else new to report.

 

I always disliked the idea of stealing third base, and I wanted to throw this out there for discussion.

[sethuel1]

Bruce Levine interviewed Lou yesterday morning on ESPN 1000 that the team was going to work hard on stealing third base this year.

 

He also reiterated that Sam Fuld is in the running for the CF job. Nothing else new to report.

 

I always disliked the idea of stealing third base, and I wanted to throw this out there for discussion.

ugh

[imb]

idiotic

[TheGrinch]

Why stop at third? Let trying stealing home 20 or so times this year. Maybe we could also petition the league to add a new rule so we can steal first base somehow.

[rawaction]

The only thing dumber than having a goal of stealing 3B more is telling the world you are gonna try and steal 3B more.

[Roast]

Lets see, what goal should we pick for the season?

 

Walk more? Nah.

 

Work on playing fundamentally sound? Nah.

 

STEAL THIRD BASE!?

OH HELL YES.

[imb]

BLOG TIME

[craig]

I like the idea of stealing 3rd. It's not something you do all the time. The volume of attempted 3B steals is limited. But I think Lou is right, there are times when it's easy. It's not a matter of forcing it; but when the defense is giving it to you (either by positioning of the 2B/SS and/or by total disregard by the pitcher), it makes sense to have the brains to recognize that and to capitalize. Getting to 3B with one out (or less), you can score on a groundball or a fly or a hit. And while 2B is "scoring position", I wonder what fraction of singles guys actually do score from 2B? I'm not sure it's as high as you think.

 

Obviously you better have a very high success rate, much more so than stealing 2nd. But I think that's possible if you've got the brains to read the defense and to read the pitcher.

[TheGrinch]

I like the idea of stealing 3rd. It's not something you do all the time. The volume of attempted 3B steals is limited. But I think Lou is right, there are times when it's easy. It's not a matter of forcing it; but when the defense is giving it to you (either by positioning of the 2B/SS and/or by total disregard by the pitcher), it makes sense to have the brains to recognize that and to capitalize. Getting to 3B with one out (or less), you can score on a groundball or a fly or a hit. And while 2B is "scoring position", I wonder what fraction of singles guys actually do score from 2B? I'm not sure it's as high as you think.

 

Obviously you better have a very high success rate, much more so than stealing 2nd. But I think that's possible if you've got the brains to read the defense and to read the pitcher.

How high do you think I think it is? :grin:

 

Mostly agree with you though. It's just that when someone says that they want to focus on something like stealing 3rd...I worry they don't just mean "we will steal 3rd base in the rare instance that it is both easy and worth it".

[frostwyrm]

Making a priority out of stealing 3rd is the type of harebrained idea I'd expect from Dusty Baker.

[seanimal]

wow, I hope all the managers and pitchers in the NL are as gullible as this crowd.

[Bull]

Making a priority out of stealing 3rd is the type of harebrained idea I'd expect from Dusty Baker.

 

is that Chelsea Clinton in your avatar?

[Bull]

wow, I hope all the managers and pitchers in the NL are as gullible as this crowd.

 

Why? Was Lou joking?

[seanimal]

wow, I hope all the managers and pitchers in the NL are as gullible as this crowd.

 

Why? Was Lou joking?

 

He's said equally dumb things in the past and never went through with them. He's attempting to play mind games, to get the opposing managers and pitchers to worry about whether or not whoever is on second is going to steal.

[frostwyrm]

Making a priority out of stealing 3rd is the type of harebrained idea I'd expect from Dusty Baker.

 

is that Chelsea Clinton in your avatar?

 

yeah

[TheGrinch]

wow, I hope all the managers and pitchers in the NL are as gullible as this crowd.

 

Why? Was Lou joking?

 

He's said equally dumb things in the past and never went through with them. He's attempting to play mind games, to get the opposing managers and pitchers to worry about whether or not whoever is on second is going to steal.

...Lou is a shoo in for "Best Actor in a Managing Roll" if that is true. And now that you mention it he has said things like that and didn't follow through...but 20 bucks says Theriot starts the season batting 2nd.

[UMFan83]

This thread and the whole concept behind it makes me laugh.

 

Steal third? HAHAHAHA

[bahua]

To be fair, was he talking about "stealing" third as in taking the extra base on a basehit with a runner on first...that I would like to see and it wasn't something the cubs did particularly well last year.

 

If he is talking about straight steals of third, continue the roasting.

[FergieJ31]

wow, I hope all the managers and pitchers in the NL are as gullible as this crowd.

 

Why? Was Lou joking?

 

He's said equally dumb things in the past and never went through with them. He's attempting to play mind games, to get the opposing managers and pitchers to worry about whether or not whoever is on second is going to steal.

 

My thought exactly. With all the head fakes he made last year, you'd think people would have learned his schtick by now.

[treebird]

LET'S NOT AND SAY WE DID

[Balsa]

I hope this is psychological warfare....

[javy knows my name]

wow, I hope all the managers and pitchers in the NL are as gullible as this crowd.

 

Why? Was Lou joking?

 

He's said equally dumb things in the past and never went through with them. He's attempting to play mind games, to get the opposing managers and pitchers to worry about whether or not whoever is on second is going to steal.

 

My thought exactly. With all the head fakes he made last year, you'd think people would have learned his schtick by now.

Damn, I wish I were as smart as the two of you think you are...

[Rob]

"I'm big on driving in runs and scoring runs," Baker said. "Guys in the middle should score about close to equal to what they drive in. On-base percentage, that's fine and dandy. But a lot of times guys get so much into on-base percentage that they cease to swing. It's becoming a little bit out of control.

