Lou Getting Concerned About Hitters

[jersey cubs fan]

In general, I think I'm still hoping he comes close to 2005 again. Wishful thinking, but hey, I'm a Cub Fan.

 

I think you need to revisit your expectations. 2005 was a flukey career year. He's not going to repeat that, and he was probably never going to repeat that even before the wrist injury. Lee has been better than I thought he would have been since he came to the Cubs. The only disappointing part is that he got hurt.

[javy knows my name]

I can't believe no one has acknowledged the elephant in the room - sample size.

[abuck1220]

little leaguers may play how they practice, but i don't think big leaguers do.

 

Yes, you keep thinking that.

 

ok.

[Soul]

I can't believe no one has acknowledged the elephant in the room - sample size.

 

I don't think it matters. I agree if it's about results then it's stupid. But I do think someone like Lou can tell if a guy just isn't preparing right. Maybe he gets the guy a few more ABs, I don't see a problem there.

 

Today Lou played a lot of youngsters. He could just have been blowing smoke too, which he is wont to do at times.

[CuseCubFan69]

Interesting quote by Lou Piniella in the Sporting News. But that's not all he said on the subject.

 

I couldn't find the link to the article in the Tribune, so I'll type in what was in this morning's sports section as Piniella further elaborates on Cub hitters:

 

"We're giving away very easy at-bats... A lot of first and second-pitch outs. We can talk about, 'Well, we have time.' And we can be talking a week from now, 'We still have time,' Let me see it here a little sooner, and then we can put that to rest."

 

Piniella never once mentions batting average. He is, in fact, talking about working the count bit and seeing a few more pitches. Somthing that I believe, oh, everybody on this board is in favor of.

 

So I think the hitters should get in a little extra work in spring training. There's that old adage, "you play how you practice." They ought to be practicing patience and pitch selection now. Hopefully a deep bench will offset any concerns about the players getting gassed later in the season because they played too much in spring training.

 

That's a very interesting post. Hitting is not something you can just turn on. There may be hitches or faults in a swing that isn't realized and Lou seems to be on top of that along with knowing full well of working the pitch count. I'm not particularly worried about Lee but if Lou sees something and helps Lee correct it now, I'm all for it.