Baez impresses Baez

[Sammy Sofa]

Man, I prefer the idea of the Cubs trying to Milton the hell out of Maddon by moving him further and further away, so I'm going to pretend that that story about him needing to be more involved was leaked by Maddon himself.

[mul21]

Man, I prefer the idea of the Cubs trying to Milton the hell out of Maddon by moving him further and further away, so I'm going to pretend that that story about him needing to be more involved was leaked by Maddon himself.

 

I get that you think he's a clueless old coot with nothing to offer, but the guy has proved over a long period he's good at the non-game part of his job, whether it be managing personalities or teaching the game, so this is a pretty bad take. And before you go on a Sofa rant, yeah, he's handled the Russell stuff really, really badly.

[Sammy Sofa]

What take? I just don't like him, and like cracking jokes about how much I think he's a bum ass.

[Sammy Sofa]

Also: a report about the FO and the players having to remind a lame duck manager to do his job seems like a weird time to be going to bat for him, but whatever.

[David]

Before the axe handle stuff came out, Bryant was also crediting him directly with identifying some issues (pre swing movement iirc) that were contributing to his struggles

[Banedon]

Baez expects to play today. Also he had no idea that Arrieta was pitching until asked about it last night.

[SeldomSeen]

Who is Jake Arrieta?

[weis21]

Has anyone let Javy know the Cubs are in first place?

[biittner77]

Baez expects to play today. Also he had no idea who Arrieta was or that he was pitching until asked about it last night.

 

fixed

[Regular Show]

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Theo's #1 priority should be signing Baez to an extension.

[NOLA]

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[jersey cubs fan]

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For a split second I thought maybe javy wouldn't run to first base, but then I saw the RF heading toward the dugout and realized Javy was probably strutting down there and got upset with myself for thinking there was even a chance he would screw that up

[sneakypower]

Javy (+8) leads all SS in DRS

[sneakypower]

a look back:

 

Weighing Javier Baez’s Terrible MLB Debut

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/weighing-javier-baezs-terrible-mlb-debut/

 

Baez’s big league debut was a huge disappointment. There’s no way around it. Even if he were to hack 10% off of his strikeout rate from last season, he would still have one of the highest strikeout rates in baseball. There’s plenty of reason to worry about Baez’s offensive game going forward[...]

 

By no means is Baez a great defender, but he’s played shortstop as recently as last season, so there’s no reason to think he can’t be at least an average defender at second base. The offensive bar is much lower for middle infielders, which means Baez doesn’t necessarily need to be a great hitter to be a useful player.

[Brian]

But Baez said he watched Tuesday’s game unfold with the Cubs losing a 1-0 lead and started getting dressed and ready to play.

 

“I told (Pedro Strop) I was going to end the game,” Baez said. “He didn’t believe me. (Jon) Lester said ‘you’re not supposed to be out there,’ and I said we’re going to play a long game and it was tight.”

 

Baez said he received treatment during the game and hit off a tee, only for the coaches to prevent him from doing so.

 

So Baez said he got dressed and went to the batting cage next to the Cubs dugout to resume hitting and told an assistant trainer to summon head trainer PJ Mainville.

 

“(Mainville) said, ‘if you’re going to hit, I got to tape your ankles,’ ” Baez recalled. “I said, ‘OK, let’s tape them because I want to get in.’

 

“And that’s what happened.”

[Old Style]

a look back:

 

Weighing Javier Baez’s Terrible MLB Debut

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/weighing-javier-baezs-terrible-mlb-debut/

 

Baez’s big league debut was a huge disappointment. There’s no way around it. Even if he were to hack 10% off of his strikeout rate from last season, he would still have one of the highest strikeout rates in baseball. There’s plenty of reason to worry about Baez’s offensive game going forward[...]

 

By no means is Baez a great defender, but he’s played shortstop as recently as last season, so there’s no reason to think he can’t be at least an average defender at second base. The offensive bar is much lower for middle infielders, which means Baez doesn’t necessarily need to be a great hitter to be a useful player.

Well at least he got this part right.

 

Baez was scary bad last year, but it’s still far too soon to slap him with the “bust” tag.

[17 Seconds]

His k% is back over 30

[Hawk4Hall]

When he's on he's awesome. When he's off he's awful.

 

It is what it is. He's going to rake and then he's going to reek.

[jersey cubs fan]

He's going to rake and then he's going to reek.

[The_Achiever]

Javy doesn't seem to have the right personality to DH. I'd rather they just give him a few days rest.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Javy doesn't seem to have the right personality to DH. I'd rather they just give him a few days rest.

If you ever say anything negative about Javy's personality again, I'll post a really mean gif!

[BigSlick]

it always burns my soul when Javy gets in one of these funks, because he'll go like 2 for 45 and strike out 27 times, but he always gets out of it

[CyHawk_Cub]

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[We Got The Whole 9]

So why does he not say to himself at the plate, slider 3 feet off and in the dirt...

 

He really does seemingly guess more than any other hitter I can think of.