Random Cubs Musings

[Guest]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

[Sammy Sofa]

Oh yeah, forgot about "hustle." I'm gonna go hustle myself.

[Warren Brusstar]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Do you have any proof of this? Or even any support whatsoever?

 

This seems as defensible as "club chemistry is really important"

[Warren Brusstar]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

[sneakypower]

Josh Hamilton and Bryce Harper immediately come to mind as examples of players directly injured from hustling

 

Chris Snelling's entire (short-lived) career was maybe the best example of this

[Guest]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

Not all players are equal. Castro is at the extreme end of that continuum because he plays the most active position on the field, hits at/near the top of the order(maximizing his PAs), is very talented and produces a lot for the team, is a long term fixture with his age/contract, and most importantly, never takes a day off.

 

Most players fall into the same band of not sprinting out ground balls or sometimes not taking an extra base when they could have. If there's a player where it would be okay to fall a touch below that threshold, it would be Castro.

[mul21]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

If they hurt themselves or burn out and can play 5-10 less games per year? Yes, especially when the replacement option is Darwin freaking Barney. This is an asinine argument to make. Castro running the bases hard every time or getting an extra base is such a minute part of his overall value to the team that anybody who really gives a damn about the team couldn't care less about how hard he runs down to first on a groundout. Criticizing him for not going first to third on a single is an entirely different point, but not running out a grounder is completely missing the point of having a reliable 160 game SS.

[Warren Brusstar]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

If they hurt themselves or burn out and can play 5-10 less games per year? Yes, especially when the replacement option is Darwin freaking Barney. This is an asinine argument to make. Castro running the bases hard every time or getting an extra base is such a minute part of his overall value to the team that anybody who really gives a damn about the team couldn't care less about how hard he runs down to first on a groundout. Criticizing him for not going first to third on a single is an entirely different point, but not running out a grounder is completely missing the point of having a reliable 160 game SS.

 

I don't care about him not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher. I care about him loafing into second when he could have a triple with one out. Or failing to go first to third on a single. Or jogging out of the box when he thinks he's hit a home run (but hasn't). Or barely running when he's hit a popup behind third that could easily fall.

 

Castro has done every single one of these things this year alone.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

Some of them are.

[mul21]

 

I don't care about him not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher. I care about him loafing into second when he could have a triple with one out. Or failing to go first to third on a single. Or jogging out of the box when he thinks he's hit a home run (but hasn't). Or barely running when he's hit a popup behind third that could easily fall.

 

Castro has done every single one of these things this year alone.

 

When that's the biggest problem they have, I might consider worrying about it then.

[sneakypower]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

If they hurt themselves or burn out and can play 5-10 less games per year? Yes, especially when the replacement option is Darwin freaking Barney. This is an asinine argument to make. Castro running the bases hard every time or getting an extra base is such a minute part of his overall value to the team that anybody who really gives a damn about the team couldn't care less about how hard he runs down to first on a groundout. Criticizing him for not going first to third on a single is an entirely different point, but not running out a grounder is completely missing the point of having a reliable 160 game SS.

 

I don't care about him not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher. I care about him loafing into second when he could have a triple with one out. Or failing to go first to third on a single. Or jogging out of the box when he thinks he's hit a home run (but hasn't). Or barely running when he's hit a popup behind third that could easily fall.

 

Castro has done every single one of these things this year alone.

even so, the best way we have of quantifying baserunning depicts him as an average baserunner on the year, so his lack of aggression you're describing might still be worth it for the outs he's avoided, to say nothing of injury avoidance

[Andy]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

Some of them are.

Every time someone argues everyone should always hustle, I remember when Aramis Ramirez was shelved because of an ankle injury he got running out a ground ball on which he was out anyway.

[Guest]

Dustin Pedroia is another example of a guy unwilling or unable to dial it down. None of this petty [expletive] would matter if Castro didn't have the reputation he has from the media. He's still learning. He just doing so on a larger stage with more knuckleheads watching.

[Clem Fandango]

The H word is hustle.

 

Major League Baseball is a grind, most of all for infielders who play 160 games like Castro. If not going full bore on the basepaths costs him a handful of extra bases per year, it's almost certainly worth it to mitigate the risk that he physically burns out and plays at less than 100% or even hurts himself.

 

Are players who run hard all the time hurting the club? That's the necessary corollary to your statement.

 

Some of them are.

