TheDude
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Everything posted by TheDude
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All pitching has been bad across the league. What does the WBC have to do with it?
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Am I allowed to be critical after a 16-7 victory?
TheDude replied to bobbyd20's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
That's all that happened. No need to look too deep into some random double switches. The more important thing to recognize is that the kids got the starts and the opening day lineup looked very much like most of this board's posters' "best case scenario" lineup. -
What is the best stat to measure a SP's effectiveness?
TheDude replied to badger1679666666's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
It depends on your purpose really, but generally speaking, as was already mentioned K/BB ratio is one of the best. You can also cut through some of the more generic stats like ERA by examining a pitcher's balls in play vs. hits allowed ratio, to see how far off the median the pitcher is (If I recall, the median is 30%), and use that combined with other indicators to find out if a pitchers basic stats like ERA and WHIP are expected, or if there is some unexpected deviation (aka luck). -
ESPN stated that a former Congressman was heading up the investigation. I don't like this one bit. Baseball chose to do nothing 20/15/10 years ago. Too late now Bud - you're just as guilty.
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PECOTA NL Central Projections On BP
TheDude replied to CardsFanInChiTown's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
What do the Pirates have to sell? -
I think Hendry and Baker know their job is on the line. That doesn't really follow. Contract year is a factor, but I don't think quite in the way you implied. If you're feeling the heat and perceive your job is on the line, odds are you put your faith in something more proven (or perceived as more proven) than take an even bigger risk on multiple unknown qualities. What is more likely, IMO, is that the relationship between GM and manager has evolved, and the GM's desire to see more youth (combined with the youth in question demonstrating talent at the right time) has had an impact on the manager. I've always seen Hendry as a GM wanting to infuse youth with a veteran core. I've always seen Dusty as a manager less willing to gamble on that youth. Hendry wanted Choi, Patterson, Dubois to have an impact on this team in previous years, as an example, and we know how Dusty responded. Perhaps Dusty simply recognizes the cards he has been dealt for 2006 and is playing along this time around.
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Having Z, Maddux and a bunch of #5s filling out the rotation doesn't qualify as depth, IMO. Why are all the young guys fighting for a spot on the team #5s? It sounds like you're mixing quality and quantity. The Cubs do enter the season with pitching depth, though there is a qualitative drop from the depth we would have with a healthy Prior, Wood, and even Miller. The real value to this youth depth is, if Marshall and/or Guzman show up in spot starts or temporary rotation duty and really dazzle, then the Cubs can re-enter mid-season talks for an impact bat like Tejada, Abreau, etc. with real trade value as opposed to fan perceived trade value.
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Dusty Basically just said Pagan is on the team.
TheDude replied to moorecg's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
Blanco, Hairston, Perez, Mabry are all taking up bench spots. If we're going with 12 pitchers then only one can be kept. I thought they were going with 11 this year? I alos remember reading that the Cubs were going with 11 pitchers and not 12. -
I thought about posting the suggestion that both Guzman and Marshall take rotation spots and bump out Rusch to start the season. That was on Saturday. I didn't post it because I thought maybe I was just thinking with my heart after seeing those two pitch 8 combined no-hitter innings and just demontsrating general 'Wow'. But at this point, I see no loss in Rusch's value/attitude. So why not roll the dice? Zambrano-Maddux-Williams-Marshall-Guzman to start the season. I'd rather not demoralize Williams. He's still a young kid and needs to be shown confidence by Dusty. Rusch on the hand is veteran with an expected versatility.
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Neifi starts a min. of 50 games at SS. I guarantee it. Interesting. Several months ago when Neifi signed, you were guaranteeing much more playing time than that. I guess if it keeps shrinking, you'll eventually get it right. I'd be very surprised, barring injury to Cedeno, if Neifi gets more than 20 starts. If Cedeno gets hurt, I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs revisit the Tejada-Prior talks mid-season.
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A - Rodriguez B - Dunn, Teixeira C- Burrell, Delgado, Wright D - Beltre, Giles, Gomes, Gonzalez Extra - Thome
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Cruz is the only one of the three that would possibly make this team, and after the year he had last year, that's a big gamble.
