- R.J. Braun (seriously, that could be a catalog) Update:
Tonight in the box score: 1-4, CS
Current line on season: .344/.388/.662 (330 PA)
Line adjusted for leaderboards: .297/.339/.571 (378 PA)
Leaderboard ranks: 21/49/8 - J.P. Estrada Data:
Plate Appearances: 373
Times Swung at First Pitch: 191
Times Made Contact with First Pitch: 168
First Pitch Put Into Play: 93
Swung at First Pitch Percentage: 51.2%
Contact Percentage When Swinging at First Pitch: 88.0%
First Pitch Contact Into Play Percentage: 55.4%
First Pitch Put Into Play Overall Percentage: 24.9%
Double Play Opportunities: 68
Double Plays Grounded Into: 14
DP Rate: 20.6% - R.D. Langerhans struck out (surprise!) in his only at bat tonight, giving him 74 SO and 54 TB in 196 AB.
- J.C. Rollins was 3-6 with two doubles, a strikeout, an an RBI. This brings his pace for the season up to 206 hits in 711 at bats, keeping him on track for the at bats and lowest batting average with 200+ hits in a season records.
- Cubs Catchers:
Tonight in the box score: 0-3, K
Through June 19 (Barrett Era): 285 PA, 259 AB, 60 H, 12 2B, 0 3B, 8 HR, 30 RBI, 45 K, 96 TB, 1 SH, 4 SF, 20 BB, 1 HBP, .232/.285/.371
Since June 20: 211 PA, 183 AB, 37 H, 9 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 37 K, 56 TB, 1 SH, 3 SF, 22 BB, 2 HBP, .202/.290/.306
Season Total: 496 PA, 442 AB, 97 H, 21 2B, 1 3B, 11 HR, 57 RBI, 82 K, 152 TB, 2 SH, 7 SF, 42 BB, 3 HBP, .219/.287/.344
MLB Average Catcher's Line: .254/.315/.390
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Daily Tracker, 8/17
As they say in the suburbs, what are the haps, dude? Well, here are the haps:
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11 comments:
I was kinda hoping for a Joe Borchard update as well
Hah. I actually wasn't paying attention to him since he was DFA'd and I realized Langerhans is worse (!), but he's done well in his first five games for Albuquerque (only one strikeout!). I'll have to keep tabs on him again.
I don't get the fascination with the weak hitting of the Cubs catchers. I would expect that someone with as much baseball knowledge as you would realize that a team is very willing to give up offense at the catcher position for increased defense. We are VERY content to see Barrett gone and if Kendall doesn't get another hit all year, we're a better team. It's similar to the Brewers in that they are very willing accept VERY sub par defense at third base in order to keep Braun's bat in the lineup. The fact that the Cubs record is much better in the post-Barrett era confirms this (32-37 w/ Barrett, 31-22 without the bum). Recondite indeed!
Thanks for the comment. I just like how much offense the Cubs have given up at the catcher position. I think to argue (using before and after W-L record) that by just jettisoning Barrett the Cubs went from being a 75 win pace team to a 94 win pace team is beyond simplistic. There's a lot of other factors at play there and Jason Kendall and Koyie Hill are not going to add 19 wins over a season no matter how good their gloves are.
SD was 41-29 before Barrett and 24-28 after him. I think it really is that simple. If you had watched Barrett play everyday for the past 2 1/2 years, you'd see the impact he has on a team. There is a list of Cubs pitchers as long as my arm that don't want to throw to the guy and you can add several Padres pitchers to that as well.
Once again, there's myriad other reasons why a team does poorly over a stretch of the season. I hardly think that Barrett starting less than half those games is what made them lose.
Let's put it another way...
With Barrett, these 2 teams are 59-65. Without him, these 2 teams are 73-51.
No, that's putting it the same useless way.
So what exactly is you're point? This is poor offense from this position (although it's greatly improved over the past few weeks), but so what? This is obviously a much better team without Barrett.
I'm not disputing the fact the Cubs have been better without Barrett. What I am disputing is your using the team's won-loss record to "prove" how getting rid of Barrett makes them better. I think the offense the Cubs have received from behind the plate is laughably bad; I'm not using that to make a judgment about the whole team or the whole season.
It's actually very similar to the offense the World Series champions got from their catcher last year. It's also very similar to the Angels in 2002.
You're right, there are a LOT of things that lead to a team losing games. Having a poor hitting catcher is not one of them.
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