MLB: ***Official Cubs Offseason Thread***

[ISUCubswin]

Maddon's bullpen management every offseason in Chicago has been atrocious. I love him, he's the best manager in baseball, and it's his "lets have fun" attitude that is the reason he gets his teams to the postseason. That being said, he's always, ALWAYS, been awful at bullpen decisions.

 

[ISUCubswin]

Set the bar as high as possible, fellas.

In 7 games, Billy Hamilton has 0 stolen bases. In 7 games, Kyle Schwarber has 3.

 

[BigJCy]

Launched:

 

[CycloneErik]

Launched:

"792 feet." Nice, JD, works for me.
He got plenty of that one.

 

[bookie2134]

I posted this in the ticket exchange, but this seems like a good place as well.

After 13 years on the waiting list I was fortunate enough to finally get Cubs season tickets. However, living in Iowa makes it hard to make it over for a lot of games, especially weekday games. If anyone is interested in tickets shoot me an email and I can let you know what all games are available. It's 2 seats in section 137 down the right field line. Not looking to make any money on these, everything is at my season ticket face value (which is a little cheaper than buying through the Cubs).

Now some games have been sold already b/c I gave family and friends first crack at them. I'm also an Iowa fan and alum so I may have given Hawkeye Report first dibs too. Still plenty available though.

[email protected]

 

[NorthCyd]

"792 feet." Nice, JD, works for me.
He got plenty of that one.

Nice! Longest home run in history by several hundred feet. That's promising!

 

[CloneFan4]

I posted this in the ticket exchange, but this seems like a good place as well.

After 13 years on the waiting list I was fortunate enough to finally get Cubs season tickets. However, living in Iowa makes it hard to make it over for a lot of games, especially weekday games. If anyone is interested in tickets shoot me an email and I can let you know what all games are available. It's 2 seats in section 137 down the right field line. Not looking to make any money on these, everything is at my season ticket face value (which is a little cheaper than buying through the Cubs).

Now some games have been sold already b/c I gave family and friends first crack at them. I'm also an Iowa fan and alum so I may have given Hawkeye Report first dibs too. Still plenty available though.

[email protected]

I sent you a response from last nights email this morning and for whatever reason I got a "failure to deliver" message. Double checked the address and it is still what you listed.

 

[CyJack13]

Maddon's bullpen management every offseason in Chicago has been atrocious. I love him, he's the best manager in baseball, and it's his "lets have fun" attitude that is the reason he gets his teams to the postseason. That being said, he's always, ALWAYS, been awful at bullpen decisions.

I assume you mean postseason, but to me this sentence does get to the real issue. Maddon hasn't had good postseason options. I think his bullpen management struggles are greatly exaggerated. How most fans view a managers bullpen management comes down to whether or not his relievers get guys out. I don't recall hearing many complaints about this prior to the end of the World Series last year. Maddon going to Chapman so early in Game 5 was a great move, the only problem I had with Game 6 was sending him back out for the 9th. At that point the Cubs had basically three relievers who the staff had any kind of faith in, Chapman, a failed starter who had been with the team for three months in Montgomery and a guy who had been in the bigs for four months in Edwards. Strop and Rondon were hurt, Grimm was Grimm, there weren't better options available.

This past post-season was very similar he had Wade Davis, maybe Duensing, maybe Strop, after that Edwards was melting down, Wilson was unbelievably bad post trade, Rondon was done, Grimm was Grimm. Maddon didn't have the plethora of arms that Roberts and Girardi had to choose from, he had options but it doesn't matter when and what order you throw relievers in if none of them can get guys out.

 

[cyhiphopp]

I assume you mean postseason, but to me this sentence does get to the real issue. Maddon hasn't had good postseason options. I think his bullpen management struggles are greatly exaggerated. How most fans view a managers bullpen management comes down to whether or not his relievers get guys out. I don't recall hearing many complaints about this prior to the end of the World Series last year. Maddon going to Chapman so early in Game 5 was a great move, the only problem I had with Game 6 was sending him back out for the 9th. At that point the Cubs had basically three relievers who the staff had any kind of faith in, Chapman, a failed starter who had been with the team for three months in Montgomery and a guy who had been in the bigs for four months in Edwards. Strop and Rondon were hurt, Grimm was Grimm, there weren't better options available.

This past post-season was very similar he had Wade Davis, maybe Duensing, maybe Strop, after that Edwards was melting down, Wilson was unbelievably bad post trade, Rondon was done, Grimm was Grimm. Maddon didn't have the plethora of arms that Roberts and Girardi had to choose from, he had options but it doesn't matter when and what order you throw relievers in if none of them can get guys out.

To put it simply. You can be the best bullpen manager of all times, but if you are managing pieces of crap, you aren't going to get that much out of your bullpen.

Pretty hard to polish a turd.