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Correct. Grace is flat out wrong. A guy most certainly can gain 30-40 pounds of bulk if he works at it.
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The thing anyone should infer about him not suing for libel is that he has good legal advice.
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Sorry, too late. You took a stance by posting in this thread. Your stance appears to be that we shouldn't criticize Clines becuase we don't know the whole story. I look at the quote and agree that last year's team couldn't hit with RISP. He's absolutely right. He is not talking walks, and I have no idea if a reporter asked him a question about getting on base or lack of walks, or just a question about lack of clutch hitting. Now, if the quote had an article linked with more detail, maybe. If he was asked a question about poor OBP and he dodged it, then I'm with you. But what if he was just asked a question about lack of clutch hitting last year? Why would his response include walks at that point? All I'm saying is an unlinked quote out-of-context isn't something worth dogging a guy over.
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Defense is far more important to people inside the baseball world than fans who crunch numbers. It's that simple.
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I guess it's really difficult when examining people's quotes to not reach beyond the quote, because I don't get all the criticism. All of the people faulting Clines for not discussing walks are using purely out-of-context arguments. Who knows what the full context of the quote was? We know he was discussing hitting, and the lack of hits with RISP last year, which was dead on accurate. Personally, I'll wait until the quote contains some mention of walks before I characterize his stance on it, or I see the full context of the quote.
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Bullpen pitchers are hard to gauge. It's one of the most unpredictable things in baseball. Hendry has tried to go after solid bullpen people in the past, and it just didn't work out. You'd be hard-pressed to find people that were against the Hawkins or Remlinger signings at the time, as a few examples.
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I disagree with most of this. The Sox were not built for great defense (excepting 2B, SS, and CF) and got unexpected career year pitching which should recede (funny how the Cubs career year players are expected to recede but not the Sox players). You're right about the running however. The strategy is in place and has been discussed ad nauseum. If you don't like the strategy, that's your choice. But it's wrong to claim it doesn't exist.
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I'll give the White Sox credit for gambling on the durability of their pitching because all of their starters had a history of durable pitching. But the Astros had just as much a gamble as the Cubs. Because it worked out for their GM and not Hendry, Hendry is a goat somehow? Clemens was the only sure thing on the Astros. Petitte and Oswalt had injury histories to rival Prior and Wood, and Backe and Rodriguez were unknown quantities. A GM has to trust in the guys he has on the roster. Hendry built the team on pitching and has to trust that pitching to come through. The Cubs have the winning formula for the playoffs. They need to realize it with good health.
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Not even in your wildest dreams Did you even bother to look up the numbers before posting this? The Cubs outproduced the Sox and Astros in 2005 in many offensive categories, including: BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, and TB The Sox hit 6 more HR, while the Astros hit 33 less. The Cubs have upgraded production in LF, SS, and CF, while maintaining status quo everywhere else. What's the problem?
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I get frustrated by this line. There was what, two significant FA upgrade options? One seemed like a lock and bolted for an absurd contract and the other wasn't going anywhere to begin with. It wasn't the best year for FA. There were trading opportunites out there, but any significant upgrade would come at the cost of players named Prior or Zambrano, at which point people freaked-out. Hendry's only missteps this offseason were granting extra years to Jones and Perez. I don't mind either of those guys on one-year deals, but neither were good fits for this team on multi-year deals. Otherwise, he turned within to fill holes at SS and LF, acquired very solid bullpen help, and upgraded CF significantly. The current offense isn't anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be. It stacks up with either World Series team from last year.
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Several respectable starters, with only a couple of weak spots/question marks surrounding two stud all-stars - much the same as every team not located in Boston or New York, including playoff teams.
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I'm not putting any validity in that mix-up. Soriano and Robinson had a conversation before the game. Forget the early line-up card (those change sometimes and it's not that big of a deal) - Robinson is the manager and he stated that the conversation he had with Soriano had him in the line-up.
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Soriano is only an all-star at 2B because defense has no value to the average voting fan. Soriano is the worst defensive 2B in 50 years. He should have never been allowed to continue to play that position at the big league level, and he should have been moved to the outfield 7 years ago.