Comments for Cubs Notebook

Comment on My Hall of Fame Ballot by Hall of Fame Welcomes Barry Larkin | Cubs Notebook

Hall of Fame Welcomes Barry Larkin | Cubs Notebook — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:46:10 +0000

[...] team 12 times. He also won three gold gloves and nine silver slugger awards. Here’s what I said last week about Larkin’s candidacy for the Hall of Fame: At first, I wasn’t sold on Barry Larkin. I [...]

Comment on UPDATE: Cubs Trade Sean Marshall to Reds for Travis Wood by Cubs Sign Manny Corpas & Reed Johnson | Cubs Notebook

Cubs Sign Manny Corpas & Reed Johnson | Cubs Notebook — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:24:36 +0000

[...] More Merchandise « UPDATE: Cubs Trade Sean Marshall to Reds for Travis Wood [...]

Comment on Is OBP Really That Important? by Bobby

Bobby — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 11:34:33 +0000

Right, it’s OBP + Slugging % that matters. OBP is the core of offense in the sense that it measures a hitter’s ability to avoid getting out, which should be the point of hitting. A team with a 1.000 OBP would never lose… In fact, they’d never win either, because they’d score an infinite number of runs. Infinite runs, you gotta admit that’d be nice!

But never getting out is not really very realistic. That’s why SLG is important, because it measures how far the hitter advances the people on base and himself when he comes to the plate. In the Dawson/Bradley example, a walk is nice for OBP but does nothing for SLG because it advances no one unless there’s a runner already on 1st, and it can only advance them 1 base. Walks only send guys home if the bases are loaded.

So that’s why you feel like OBP isn’t getting the whole picture. It’s not! OBP needs to go with SLG to be complete, which is why your new go-to stat should really be OPS at this point.

Comment on Arizona Turns Its Back On Cubs And Major League Baseball by Lou

Lou — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:47:11 +0000

I’m a “reporter twit?” I suppose that is a step in the right direction.

You’re arguing for the immigration law from a political perspective. I’m talking about how the law will impact MLB in Arizona. Two different things.

I understand that many people in Arizona feel overrun by illegal immigrants. They also feel that the federal government isn’t doing nearly enough to stop it. Fair enough. My thoughts in the article were targeted at how the new law would affect MLB and its players.

As your comment showed, emotions are very high right now. An emotional response (i.e. the new law) to the immigration problem could very well cause more problems than it solves.

Thanks for your comment.

Comment on Arizona Turns Its Back On Cubs And Major League Baseball by FedUpinAZ

FedUpinAZ — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:30:50 +0000

I am sooo tired of you reporter twits that can’t get your facts straight. The MLBPA and MLB are only affected by the new law if they are hiring players who are not in the country legally and only then if they get caught for another law infraction. In fact I doubt that affects MLB at all because there is already a law here requiring employers to verify an employees’ legal right to work in this state. You are just another liberal trying to make a big deal out of nothing. Regarding the MLK’s birthday, the outgoing Democrat governor approved the MLK holiday and then new Republican governor repealed it only because it affected the budget and the previous governer did not get it approved through the state government properly. We are not a white-supremist state or anything. The holiday was reinstated after going through the proper channels and budgetary approvals. So who are the emotional ones? Our state is not being emotional about it. I think the rest of the country should cool off their emotions and leave Arizona alone. Our government is FINALLY taking action after the federal government has ignored the problem for 20+ years. How much more patient do we have to be?

Comment on Zambrano Does Milton Bradley Impersonation by To Trade Or Not To Trade: The Carlos Zambrano Dilemma | Cubs Notebook

To Trade Or Not To Trade: The Carlos Zambrano Dilemma | Cubs Notebook — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:58:35 +0000

[...] More Merchandise « Zambrano Does Milton Bradley Impersonation [...]

Comment on Goose Gossage Is Still Full Of Himself by chris

chris — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:24:56 +0000

I don’t get it! Perhaps Goose is merely using certain stats and comparisons to make himself look good. While he says that it is “wrong” to compare 500 HR hitters of today with the past, he puts the 7-out save comparison to today’s closers who are no longer called upon to do such jobs. I did a bit of research and came up with the following. Using a bit of the stats, Gossage’s totals for the first 1000 or so innings 1972-1983 (minus 1976 when he was a starter) look like this:
1012.1IP 6.8h/9 3.81BB/9 8.37K/9 2.61ERA.
Gossage was 31 to this point -still young by baseball standards and there were far more pitchers who pitched more innings in 12 seasons.
Rivera meanwhile has numbers like this for the first 1000 or so innings. In fairness, I subtracted his first year stats as a starter. I have Rivera’s current numbers through age 40.
1045.1IP 6.8h/9 2.0BB/9 8.4K/9 2.02ERA

I understand that pitching 3 innings in one night is different from pitching 1 inning for three nights, but this is merely a way to gauge for time playing.

Both pitchers were/are excellent and from a different era, but it is hard to ignore Rivera’s numbers. In the same number of innings, he has walked far less and that has made a big difference.

I remember Goose mentioning that he would not know what his numbers would be like had be used for one-inning saves. Well, walking almost 4 batters per nine innings may more than likely put him in the same category as k-rod with less strikeouts.

Next time Goose, stop with “we are from a different era” and leave things at that. Anyone who follows baseball can see that. Cy Young completed 92% of his games, there are hardly any complete games today -but this is because the game has changed and it is often not the fault of the starting pitcher.

Comment on Hard To Be Excited About The Cubs by Paul

Paul — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 22:07:19 +0000

Things could get worse, they could lose the first two games to the White Sox. The Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup will be at Wrigley Sunday so no one will care about baseball anyway.

Comment on 2010 Predictions: NL Central by Cubs Take Two From Dodgers | Cubs Notebook

Cubs Take Two From Dodgers | Cubs Notebook — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:22:35 +0000

[...] sticking by the picks I made earlier in the year. Even so, I have to admit that the way that some teams are playing — both good and bad [...]

Comment on My Five Favorite Baseball Films by Mark Winland

Mark Winland — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:00:06 +0000

Certainly not a baseball movie but one of my favorite baseballs scenes in a movie is from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – “hey batter batter, hey batter batter, schwing batter”. Still cracks me up. There is also a little snipet of Harey Carey saying something about Leon Durham. I wonder if Buckner would have caught the groundball the Bull missed in ’84 against San Diego? Kind of ironic. Also just heard a great old clip of Harey saying “The good Lord must want the Cubs to win” – talk about laying it all out there and not worrying about being politically correct!