woodchip2153

How much can a player really change their approach from a 162 game regular season to the post season? They're probably used to making minor adjustments during the season, mostly because of pitcher they're facing that day. But I can't imagine it'd be a drastic change for playoff games. Agreed; I took what Theo said as more of somehow tapping into or focusing on something they've been able to do over the course of the regular season as opposed to having some kind of separate, mythical "playoff mode." I agree with what you said Mojo. I know you're talking to Leon. But I just wanted to clarify, I named this the Mallee thread, because I assumed the issues with the approach I was talking about were part of his hitting philosophy. I'm happy with Mallee as the hitting coach, and if the front office feels he's the man to make the changes in the teams approach they think need to be made (if any), I have no complaints.

the brewers rank in the bottom half of baseball in every meaningful offensive category except BB%, where they're 11th. let's cross them off the list of teams to emulate. Holy horsefeathers another Vaunted Brewers truther? THE BREWERS horsefeathering SUCK. The Astros were historically good so if that's your bar you're going to be massively disappointed. The Diamondbacks? Get the horsefeathers out of here, they're not close to being as good as the Cubs. The Indians should probably fire everyone too because they didn't even make it out of the DS this year so they're clearly hopeless. The Dodgers got career years out of something called Chris Taylor and Austin Barnes. They'll be awesome again next year but we're right there with them even with production from guys like Taylor and Barnes. I almost didn't respond to tim, because I knew I would get this response. I wasn't talking about teams I thought had better offenses than the Cubs, just teams I liked there approach, with the HUGE qualifier from the few times I watch them. Go back to talking about how Kyle Hendricks is terrible and won't succeed as a starting pitcher. See, it's easy to make someone look stupid, when you misrepresent their view.

Baseball players guess. You said yourself you only watch Cubs, so of course you are going to see "guessing" more from them than other teams. The team's approach is great. The offense is great. It's not unstoppable but no lineup is. No horsefeathering horsefeathers no lineup is unstoppable. Why do people find the need to misrepresent what I'm trying to say to make me look like I'm being ridiculous. I'm not or ever was demanding Mallee be fired. I think he has done a lot of things well. I'm just assuming the guessing comes from him. I'm not saying the offense was bad or needs to be perfect. The projections said they should be better, and iirc many here thought those projections were low. So when they don't perform up to the projections, I think it's fair to ask why or if they could be better. There are the obvious answers like the team being young and developing, along with injuries, but are there other reasons? I think they guess too much, and I've felt this last year and year before too, but the results were and continue to be great so I didn't bring it up earlier. There's a good chance the guessing pays off more than it hurts. I think Rizzo guesses more than anyone, and obviously he's been pretty successful. I know he's gotten hits by guessing, but I just don't like it when he gets up in the count and swings at a breaking pitch that bounces 3 feet in front of the plate. I brought it up to see if anyone else thought it might be an issue. It appears no on else has either noticed the same thing I have, or thinks it's an issue. Which is cool, but I don't think bringing it up, makes me a meatball. I'm sure the front office is looking at ways to improve the offense, and I'm sure they looked at ways to possibly improve the teams approach too. Does that mean they thought the offense was terrible or that they are meatballs too?

I agree. The offense is not satisfactory. Despite their numbers being good. Here are some issues with just pointing out number s - This team is loaded with top 10 prospects who were expected to be good and produced in the minors. We don’t have guys like Taylor who sucked and became good. Or turner who became a stud after 30. Or Aaron judge who OPSed 850 in the minors and because an mvp candidate. Name someone who they developed into a star beyond expectations. Besides Rizzo. - they are an inconsistent offense. They strike out a lot. Despite winning a WS they went into extended hitting droughts in all 3 playoff years. - there has not been enough improvement from guys that should be improving. Guys in their early mid 20s. Even Bryant should be getting better. So no. I’m absolutely not satisfied with the offense. And I think coaching may have something to do with it. In fact I hope so. Because let’s face it. This team will live or die with Rizzo Bryant Russell Willy Baez etc. Yea, I don't agree with that, and people going to these extremes is why people assumed I was saying the offense was terrible. This offense is satisfactory. Coghlan, Fowler, and Ross exceeded expectations as free agents The fact that none of Baez, Almora, and Happ didn't just flame out is incredible, and that Baez and Almora look like they could be reliable regulars is beyond expectations. The Astros have an amazing offense, but are currently getting shut down by the Yankees. Things like that happen. The guys who aren't developing are still younger than a lot of the people you're comparing them too.

