Jump to content
North Side Baseball

Sammy Sofa

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    98,224

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    208

 Content Type 

Profiles

Joomla Posts 1

Chicago Cubs Videos

Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking

News

2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

Guides & Resources

2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks

The Chicago Cubs Players Project

2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Chicago Cubs Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Blogs

Events

Forums

Store

Gallery

Everything posted by Sammy Sofa

  1. Sammy Sofa
    Unless they're getting a hell of a return there's little point in the Cubs trading Aramis. It's not like you're freeing up his money for a strong FA class or have any options to fill in at 3B. The Cubs already have to figure out what to do at 1B, so it's much smarter just to hold on to Aramis for at least another season and hope he has a bounce back season/
  2. Sammy Sofa
    Man, hell of a "[expletive] you" send off from his team today.
  3. Sammy Sofa
    Well the Cubs are 27th in WPA for relievers, so I don't think it's low leverage situations making it appear the bullpen is awful. I didn't say they were. In fact, one would assume it would largely be the opposite in the first half. My point is that as this team has been constructed the offense has gone much further to "killing" the team. If the bullpen had actually been decent, the team still would have been horrible. If the offense had been decent, things would have been much different. Look how many infuriating one-run losses they've had.
  4. Sammy Sofa
    FREDI-FREDI-FREDI!
  5. Sammy Sofa
    But aren't those numbers skewed by games where the bullpen gives up multiple runs? It strikes me that the offense still has more impact if it's lackluster. Look how many close games the Cubs have blown because the offense simply couldn't catch up to a 1 or 2-run deficit over multiple innings. Sure, you have a crappy bullpen that's going to go in there and give up a run or two on average, but what if that just makes the game 2-0 or 3-2 or or 4-3 or 4-2 or 2-1 and so on? Don't get me wrong, the bullpen sucks and if more of the Cubs' key players had just been performing to their career averages it's be the glaring problem, but to say that the bullpen "killed" the season implies that it was an anchor that took down a team that even had a remote shot of being competitive. Let me put it this way; the bullpen has been worse in "its" individual role, but the offense being bad has had much more of an impact of "killing" the season.
  6. Sammy Sofa
    The bullpen didn't kill the team. The bullpen certainly hasn't helped most of the season, but the offense shoulders most of the blame. Sure, it's all well and good that they've put together a decent OPS post-ASB, but the first half offense was appalling.
  7. Sammy Sofa
    Opinions on Colvin are all over the board. His offensive skills are quite likely being underrated by the crowd that has already written him off as nothing but a funamentally flawed career 4th OF. What skills has he demonstrated at the plate besides some power?
  8. Sammy Sofa
    Why would it even be anywhere on the list?
  9. Sammy Sofa
    No, don't give up.
  10. Sammy Sofa
    Does anyone have a breakdown as to a prediction as to the difference in 1B defense in regards to Dunn vs. Lee? I honestly think at this point there's not a significant enough difference to make someone decide to opt not to sign Dunn. Again, 1B is traditionally where you dump guys who can't play defense. It's arguably the least important defensive position on the field, and a ton of the Cubs' errors seem to have not come from throws but from miscues and mistakes on the part of 3B, SS and 2B in regards to fielding and not their throws to 1st. If you were really focused on "catching the ball better" (which is a Hendry-ism) if there ever was one then the issue isn't at 1B. It just seems incredibly backwards to focus on defense given everything else that desperately needs work when it comes to this team.
  11. Sammy Sofa
    Tons of factors. Age, bench players, injuries, etc... Also worth noting is that Defensive Efficiency is simply the reverse of batting average on balls in play. It just keeps track of whether or not the play was made... not whether it should have been made. So it is possible the opposing teams had a disproportionate number of times where they simply managed to "hit em where they aint," so to speak. I would caution against chalking the whole thing up to bad luck though, we've definitely gotten a bit worse in the field the last few years. UZR would take into account the factors listed in your first line. It would also taken into account whether we've gotten worse in the field from '09 to '10. I'm aware. I was just responding to (what I interpreted to be) mojo asking how our defensive efficiency could have tanked so quickly. Now that I'm rereading it, it seems he's wondering about the discrepancy between UZR and DE. Both, actually. I'm genuinely curious.
  12. Sammy Sofa
    Yeah, this is really surprising. I wouldn't have been surprise to see a continuing decline, but that drop is insane. You had Byrd taking over in CF, which is a plus. You had Fukudome moving back to RF which is a plus. Is it the number of errors? it may be. aren't we tops in both unearned runs and errors? i have no idea what happened to the defense either. but it has become an issue that needs to be fixed. The errors seem to be the issue, but is it really something that can or should be "fixed?" If you end up looking to fix defense uber alles you tend to end up with some really underwhelming offense. It seems a ton of it can be attributed to to Aramis and Castro and Theriot. Aramis is definitely having an off year, and it seems to be a pretty safe bet that Castro will improve plus Theriot is gone, so there doesn't really seem to be a pressing need to "fix" the defense over the offense.
  13. Sammy Sofa
    PROVE COMMON SENSE RIGHT.
  14. Sammy Sofa
    I guess I'm just very confused then. What would typically account for such significant variation?
  15. Sammy Sofa
    If I had to bet, I'd say nowhere near as poorly as you think. PROVE HIM WRONG.
  16. Sammy Sofa
    Yeah, this is really surprising. I wouldn't have been surprise to see a continuing decline, but that drop is insane. You had Byrd taking over in CF, which is a plus. You had Fukudome moving back to RF which is a plus. Is it the number of errors?
  17. Sammy Sofa
    That strikes me as some bizarre fluctuation. You see a trend, and then suddenly everything plummets like that? Why?
  18. Sammy Sofa
    I have no idea.
  19. Sammy Sofa
    I don't agree at all that "fixing" the defense is a higher priority than addressing the team's offensive needs.
  20. Sammy Sofa
    You realize you can still have a very productive offensive player who strikes out a lot, right?
  21. Sammy Sofa
    Actually, do we know what Nady can do with consistent starts at a position like 1B as he gets further away from his surgery?
  22. Sammy Sofa
    Good points. I think my trepidation comes exactly from when you talked about what a smart organization does and then realizing we're dealing with the Cubs here. I'd love it if this ultimately ends up being a sign that they're being smarter than they've been in recent years. My concern stems from how Colvin has become such a fan favorite and is continually being lumped in with the "youth movement."
  23. Sammy Sofa
    Well, if they're going to pursue the option of him being a starting RF then he still needs more time out there. It's a catch-22 because I doubt this would even come up if he was a lock-down defender out there, but he's not, and RF at Wrigley is obviously a tough position to hold over the course of a season. If they're even considering him being the starter out there they need to focus on him getting playing time there instead of 1B.
  24. Sammy Sofa
    Does it really matter if he's a starter or not next year? I don't think signing 32 year old Adam Dunn to a longish contract so we don't have to tolerate Colvin at 1st is in the teams long term best interest. Dunn/Pena/other FA 1B won't make enough of a difference next year anyway. Dunn won't turn 32 until the end of the 2011 season. And Dunn or a re-surged Pena would likely be a huge difference over Colvin.
  25. Sammy Sofa
    Wow, Holy overreaction batman. After Nady on the team right now, who else can play 1B? Shouldnt they prepare some semblence of a backup option? I don't care if it's a "backup option." When you're on to your backup 1B for any sustained period of time you're in trouble regardless of who it is. I care if they're even considering making him the starting 1B next season.
×
×
  • Create New...