Rotation Idea

[USSoccer]

I doubt Dusty would ever consider this, but could he consider skipping Maddux in September if he continues to be a 4+ run a game pitcher? It seems that despite his 7-5 record Maddux lives or dies by the wind in Wrigley or run support. In September you can't live with that. He did bench Estes in September after sucking the previous 5 months, and did skip Clement last season, so there is a bit of precedence. Would Williams have to throw lights out for this to be likely?

[Cubfanintheknow]

I doubt Dusty would ever consider this, but could he consider skipping Maddux in September if he continues to be a 4+ run a game pitcher? It seems that despite his 7-5 record Maddux lives or dies by the wind in Wrigley or run support. In September you can't live with that. He did bench Estes in September after sucking the previous 5 months, and did skip Clement last season, so there is a bit of precedence. Would Williams have to throw lights out for this to be likely?

 

I doubt it will happen. While Maddux has been inconsistent, Estes in '03 and Clement last year were consistently bad. I think Maddux would have to tank at least five straight starts for Baker to even consider it.

[TB_11]

I doubt Dusty would ever consider this, but could he consider skipping Maddux in September if he continues to be a 4+ run a game pitcher? It seems that despite his 7-5 record Maddux lives or dies by the wind in Wrigley or run support. In September you can't live with that. He did bench Estes in September after sucking the previous 5 months, and did skip Clement last season, so there is a bit of precedence. Would Williams have to throw lights out for this to be likely?

 

Maddux has also become a 2nd-half pitcher in his later years. Dusty will keep pitching him and wait for his performance to improve.

[johnnyba99]

Dusty needs to consider pitching Maddux only in night games. That would be very difficult to do, I know. But his splits show a night ERA of 3.95, WHIP 1.22, and BAA .262. While the same numbers in day games are 5.55, 1.41, and .308. He's had 10 starts in day games and 7 night games.

 

Obviously, with the number of day games the Cubs play it's almost impossible to pitch him only at night, but when possible it should be considered.

[umpunk]

If Williams proves he can pitch consistently well throughout the rest of the season, then maybe in the playoffs I wouldn't mind using Maddux in long relief. I don't want to get into the, "what have you done for me lately" line of thinking, but if his name was Mike Maddux, he would probably have been moved to long relief instead of Mitre. Still, I'll give Greg the benefit of the doubt on this.

[cheapseats]

While Maddux has been inconsistent, Estes in '03 and Clement last year were consistently bad.

 

Estes in 2003 was horrible. He had a -16.6 VORP.

 

Clement in 2004 was very, very good. He had a 36.9 VORP, putting him in the top 40 in MLB. He contributed more to the Cubs than any other pitcher besides Zambrano in 2004. Yes, he had a bad September, but he was consistently good up until then.

[Cubfanintheknow]

While Maddux has been inconsistent, Estes in '03 and Clement last year were consistently bad.

 

Estes in 2003 was horrible. He had a -16.6 VORP.

 

Clement in 2004 was very, very good. He had a 36.9 VORP, putting him in the top 40 in MLB. He contributed more to the Cubs than any other pitcher besides Zambrano in 2004. Yes, he had a bad September, but he was consistently good up until then.

 

Maybe I should have used the phrase consistenly unlucky to describe Clement instead. He did have a bad September. But I seem to recall he also fell victim to lousy run support a lot more often than the rest of the staff.

[BleedCubbieBlue81]

I remember Matt getting a hug from Dusty and the rest of the guys after he actually got 7 runs of support one game. I think there was a stretch of 7 games or so where he got absolutely nothing.

[cheapseats]

I remember Matt getting a hug from Dusty and the rest of the guys after he actually got 7 runs of support one game. I think there was a stretch of 7 games or so where he got absolutely nothing.

 

Yep, according to his stats, Clement lost 4 games more than he should have last year had he gotten just average run support.