5/10 Padres (Vargas) @ CUBS (Lester) 7:05 PM CDT WPWR

[Tim]

I mean, how good is our team defense? We have some studs for sure, but we're also pretty mediocre in some ways. Fowler is average at best in center, Bryant and Zobrist are pretty "meh", and let's not even talk about left field.

lol

 

We're the #1 or #2 defense in baseball by most measures.

I was asking an honest question. Since we obviously have a few sub-par individual defenders, I am curious how this stuff is computed.

First off, Bryant is a plus defender. Second, we're putting Javy there much of the time and he is even better. Bryant rates as plus in the OF, too. Heyward and Russell are amazing. Fowler has rated very highly since they started playing him deeper.

[bcl412]

Even eyeball test wise I'd say zobrist's range is meh and his arm isn't great and obviously Soler had issues other than that i can't say I've noticed too many problems with Dex or bryant.

[bcl412]

I think Stone comes off as intelligent because he's smug and was next to Harry forever ( and now Hawk)Plus he was broadcasting for most of us when a lot of us were young and we didn't know better.

[Agony and Ivy]

Even eyeball test wise I'd say zobrist's range is meh and his arm isn't great and obviously Soler had issues other than that i can't say I've noticed too many problems with Dex or bryant.

 

Zobrist has had one season below average defensively and he's been above average again this year.

[Agony and Ivy]

lol

 

We're the #1 or #2 defense in baseball by most measures.

I was asking an honest question. Since we obviously have a few sub-par individual defenders, I am curious how this stuff is computed.

First off, Bryant is a plus defender. Second, we're putting Javy there much of the time and he is even better. Bryant rates as plus in the OF, too. Heyward and Russell are amazing. Fowler has rated very highly since they started playing him deeper.

 

This.

 

People need to stop regurgitating scouting reports of Bryant pre-draft like they're gospel and watch him play then go look at the numbers. It's the same people that think the Cubs "don't have a good pitching staff" and need to upgrade immediately to be a serious contender because they read an ESPN piece by some guy who can't believe proven RBI guy Allen Craig has fallen on such hard times.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Agony and Ivy

[Cubbie Swagger]

lol

 

We're the #1 or #2 defense in baseball by most measures.

I was asking an honest question. Since we obviously have a few sub-par individual defenders, I am curious how this stuff is computed.

First off, Bryant is a plus defender. Second, we're putting Javy there much of the time and he is even better. Bryant rates as plus in the OF, too. Heyward and Russell are amazing. Fowler has rated very highly since they started playing him deeper.

Well then. Carry on.

[BigSlick]

By the way, Bryant has already got us half a win from his fielding alone, and is on pace to be better than last year by Fangraphs (though nearly half of his innings have come from the outfield this year :( )

[Cubbie Swagger]

I honestly didn't realize Bryant was a plus defender at third. Maybe I'm just putting too much stock into the occasional ball down the line that he seems to struggle with.

[jersey cubs fan]

I tend to think pretty highly of Stone.

 

He's a real top shelf announcer.

I would agree. He's about as good of a color guy as you'll find.

A lot of people like these self promotional flashy guys that rely on modern analytical techniques but I find them too generic for my tastes. Stone has all the ingredients of a classic analyst and even though he's not native to the area he grew up on the game locally that allows him to speak intelligently on that Cubs.

[badger]

I tend to think pretty highly of Stone.

 

He's a real top shelf announcer.

I would agree. He's about as good of a color guy as you'll find.

 

You're trolling right?

[Andy]

I honestly didn't realize Bryant was a plus defender at third. Maybe I'm just putting too much stock into the occasional ball down the line that he seems to struggle with.

If anything, I think my eye test overrates Bryant. I feel like he does pretty much everything great over at third.

[BigSlick]

I honestly didn't realize Bryant was a plus defender at third. Maybe I'm just putting too much stock into the occasional ball down the line that he seems to struggle with.

If anything, I think my eye test overrates Bryant. I feel like he does pretty much everything great over at third.

Yeah it feels like he gobbles up most balls hit to him and only has problems on some routine plays

 

I also get irrationally angry when La Stella is over there and misses balls down the line, which probably plays into my emotional attachment to Brynat at third.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Zobrist looks bad because he is old and slow. He is sure-handed, though. So he can make up for his lack of range some. Also, we keep measuring him up against Javier Baez. So he looks worse in that respect, because we are measuring him against Javier horsefeathering Baez and not some other random second baseman. Zobrist certainly isn't good, but he's not bad enough to offset the awesomeness we have elsewhere. Soler is our only truly bad defender and he's only played 125 innings in the outfield this year.