 

"What you do is run the pitcher's count up, that helps," Baker said. "You put him in the stretch, that helps. But your job in the middle is to either score them or drive them in. The name of the game is scoring runs. Sometimes, you get so caught up in on-base percentage that you're clogging up the bases."

 

Lou does some stupid things, but I thought we needed a little perspective.

[seanimal]

Damn, I wish I were as smart as the two of you think you are...

 

Remember, when this is over, that you invited this response.

 

--------

 

-In 2007, the league average for SB attempts in the NL was 130.

-In 2007, the Chicago Cubs attempted to steal a base 119 times.

 

Not a huge difference, but clearly below league average.

 

Now, one could assume that the amount of sb a team attempts is largely a function of how fast their players run. But don't fall in this trap, lest you want to get laughed at by Dusty Baker-managed baseball teams. You see, a team can attempt to steal a lot of bases because they have some players who are specifically good at it. Hello New York Metropolitans. Other teams can attempt to steal lots of bases because they think, in general, that it is a good thing to try to do a lot. Some teams do this even though they are obviously bad at it. There's Dusty again.

 

Now, you may also notice that the success rate of stealing bases by the Chicago Cubs (72%), like their amount of attempts, is below league average (74%). Me, the method actor that I am, decided that in order to fulfill my facade of false-intelligence, put on my thinking cap. I thought to myself, "what could these two sets of numbers possibly have to do with each other?"

 

Accidentally, I came up with the conclusion that one informs the other. I was like, "maybe, that rascal Lou realizes that his team isn't very good at one thing, so he's instructing his team to do that thing less". I know, a stretch considering his lack of success as a baseball manager.

 

Then, in what was almost a blinding explosion of rational, sensible thought on my part, I thought of something else:

 

Lou Piniella was born in 1943. I see that you have trouble processing information so I'll put it bluntly: he's old. When I think about old people, my first thought is most definitely not "jesus, I wish those old geezers would just make up their mind and stick to it instead of waffling all the GD time."

 

So, if Lou Piniella has shown himself willing to "manage" the amount of times his team does something based on its relative success rate, and sans any traumatic head injuries over the off-season, I'm thinking maybe he's going to stick to that. Yes, regardless of what he says to some dumb stiff.

 

--------

 

Now, back to the guy from Wisconsin's Cleveland.

 

You're very clearly trolling my posts, not out of something I say specifically (which I actually wouldn't mind, it's flattering), but just because you don't like "me". "blah blah blah you're an arrogant jerk stop pointing out how dumb some of the things people say on here are blah blah blah." Great, I've heard it. But unless you'd actually like to consider contributing something of value, I suggest you keep your mouth shut (keyboard... less typed...) to avoid one of these dust-ups again.

Edited February 25, 2008 by seanimal

[Rob]

Damn, I wish I were as smart as the two of you think you are...

 

Remember, when this is over, that you invited this response.

 

--------

 

-In 2007, the league average for SB attempts in the NL was 130.

-In 2007, the Chicago Cubs attempted to steal a base 119 times.

 

Not a huge difference, but clearly below league average.

 

Now, one could assume that the amount of sb a team attempts is largely a function of how fast their players run. But don't fall in this trap, lest you want to get laughed at by Dusty Baker-managed baseball teams. You see, a team can attempt to steal a lot of bases because they have some players who are specifically good at it. Hello New York Metropolitans. Other teams can attempt to steal lots of bases because they think, in general, that it is a good thing to try to do a lot. Some teams do this even though they are obviously bad at it. There's Dusty again.

 

Now, you may also notice that the success rate of stealing bases by the Chicago Cubs (72%), like their amount of attempts, is below league average (74%). Me, the method actor that I am, decided that in order to fulfill my facade of false-intelligence, put on my thinking cap. I thought to myself, "what could these two sets of numbers possible have to do with each other?"

 

Accidentally, I came up with the conclusion that one informs the other. I was like, "maybe, that rascal Lou realizes that his team isn't very good at one thing, so he's instructing his team to do that thing less". I know, a stretch considering his lack of success as a baseball manager.

 

Then, in what was almost a blinding explosion of rational, sensible thought on my part, I thought of something else:

 

Lou Piniella was born in 1943. I see that you have trouble processing information so I'll put it bluntly: he's old. When I think about old people, my first thought is most definitely not "jesus, I wish those old geezers would just make up their mind and stick to it instead of waffling all the GD time."

 

So, if Lou Piniella has shown himself willing to "manage" the amount of times his team does something based on its relative success rate, and sans any traumatic head injuries over the off-season, I'm thinking maybe he's going to stick to that. Yes, regardless of what he says to some dumb stiff.

 

--------

 

Now, back to the guy from Wisconsin's Cleveland.

 

You're very clearly trolling my posts, not out of something I say specifically (which I actually wouldn't mind, it's flattering), but just because you don't like "me". "blah blah blah you're an arrogant jerk stop pointing out how dumb some of the things people say on here are blah blah blah." Great, I've heard it. But unless you'd actually like to consider contributing something of value, I suggest you keep your mouth shut (keyboard... less typed...) to avoid one of these dust-ups again.

 

Interestingly enough, I seem to recall a study that showed that Lou's teams in general performed much better than one could logically assume when attempting steals, sac bunts, and hit-and-runs. I think it was either in The Book on The Book, or maybe Baseball Between the Numbers...