WTF Maddon

[weis21]

So this is a real life email I received on Monday morning from the other cub fan working here on campus.

 

Hello Daniel, After all the optimism, the Cubs looked like the same old the bumbling, stumbling and forever dumbling team. Joe Madden’s spring training frustration over defensive lapses was on full display last night … Solar and Castro most glaringly. I think it was Shilling (maybe Kruk) that said Addison Russell was be a defensive improvement at SS, and Castro will be gone … one way or another.

I also had no idea that John Lester could not throw the baseball to any bases.

Just like the ballpark and bleachers, the team is still a work in progress … as we all know.

Based on what Madden has said and what I saw last night, I’ve completely lowered my expectation for this year.

Your thoughts?

 

On the bright side I'm going to try to incorporate the term "dumbling" in day-to-day life whenever possible.

[George Hayduke]

So this is a real life email I received on Monday morning from the other cub fan working here on campus.

 

Hello Daniel, After all the optimism, the Cubs looked like the same old the bumbling, stumbling and forever dumbling team. Joe Madden’s spring training frustration over defensive lapses was on full display last night … Solar and Castro most glaringly. I think it was Shilling (maybe Kruk) that said Addison Russell was be a defensive improvement at SS, and Castro will be gone … one way or another.

I also had no idea that John Lester could not throw the baseball to any bases.

Just like the ballpark and bleachers, the team is still a work in progress … as we all know.

Based on what Madden has said and what I saw last night, I’ve completely lowered my expectation for this year.

Your thoughts?

 

On the bright side I'm going to try to incorporate the term "dumbling" in day-to-day life whenever possible.

I hope your response was, "No, no, no, maybe?, no, no, ok, no, nope."

[weis21]

I just haven't responded. I really can't deal with that right now.

[Soul]

Haha, sent on work email?

 

Love the "your thoughts?" Nice touch.

[Clem Fandango]

Just tell him it's been one game and send him this:

 

[weis21]

Haha, sent on work email?

Yes. It's embarrassing. I've had a [expletive] stomach bug and some lunatic pulled a gun on me Sunday night (shortly after the game started). I've had a rough couple of days.

[Soul]

Oh my god.

 

Sorry man.

[weis21]

Yeah, it was pretty surreal and scary. Staying with a friend because I'm between residencies (another long story) and it's not the best area to say the least. I went down the wrong road that was a dead end. There was some sort of house party or something and apparently I wasn't welcome to turn around. They flashed it to me and then they hopped in their shitty honda civic but I busted ass down the street and got away pretty damn fast. I think they were just trying to scare me. I haven't eaten much with this bug and I'm really, really shaky (from both the bug and this incident I guess). Tried to come to work today and dry heaved for about 30 minutes.

 

So yeah, I haven't emailed Ole Jim back to give my "thoughts".

[Banedon]

http://i.imgur.com/PSCylG4.jpg

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Bump for putting Schlitter in there over Strop, Motte or just about anyone but maybe jxn.

[Andy]

Bump for putting Schlitter in there over Strop, Motte or just about anyone but maybe jxn.

We were due for the pen to [expletive] the bed one of these times, but yeah, hopefully this keeps Schlitter from seeing a high-leverage spot for a while.

[Guest]

Today is the first of 13 consecutive games, he probably doesn't want to wind up unable to use any of the late inning guys in a game during that stretch. I'm not quite sure why he used Rosscup for Solarte and Schlitter for Myers, if anything I'd flip it because Schlitter can get you the DP ball and Rosscup is a K guy. Rosscup was throwing strikes so I'd have given him the shot to get Myers.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I kinda don't want to hear justifications about being worried about using our pitchers too much when we're coming off an off-day, have had a bunch of off-days, and just today stopped carrying *eight* relievers.

[Guest]

And he used multiple relievers to try and get through the 7th. The off day yesterday(and the fact that there were 8 relievers for 3 days) will be meaningless 7 days from now when there haven't been any off days and there's still 6 days of games to go, and the depth of the bullpen is meaningless if you're limiting the 'acceptable' relievers to use in a situation to a much smaller group.

[Andy]

And he used multiple relievers to try and get through the 7th. The off day yesterday(and the fact that there were 8 relievers for 3 days) will be meaningless 7 days from now when there haven't been any off days and there's still 6 days of games to go, and the depth of the bullpen is meaningless if you're limiting the 'acceptable' relievers to use in a situation to a much smaller group.

The reasoning is likely sound, but I don't like managing for hypotheticals. We don't know for a fact that we will need a good high-leverage reliever 3 days in a row later in this stretch. We knew we needed a good one in this particular game.

[Guest]

And he used multiple relievers to try and get through the 7th. The off day yesterday(and the fact that there were 8 relievers for 3 days) will be meaningless 7 days from now when there haven't been any off days and there's still 6 days of games to go, and the depth of the bullpen is meaningless if you're limiting the 'acceptable' relievers to use in a situation to a much smaller group.

The reasoning is likely sound, but I don't like managing for hypotheticals. We don't know for a fact that we will need a good high-leverage reliever 3 days in a row later in this stretch. We knew we needed a good one in this particular game.

 

It's not really a hypothetical, if you use all 3 of Motte, Strop, and Rondon today, you're starting down a path that leads to 2 or even 3 of those guys being unavailable for a specific game. If you want to say he should've kept Rosscup in the game you'll get no argument from me, but on game 1 of 13 straight you can't burn through the bullpen like it's an elimination game.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Of course you can. There's a one-run, high-leverage situation *right in front of you*. For all you know, the next two games will be 15-2.

