06/17 Red Sox (Morales) @ COBS (Maholm) 7:00 CDT, ESPN

[UMFan83]

Seriously, if they don't pinch hit LaHair next for Barney I'm gonna go bonkers.

[UMFan83]

I agree Dale, Darwin Barney is a better choice to come up as the tying run with 2 outs in the 9th rather than the leading home run hitter on the team who hits all his HRs against righties

[Guest]

Seriously, if they don't pinch hit LaHair next for Barney I'm gonna go bonkers.

 

You'd be amazed how similar those two are since May 1.

[Schwarber Fan]

0 balls thrown after loading the bases. Enough said.

[Tryptamine]

I don't hate Sveum, but that was pretty damn awful right there.

[UMFan83]

Seriously, if they don't pinch hit LaHair next for Barney I'm gonna go bonkers.

 

You'd be amazed how similar those two are since May 1.

 

He has 7 HRs in that time. Barney has hit a couple of home runs, but in a scenario where the batter is the tying run in the 9th inning, its dumbfounding to not find a way to get arguably your best power hitter an AB, instead of either DeJesus, Reed Johnson or Barney.

[Guest]

I hope they find a way to get LaHair an AB here.

Gotta let Reed bat against the righty

[Rizzo Smash]

http://puu.sh/BIAA

[CyHawk_Cub]

I hope they find a way to get LaHair an AB here.

Gotta let Reed bat against the righty

 

Just trying to up his trade value by.....uhhh, yeah, have no idea.

[UMFan83]

0 balls thrown after loading the bases. Enough said.

 

It's really hard to put together a 4 run rally on only singles. I wasnt watching the first couple of batters, but I'm thinking that no Cub went into their ABs that inning looking to walk, or seemingly even to get the count in their favor. I wonder if the Cubs had a specific plan to attack Aceves early in the count.

[Smack]

I'm hoping Sveum is the rebuilding coach and is gone in a few years when we are competing. He does a lot of stupid [expletive].

[Flames24Rulz]

I'm hoping Sveum is the rebuilding coach and is gone in a few years when we are competing. He does a lot of stupid [expletive].

 

I've thought that same thing for about a month now. I think Francona's going to be the manager in 2014.

[Tryptamine]

Chicago reporters are awesome. No one asks a thing about Lahair not pinch hitting, but they sure as hell hit up castro's error as soon as they could. He'll be chased out of town in the next couple years because the media will convince the fans that he's lazy and a clubhouse cancer.

[dfnowak]

I'm hoping Sveum is the rebuilding coach and is gone in a few years when we are competing. He does a lot of stupid [expletive].

Nor does he do a good job of managing the bullpen, IMO.

[Sammy Sofa]

The bullpen is [expletive]; there's nothing to manage.

[dfnowak]

The bullpen is [expletive]; there's nothing to manage.

I understand the bullpen is [expletive]. But, I feel like he doesn't put the team in the best chance to succeed sometimes, with regards to his handling of the bullpen. Case in point, last night Svuem leaves Camp in the game to face Saltalamacchia, who struggles against lefties in his career, instead of bringing in Russell, who wasnt even warmed up yet. And low and behold, Camp serves up the game winning hit. Sveum has done this numerous other times this year, whether that is leaving Russell in to face a lefty-killer or a righty in to face a righty-killer instead of not having the appropriate reliever warmed up and ready. Its like he cant think ahead with the bullpen. I dont know, these are just my observations.

 

Edit - I was wrong about about Saltalamacchia having the game winning hit, but he did single off of Camp to put two runners on with no outs and Kalish drove in the go ahead run next off of Russell.

Edited June 18, 2012 by dfnowak

[Sammy Sofa]

The bullpen is [expletive]; there's nothing to manage.

I understand the bullpen is [expletive]. But, I feel like he doesn't put the team in the best chance to succeed sometimes, with regards to his handling of the bullpen. Case in point, last night Svuem leaves Camp in the game to face Saltalamacchia, who struggles against lefties in his career, instead of bringing in Russell, who wasnt even warmed up yet. And low and behold, Camp serves up the game winning hit. Sveum has done this numerous other times this year, whether that is leaving Russell in to face a lefty-killer or a righty in to face a righty-killer instead of not having the appropriate reliever warmed up and ready. Its like he cant think ahead with the bullpen. I dont know, these are just my observations.

 

It's not a video game; you don't always play a strict match-up like that, especially with limited bullpen resources. And all you're doing is highlighting how bad the bullpen is by making Russel and Camp as your examples. They're the Cubs' best relievers and you're talking about them like they effectively need to be treated as specialists.

 

Sveum IS thinking ahead; he's thinking, "[expletive], my bullpen is [expletive] is this is one of the few reliable guys I have so I can't afford to pull him so I can use my other good reliever as a LOOGIE on Jarrod [expletive] Saltalamacchia."

[Smack]

The bullpen is [expletive]; there's nothing to manage.