 

We have, like, four or five guys -- Heyward, Russell, Baez, Rizzo, Ross -- that could win a Gold Glove. How could anyone think our defense has been bad? I mean, have you seen these guys play?

[CubinNY]

My first "foe" on the new board.

[bcl412]

Even eyeball test wise I'd say zobrist's range is meh and his arm isn't great and obviously Soler had issues other than that i can't say I've noticed too many problems with Dex or bryant.

 

Zobrist has had one season below average defensively and he's been above average again this year.

I could see that, i guess when your comparisons on the team are Russel and Baez you look meh in comparison

[bcl412]

 

He's a real top shelf announcer.

I would agree. He's about as good of a color guy as you'll find.

A lot of people like these self promotional flashy guys that rely on modern analytical techniques but I find them too generic for my tastes. Stone has all the ingredients of a classic analyst and even though he's not native to the area he grew up on the game locally that allows him to speak intelligently on that Cubs.

I like fun people. Stone isn't fun to me.

[Omar]

Glad I didnt get tickets for this series

 

>_>

Edited May 10, 2016 by Omar

[BigSlick]

My first "foe" on the new board.

aww he's just trying to fit in and learn about the Cubs.

 

Lets be nice to our new friend. :D

[jersey cubs fan]

In the original live version of Identikit we hear Ed O'Brien's vocals throughout the song ("want to see, and need to")

(57:06)

 

but it looks like they decided replace that with Thom Yorke's voice backwards in the album version?

does thom york have a problem with the Cubs defense?

[Cubbie Swagger]

I would agree. He's about as good of a color guy as you'll find.

A lot of people like these self promotional flashy guys that rely on modern analytical techniques but I find them too generic for my tastes. Stone has all the ingredients of a classic analyst and even though he's not native to the area he grew up on the game locally that allows him to speak intelligently on that Cubs.

I like fun people. Stone isn't fun to me.

Imagine if our color guy next to Len was like the baseball equivalent of Stacey King.

[Omar]

In the original live version of Identikit we hear Ed O'Brien's vocals throughout the song ("want to see, and need to")

(57:06)

 

but it looks like they decided replace that with Thom Yorke's voice backwards in the album version?

does thom york have a problem with the Cubs defense?

 

oops, wrong thread

[Banedon]

[tweet]

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[Aaron_Kennelly]

Okay, that's basically what I was asking. I was hoping someone could explain to me why he is wrong, since I don't understand advanced stats very well.

 

The two most commonly used advanced stats for defense are DRS and UZR. As a team, we rank second in UZR and first in DRS. According to these stats, we've saved somewhere around 15 or 16 runs above the average team with our defense. So, basically, our defense is saving a run every other game, on average, that an average defensive team would give up. That's a very significant amount.

 

We could also look at things like our FIP, which is fielding independent pitching, which basically takes defense out of the equation. This stat is looking at walks, hit by pitch, strikeouts, and homers -- things a pitcher is solely in control of. So this puts everyone on a level playing field. There's no accounting for luck or good or bad fielding here. A team who has an ERA lower than their FIP has either been very lucky or very good defensively. Our FIP is 3.13 and our ERA is 2.48.

 

Along the same lines, you could look at our pitchers' BABIP, or batting average on balls in play. This is looking at balls that our fielders have to make a play on. The second lowest BABIP in the league is the White Sox at .271. We are at .251. Now there is probably some other stuff going on here. BABIP isn't a perfect tool to measure anything. Some pitchers are going to get weaker contact than others -- Arrieta. Luck will skew things a lot. There could be some weird stuff happening because of defensive positioning. There's a litany of other things that can affect BABIP, which ensures that it won't be a perfect measure. However, when balls have been put in play against us, our fielders have clearly done alright at turning them into outs.

[Liam Neeson]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

[BigSlick]

Yeah I don't think there's any way we could keep a team BABIP against of .251 all year, but I also have no idea how sustainable those things are

 

But thats looks extremely low

 

EDIT: Just taking a cursory glance at Team BABIP Against and in the last 5 years no one had lower than a .274 for a whole year and it looks like it sticks between .280-.320 or so

Edited May 10, 2016 by BigSlick