 

You're avoiding using your best relievers in a close game because later you might have to not use your best relievers in a close game? That's locking in the downside to avoid the same downside.

[Butterscup1679666578]

i actually agree with kyle.

 

i need some time alone.

[Guest]

Of course you can. There's a one-run, high-leverage situation *right in front of you*. For all you know, the next two games will be 15-2.

 

You're avoiding using your best relievers in a close game because later you might have to not use your best relievers in a close game? That's locking in the downside to avoid the same downside.

 

It was a two run game and they needed a single out. You're way underestimating how quickly late inning guys can get taxed when you go 2 weeks without a true day off. Like 90+% of bullpen usage criticism, it's missing the forest for the trees.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Of course you can. There's a one-run, high-leverage situation *right in front of you*. For all you know, the next two games will be 15-2.

 

You're avoiding using your best relievers in a close game because later you might have to not use your best relievers in a close game? That's locking in the downside to avoid the same downside.

 

It was a two run game and they needed a single out. You're way underestimating how quickly late inning guys can get taxed when you go 2 weeks without a true day off. Like 90+% of bullpen usage criticism, it's missing the forest for the trees.

 

So if they get taxed, stop using them until they are untaxed. Again: You're intentionally entering into the downside you are purporting to avoid.

 

The leverage index when Schlitter entered the game was 2.47. That's plenty to qualify it for your best relievers.

[Guest]

Of course you can. There's a one-run, high-leverage situation *right in front of you*. For all you know, the next two games will be 15-2.

 

You're avoiding using your best relievers in a close game because later you might have to not use your best relievers in a close game? That's locking in the downside to avoid the same downside.

 

It was a two run game and they needed a single out. You're way underestimating how quickly late inning guys can get taxed when you go 2 weeks without a true day off. Like 90+% of bullpen usage criticism, it's missing the forest for the trees.

 

So if they get taxed, stop using them until they are untaxed. Again: You're intentionally entering into the downside you are purporting to avoid.

 

The leverage index when Schlitter entered the game was 2.47. That's plenty to qualify it for your best relievers.

 

Using Schlitter for a single out in that situation is far better than the downside I'm purporting to avoid. Maddon tried to get through the 7th without using one of his 3 best relievers, probably because today is one of many consecutive games and he knows better than to manage each game like it's a play in game. Without Holbrook's buffoonery it would have worked splendidly. There's room to disagree here, but bullpen usage criticism is a pet peeve of mine. So much of it is reactionary silliness built on the idea that any blown lead is a failure and that every game should be optimized for the best relievers pitching until they have to have a day off and then they're unavailable. Both are nonsense.

[George Hayduke]

Of course you can. There's a one-run, high-leverage situation *right in front of you*. For all you know, the next two games will be 15-2.

 

You're avoiding using your best relievers in a close game because later you might have to not use your best relievers in a close game? That's locking in the downside to avoid the same downside.

 

It was a two run game and they needed a single out. You're way underestimating how quickly late inning guys can get taxed when you go 2 weeks without a true day off. Like 90+% of bullpen usage criticism, it's missing the forest for the trees.

 

So if they get taxed, stop using them until they are untaxed. Again: You're intentionally entering into the downside you are purporting to avoid.

 

The leverage index when Schlitter entered the game was 2.47. That's plenty to qualify it for your best relievers.

 

Using Schlitter for a single out in that situation is far better than the downside I'm purporting to avoid. Maddon tried to get through the 7th without using one of his 3 best relievers, probably because today is one of many consecutive games and he knows better than to manage each game like it's a play in game. Without Holbrook's buffoonery it would have worked splendidly. There's room to disagree here, but bullpen usage criticism is a pet peeve of mine. So much of it is reactionary silliness built on the idea that any blown lead is a failure and that every game should be optimized for the best relievers pitching until they have to have a day off and then they're unavailable. Both are nonsense.

This is an interesting discussion. Is the thinking that, you shouldn't use your best relievers in really short outings unless it's just a crazy high leverage situation?

[Guest]

This is an interesting discussion. Is the thinking that, you shouldn't use your best relievers in really short outings unless it's just a crazy high leverage situation?

 

More like that you can't use relievers in strict order of ascending quality every game, even if none of them are classified as unavailable. Otherwise you hit August and Strop and Rondon are already at 75 IP and burn out or get hurt. For a more immediate example, sometimes that means you try to use your 4th/5th best reliever instead of your 3rd in the middle innings so you can best balance the pen's workload in the longer run.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

This is an interesting discussion. Is the thinking that, you shouldn't use your best relievers in really short outings unless it's just a crazy high leverage situation?

 

More like that you can't use relievers in strict order of ascending quality every game, even if none of them are classified as unavailable. Otherwise you hit August and Strop and Rondon are already at 75 IP and burn out or get hurt. For a more immediate example, sometimes that means you try to use your 4th/5th best reliever instead of your 3rd in the middle innings so you can best balance the pen's workload in the longer run.

 

There are plenty of ways to design bullpen usage that don't burn out your best pitchers and don't also use your 6th best in a 4-2 game with 2 on and 2 out in the 7th.

 

The generic idea of "don't burn out good pitchers" is a reasonable one, but it doesn't apply to this specific situation. None of our pitchers are in danger of being burnt out that way, outside of some weird "what if the next 3 games are also close and we use them then too?" hypothetical.

[Tryptamine]

My only complaint so far is pulling Hendricks after 81 pitches. Pulling him early led to this exhausted bullpen the Cubs now have.