Always open to ideas and not attacking you but I think it’s looking WAY to much in to it and looking for a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Fair point, and I don't know enough to just throw horsefeathers against the wall.

Besides some changes to the outfield, I don't see a whole lot happening on the offensive side. Part of the reason I made the ill attempt at the Mallee thread, thought it was something to possibly look at.

Apparently I'm the only one who thinks the Cubs guess too much. But let me just say I have no doubts the offense will be better next year and the team will be one of the best teams in baseball again. I just thought this my be a way they could improve.

As far as specific names, I have no clue. I don't follow baseball closely enough to have specific names. Heck I can probably only name two hitting coaches in baseball, and that would just be guessing ex-cub coaches and Jacque Jones. Teams that I think have a good approach from what I've seen, the Astros, Brewers, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Indians. But those are for the most part, just really good offenses with really good players. Again, I think the Cubs are in good hands, I just also think there might be room for improvement (see above). the brewers rank in the bottom half of baseball in every meaningful offensive category except BB%, where they're 11th. let's cross them off the list of teams to emulate. Ok, I just remember them seeming to have a lot of good plate appearances when I watched them, despite not having a lot of talent, and I thought I should put one team on there that wasn't loaded with talent.

As far as specific names, I have no clue. I don't follow baseball closely enough to have specific names. Heck I can probably only name two hitting coaches in baseball, and that would just be guessing ex-cub coaches and Jacque Jones. Teams that I think have a good approach from what I've seen, the Astros, Brewers, Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Indians. But those are for the most part, just really good offenses with really good players. Again, I think the Cubs are in good hands, I just also think there might be room for improvement (see above).

What was ridiculous about what I was saying? The notion that you're letting a small sample of playoff games, in which we faced Strasburg x2, Kershaw x2, Darvish, Scherzer, Rich Hill and Jansen a bunch cloud your judgment that somehow our offense is bad and it's the hitting coaches fault. The offense sucked, but it was against very good pitchers who make offense look sucky more times than not. There's been plenty of guys who've shown real growth under Mallee this year and his whole time here and a lot of the underperforming this year can be attributed to non Mallee things like Injuries, aging and just generally still having a lot of guys learning on the job. We still had one of the best offenses in baseball this year. 1) I never said the offense was bad. I said it didn't perform up to expectations. 2) I didn't base this on just the playoffs. 3) I've acknowledged that Mallee has done a lot of good, and I'm fine with him as the hitting coach. I'm just speculating that there might be room for improvement, and I think that could be through some minor tweaks to the hitting approach. Am I doing that bad of a job, explaining my thoughts, that everyone continues to think that I think the offense and Mallee are terrible? I just think that maybe a new hitting coach or change in hitting philosophy could possibly make the offense even better. Did I put enough qualifiers in there, so people realize I'm not demanding Mallee be fired, or think he hasn't done anything good in his time here? I get others may not feel the same. Maybe they think the under performance was just baseball. Maybe they feel making a change from Mallee isn't worth the risk, since there are definitely worse hitting coaches. Maybe they feel bringing in a specialist to help specific batters would help. Heck, I probably fall in the camp, that a change isn't worth the risk. The only reason I'm considering the possibility is because I've seen some things I don't like, and I feel we have one of the few front offices that would find someone better. We're talking about a team who has made the NLCS 3 years in a row and won the world series last year, which is returning 99% of their position players. When looking for possible areas of improvement to the offense, of course it's going to be nitpicking.