 

[laminak]

I assume you mean postseason, but to me this sentence does get to the real issue. Maddon hasn't had good postseason options. I think his bullpen management struggles are greatly exaggerated. How most fans view a managers bullpen management comes down to whether or not his relievers get guys out. I don't recall hearing many complaints about this prior to the end of the World Series last year. Maddon going to Chapman so early in Game 5 was a great move, the only problem I had with Game 6 was sending him back out for the 9th. At that point the Cubs had basically three relievers who the staff had any kind of faith in, Chapman, a failed starter who had been with the team for three months in Montgomery and a guy who had been in the bigs for four months in Edwards. Strop and Rondon were hurt, Grimm was Grimm, there weren't better options available.

This past post-season was very similar he had Wade Davis, maybe Duensing, maybe Strop, after that Edwards was melting down, Wilson was unbelievably bad post trade, Rondon was done, Grimm was Grimm. Maddon didn't have the plethora of arms that Roberts and Girardi had to choose from, he had options but it doesn't matter when and what order you throw relievers in if none of them can get guys out.

I agree putting in Chapman early in game 5 was a great move. Closers being saved for the ninth is the biggest mistake in baseball. Closers should be saved for critical parts of the game with the toughest lineup at the plate appearing. Shutting them down in an earlier inning is better than letting the game get away since the manager saved them for later.

Maddon had two critical mistakes, though, was overusing Chapman in later games as you mentioned and the other was his overmanaging by pulling Hendricks in game 7. There was zero reason to pull him there. That batter was walked due to a poor ump call and he brought in Lester, which reported earlier that he would be best to start off a fresh inning.

Luckily these mistakes don't matter now, unless he didn't learn from them for future critical games.

 

[CycloneErik]

I agree putting in Chapman early in game 5 was a great move. Closers being saved for the ninth is the biggest mistake in baseball. Closers should be saved for critical parts of the game with the toughest lineup at the plate appearing. Shutting them down in an earlier inning is better than letting the game get away since the manager saved them for later.

Maddon had two critical mistakes, though, was overusing Chapman in later games as you mentioned and the other was his overmanaging by pulling Hendricks in game 7. There was zero reason to pull him there. That batter was walked due to a poor ump call and he brought in Lester, which reported earlier that he would be best to start off a fresh inning.

Luckily these mistakes don't matter now, unless he didn't learn from them for future critical games.

Really, he just should have set up Hendricks for 6 or 7, and brought Lester up only in time for innings 7 and 8, or something like that, then Chapman is ready for the 9th and we're all good, or Rajai Davis goes off anyway, because that was his deal.

 

[CyJack13]

I agree putting in Chapman early in game 5 was a great move. Closers being saved for the ninth is the biggest mistake in baseball. Closers should be saved for critical parts of the game with the toughest lineup at the plate appearing. Shutting them down in an earlier inning is better than letting the game get away since the manager saved them for later.

Maddon had two critical mistakes, though, was overusing Chapman in later games as you mentioned and the other was his overmanaging by pulling Hendricks in game 7. There was zero reason to pull him there. That batter was walked due to a poor ump call and he brought in Lester, which reported earlier that he would be best to start off a fresh inning.

Luckily these mistakes don't matter now, unless he didn't learn from them for future critical games.

The real cause of Maddon pulling Hendricks early was his shaky 2nd (or 3rd?) inning. Maddon had already gotten Lester up early a couple times and had said that he didn't think he could treat him like a regular reliever and get him ready and sit him back down multiple times and that by the last time he was warming up he was coming in no matter what. I don't know if sitting him down again really would have caused problems but at least there was some logic to his decision.

 

[CyJack13]

Really, he just should have set up Hendricks for 6 or 7, and brought Lester up only in time for innings 7 and 8, or something like that, then Chapman is ready for the 9th and we're all good, or Rajai Davis goes off anyway, because that was his deal.

I mean it's Game 7 of the World Series, this isn't like a July game where you can let a starter work through it, really you have to be ready to pull your guy at basically any time. That's why Lester was up in the second inning and what ultimately led him to coming in when he did. If we had a better middle relief option, maybe you go there to finish off that inning then let Lester start the next inning.

 

[CycloneErik]

I mean it's Game 7 of the World Series, this isn't like a July game where you can let a starter work through it, really you have to be ready to pull your guy at basically any time. That's why Lester was up in the second inning and what ultimately led him to coming in when he did. If we had a better middle relief option, maybe you go there to finish off that inning then let Lester start the next inning.

I know. No perfect answers on this one.

 

[BigJCy]

Argh, sounds like a hamstring issue:

 

[CycloneErik]

Argh, sounds like a hamstring issue:

See everyone next year. Life isn't fair.

 

[BigJCy]

Hopefully it is just "tightness" and not a pull:

 

[BigJCy]

 

[CyJack13]

Where does Happ fit defensively this year? I think his bat needs to play almost every day

 

[CycloneErik]

Where does Happ fit defensively this year? I think his bat needs to play almost every day

Bit of 2B, CF, probably LF, since everyone plays over there.