Every time someone argues everyone should always hustle, I remember when Aramis Ramirez was shelved because of an ankle injury he got running out a ground ball on which he was out anyway.

 

I also specifically remember a news bit where the front office told him not to worry about hustling out routine grounders to save his legs since they were so fragile, and then when he did exactly that the media lambasted him for being lazy.

[Sammy Sofa]

I just don't get why it should matter that JD called him out on it; he isn't immune to being a meatball-y color man, just like Brenly.

[Gilby]

I thought it was weird when JD brought that up yesterday. Unless you're Billy Hamilton or Campana or someone like that, if you hit the ball in the gap to LCF or in the LF corner, it's a double. 95% of baserunners don't sprint to second and realize it's only going to be a double right away. Castro, while he's been really durable during the season, has missed time the last two springs with hamstring issues. I love JD, but he sounded a lot like Brenly and called Starlin out for something everyone does.

[Guest]

I don't care about him not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher. I care about him loafing into second when he could have a triple with one out. Or failing to go first to third on a single. Or jogging out of the box when he thinks he's hit a home run (but hasn't). Or barely running when he's hit a popup behind third that could easily fall.

 

Castro has done every single one of these things this year alone.

I'm sorry, I'm going to need documentation on this, as well as your claim that his lack of hustle is costing 2-3 runs on the year.

 

You've asked for it from others.

[Splendid Splinter]

I don't care about him not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher. I care about him loafing into second when he could have a triple with one out. Or failing to go first to third on a single. Or jogging out of the box when he thinks he's hit a home run (but hasn't). Or barely running when he's hit a popup behind third that could easily fall.

 

Castro has done every single one of these things this year alone.

I'm sorry, I'm going to need documentation on this, as well as your claim that his lack of hustle is costing 2-3 runs on the year.

 

You've asked for it from others.

 

Thank you. Also, even if it's remotely true... are you really going to bitch and moan about 2-3 runs for an entire season for a team whose best case scenario is maybe a .500 season? If you are, you might as well bitch and moan about every other offensive Cubs player.

 

 

Every player in MLB has done what Castro has. I've seen Trout not go from 1st to 3rd on a single when he easily could've made it. Maybe you should just not watch baseball.

[Derwood]

That's not what I was saying, bukie. I want to see them perform better on the road, and there's a big road trip coming up.

 

Yes, the Cubs are actually playing better and we can't just be satisfied with that since it's only been at home and they have a bunch of home games left.

 

jesus, every time somebody expresses concern about this team they get criticized for not enjoying where they are at right now.

 

Funny, every time someone says they enjoy the team, you're the first to criticize them for not acknowledging all the team's faults

[hawkeyecub]

I just don't like Castro's backwards lean when he's running hard to 1st on a close play.

[Warren Brusstar]

I don't care about him not running out a ground ball back to the pitcher. I care about him loafing into second when he could have a triple with one out. Or failing to go first to third on a single. Or jogging out of the box when he thinks he's hit a home run (but hasn't). Or barely running when he's hit a popup behind third that could easily fall.

 

Castro has done every single one of these things this year alone.

I'm sorry, I'm going to need documentation on this, as well as your claim that his lack of hustle is costing 2-3 runs on the year.

 

You've asked for it from others.

 

Well I guess we'll all have to agree that no one has been able to quantify it, and those claiming to know whether a lack of hustle is meaningful or not is just guessing. Though I'm sure that won't stop many here from shouting down anyone who brings it up as a meathead.

[Sammy Sofa]

Meatball.

[KingCubsFan]

Meatball.

I'm pretty sure that's Schwarber's actual nickname.

[Warren Brusstar]

Meatball.

 

Touche'

[Guest]

Damn. Really wish the Cubs would habe listened to me and signed Kazmir and Nelson Cruz. Of course, Kazmir would have been at the expense of Hammel most likely.

 

I wish this team would take a chance on an OF bat the way they have done with pitchers.

Ruggiano, Sweeney, DeJesus, Schierholz...

 

Not sure if serious...

Seems to me their strategy with the OF is extremely similar to their strategy with back-end rotation options. Take a couple shots, try to maximize their value to the team, and then flip them if things work out well. They didn't flip Schierholz last year after his torrid first half, and they didn't get as much for DeJesus as they'd have liked, but that doesn't mean they haven't done it in the OF exactly as they have with the pitchers.

 

 

I feel like the big difference is at least the SP they've signed have actually been rotation members before where as only Dejesus of those hitters was every anything but a platoon partner.