What was ridiculous about what I was saying?

I thought about suggesting something like this, but don't we already have a assistant hitting coach and Maddon helping too? If we hired another, I'm worried it would be too many chefs in the kitchen.

Not really. It plays a role, but I expect those ebbs and flows in production, especially from the young guys. I also kind of expect them to balance out. The team performed below expectations, so is that because the expectations were out of whack or because the team under performed. Probably a little from column A and a little from column B. Just because they still performed well, doesn't mean they didn't under perform. Yes, there were injuries and other factors, but where there any others? I see the approach the hitters take, and I see room for improvement. They see lots of pitches and are patient, all good things. As has been pointed out they did this better than anyone else. With that said, too many times, in my opinion, the hitters get up in the count (or even first pitch) and sell out for a fastball and end up swinging at a pitch that is well out of the zone. Maybe this approach works more than I realize, because you don't notice when they guess correctly. But I see almost all of the players do it, so I assume it comes from the coaching staff. I don't like that approach, because I feel it can be exploited more by better pitching.

yes, I can't find the preseason projections, but I think they were projecting better than a wRC+ of 105 and 101, and IIRC many here thought the projections were too low. wRC+ isn't going to be the best option to compare team-wide for an NL team. One NL team has had a wRC+ above 108 in any of the last 5 seasons, the AL has had 8 instances. The last 2 years combined, the Cubs have the best wOBA and wRC+ in the NL. They have been tremendous from an OBP standpoint, leading the way in BB% and only the Rockies come within 10 points of OBP(which is a huge gap at the team level). Are they capable of leading the pack by even more? Probably, but 'underperformed' is a real tough sell for me. Ok, maybe it was a poor choice of words. I know this offense is really good, but I think they could be even better. And again, I don't think Mallee is bad or even not good, but there might be better out there. Maybe it's because I watch the Cubs more than any other team, but I feel like they get caught guessing more than other teams. I don't know, but I think that philosophy might come from the coaches, and I assume that would be Mallee. I'm also not going to pretend to know what it takes to hit major league pitching, but I feel like they guess too much. If the coaching staff and front office, don't think a change needs to be made, they have more information than I do, and I trust them. The players, for the most part, aren't changing, so when looking at improving the offense, why not talk about the coaching.

must have been a different David who was posting about how awesome the offense was going to be, or maybe I'm wrong in thinking a 101 wRC+ isn't awesome. It was 2nd in the NL. The Dodgers were at 104. What? Yes it was really good. You were laughing at the projections that had the Dodgers better than the Cubs, and those were the team projections, that IIRC had the Dodgers in front mainly based on pitching.

are you for serious? yes, I can't find the preseason projections, but I think they were projecting better than a wRC+ of 105 and 101, and IIRC many here thought the projections were too low.

agreed, but thought it might be worth discussing

Can you explain how you think they've under-performed? I mean...yeah, the offense slumped against two of the best pitching staffs in baseball in the playoffs...no doubt. But, that's 10 games... They had a slightly better than average wOBA and wRC+ this year. I expected better, and I think most people here and in the baseball world did too. And yes, I know they were a lot better in the second half.

must have been a different David who was posting about how awesome the offense was going to be, or maybe I'm wrong in thinking a 101 wRC+ isn't awesome.

First of all, I don't think he is a bad hitting coach or anything, but I wouldn't mind seeing a change. Like I said, I don't think he's bad, but I do think there are better hitting coaches out there. I don't know enough about swing mechanics to comment on that, but I don't like the approach of the hitters. It seems to me that they guess or predetermine if they will swing too much. I know the offense has been really good, but I also feel like it has under performed a little the last two years. Ultimately I trust the decisions the front office makes, but what are some thoughts?

Lester doesn't have good command tonight :(

Like this? https://www.mlb.com/cubs/video/goins-nabs-baez-at-home/c-1741573383?tid=70610252

No it didn’t. it did for once ding dong is correct

Did Q look as good as he sounded?

and apparently Verlander is warming up?