I understand the bullpen is [expletive]. But, I feel like he doesn't put the team in the best chance to succeed sometimes, with regards to his handling of the bullpen. Case in point, last night Svuem leaves Camp in the game to face Saltalamacchia, who struggles against lefties in his career, instead of bringing in Russell, who wasnt even warmed up yet. And low and behold, Camp serves up the game winning hit. Sveum has done this numerous other times this year, whether that is leaving Russell in to face a lefty-killer or a righty in to face a righty-killer instead of not having the appropriate reliever warmed up and ready. Its like he cant think ahead with the bullpen. I dont know, these are just my observations.

 

He does the same thing with LaHair. He sits him against lefties and then in important late game situations with runners on base he won't bring him in to face right handed relievers. He doesn't hit lefties, he doesn't play great defense, he's on the team to hit right handed pitching.

 

It makes no sense. He does the fancy 'newfangled' shift stuff (hey, if the math says it works, I'm all in favor, let's try it) on defense yet he ignores other obvious uses of statistical data.

[Guest]

You're upset that a reliever wasn't ready after Camp's first hitter reached base?

 

I would understand more criticism if the bullpen had more differentiation between good and bad. But given how things have played out to this point, you'd probably be just as successful with a monkeys with typewriters approach as you would with extreme nuance. With most bullpen decisions, there's rational reasons for whatever action is taken, and "bad bullpen management" is often a different way of expressing frustration that the bullpen isn't really all that good.

[dfnowak]

But, the thing is, Svuem brought in Russell to face the next batter, Kalish - a lefty, anyways. So why not have him ready earlier to face Saltalamacchia? So, Sveum was doing exactly what you said he shouldnt be worried about.

[Guest]

But, the thing is, Svuem brought in Russell to face the next batter, Kalish - a lefty, anyways. So why not have him ready earlier to face Saltalamacchia? So, Sveum was doing exactly what you said he shouldnt be worried about.

 

Probably because the Cubs have about 1.5 usable relievers, and he was hoping not to have to use Russell before the 8th(when the top/heart of the order was due up). Once Camp gave up back to back hits, then it became a higher leverage situation that made it a higher priority to use Russell.

[Sammy Sofa]

The bullpen is [expletive]; there's nothing to manage.

I understand the bullpen is [expletive]. But, I feel like he doesn't put the team in the best chance to succeed sometimes, with regards to his handling of the bullpen. Case in point, last night Svuem leaves Camp in the game to face Saltalamacchia, who struggles against lefties in his career, instead of bringing in Russell, who wasnt even warmed up yet. And low and behold, Camp serves up the game winning hit. Sveum has done this numerous other times this year, whether that is leaving Russell in to face a lefty-killer or a righty in to face a righty-killer instead of not having the appropriate reliever warmed up and ready. Its like he cant think ahead with the bullpen. I dont know, these are just my observations.

 

He does the same thing with LaHair. He sits him against lefties and then in important late game situations with runners on base he won't bring him in to face right handed relievers. He doesn't hit lefties, he doesn't play great defense, he's on the team to hit right handed pitching.

 

It makes no sense. He does the fancy 'newfangled' shift stuff (hey, if the math says it works, I'm all in favor, let's try it) on defense yet he ignores other obvious uses of statistical data.

 

Ideally you want to bring in LaHair when people are on base, so when we see people griping about him using Baker or Johnson or whoever as a pinch hitter instead of LaHair with nobody on base they're just not thinking.

 

Last night you've got people clamoring for him to pinch hit LaHair for Barney, nevermind they're both hitting at about the same clip over the last month and nevermind you'd be pulling Barney's defense from the game.

 

Sveum is an unremarkable manager. You're looking too hard for things to be bothered by with a team this bad.

[Smack]

Sveum is an unremarkable manager. You're looking too hard for things to be bothered by with a team this bad.

 

LaHair is slugging 167 points higher in June than Barney and 159 points higher YTD. OPSs' are 1.029 compared to .781 YTD against righties. Give LaHair the chance to add to his stats if you're trying to sell him (like they probably are) because Barney is someone I assume we'll hold onto. Anyway, I think the best decision to win the game and to increase LaHair's value was to let LaHair bat.

 

You say unremarkable, I say bad. I know I'm nitpicking, either way, my point is that I hope he's gone when we start competing.

[Sammy Sofa]

Sveum is an unremarkable manager. You're looking too hard for things to be bothered by with a team this bad.

 

LaHair is slugging 167 points higher in June than Barney and 159 points higher YTD. OPSs' are 1.029 compared to .781 YTD against righties. Give LaHair the chance to add to his stats if you're trying to sell him (like they probably are) because Barney is someone I assume we'll hold onto. Anyway, I think the best decision to win the game and to increase LaHair's value was to let LaHair bat.

 

You say unremarkable, I say bad. I know I'm nitpicking, either way, my point is that I hope he's gone when we start competing.

 

Over the last month (4 weeks) their OPS is practically identical. Couple that with pulling Barney's defense from the game and I have zero problem with not using LaHair over Barney.

[SouthSideRyan]

I do have a problem not hitting LaHair for Reed Johnson though.