2010 Cubs Thread

[flavum]

Cubs hang on for a rare win.

[flavum]

Today is Lou Piniella's last day as Cubs manager. Press conference pending.

[Quin]

Today is Lou Piniella's last day as Cubs manager. Press conference pending.

End of an era

 

[Balta1701]

Lou Pinella is losing his last game 14-3.

[SouthsideNorthsideFan]

Lou - good riddance.

Edited August 22, 2010 by SouthsideNorthsideFan

[Harry Chappas]

So Lou walks out on the last two teams he has managed. Has this been brought up anywhere? It also seems the Rays did not need him at all and he took the cubs right into the crapper.

 

I really think he should be known more for his failures than his successes.

 

The M's collapse

 

The Tampa debacle

 

The cubs debacle. With the money spent on that team to not win a single playoff his embarrassing.

 

The 91 World Series was a long time ago.

Edited August 23, 2010 by Jenks Heat

[kitekrazy]

So Lou walks out on the last two teams he has managed. Has this been brought up anywhere? It also seems the Rays did not need him at all and he took the cubs right into the crapper.

 

I really think he should be known more for his failures than his successes.

 

The M's collapse

 

The Tampa debacle

 

The cubs debacle. With the money spent on that team to not win a single playoff his embarrassing.

 

The 91 World Series was a long time ago.

 

If got the impression he felt he didn't really have to manage when he took over the Cubs. He was probably shocked having to deal with certain immature players. If Rickets wants to improve the team, Hendry should be next to go.

 

[Balta1701]

So, hypothetically, let's say the Cubs go on the traditional post-manager-change late season it's september and we have a few young guys who want to play spoiler run.

 

What are the odds that the Cubs decide to retain Mike Quade, and what are the odds the Cubs decide they're close enough that they can run with nearly waht they have next year, and it's only because of things like Ramirez's injury that they are down this year?

[LittleHurt05]

So, hypothetically, let's say the Cubs go on the traditional post-manager-change late season it's september and we have a few young guys who want to play spoiler run.

 

What are the odds that the Cubs decide to retain Mike Quade, and what are the odds the Cubs decide they're close enough that they can run with nearly waht they have next year, and it's only because of things like Ramirez's injury that they are down this year?

 

I think that depends on whether or not the Ricketts retain Jim Hendry. If he is around, then he has to go for it next year with these pieces, but if a new GM comes in, he might be able to make some moves looking more towards the future.

[Steve9347]

Holee f*** are Cubs fans and those who cover them stupid.

 

They seem to be convinced that Joe Girardi will leave his job as MANAGER OF THE NEW YORK YANKEES to manage the Cubs!

 

It's the dumbest s*** I've ever heard. I don't recall anyone "quitting" their job as yankees manager in the last quarter decade... you get fired from that job. Why would he ever leave the Yanks, a team fresh off a world series and possibly headed to another, to take over the job as CUBS manager?!?!

 

He won't.

[smalls2598]

Holee f*** are Cubs fans and those who cover them stupid.

 

They seem to be convinced that Joe Girardi will leave his job as MANAGER OF THE NEW YORK YANKEES to manage the Cubs!

 

It's the dumbest s*** I've ever heard. I don't recall anyone "quitting" their job as yankees manager in the last quarter decade... you get fired from that job. Why would he ever leave the Yanks, a team fresh off a world series and possibly headed to another, to take over the job as CUBS manager?!?!

 

He won't.

I never understood this, either. I do believe his contract is up after this year, but why wouldn't the Yankees resign him? Unless the Cubs want to give him more money, but i still don't see how he'd walk away from the star-studded roster of the Yankees to coach a failure franchise.

[Balta1701]

I never understood this, either. I do believe his contract is up after this year, but why wouldn't the Yankees resign him? Unless the Cubs want to give him more money, but i still don't see how he'd walk away from the star-studded roster of the Yankees to coach a failure franchise.

It's always possible that there may be issues between the Yankees and him that we don't know about as well. The Marlins did not seem fans.

 

If I were the Cubs and he didn't sign a contract until November, I'd at least ask, and there might be a 1% chance of it happening. Can't hurt.

 

I'll still have my mind blown if it's not Sandberg.

[Harry Chappas]

It's always possible that there may be issues between the Yankees and him that we don't know about as well. The Marlins did not seem fans.

 

If I were the Cubs and he didn't sign a contract until November, I'd at least ask, and there might be a 1% chance of it happening. Can't hurt.

 

I'll still have my mind blown if it's not Sandberg.

 

They will do Girardi over Sandberg as the minion will eat that up. The Yankees will let Joe go, the cubs will nto hirre him away.

 

The Ricketts do not have the cash to spend on the players they need to turn that thing around. They will not be any better next year so why would Joe voluntarily go for that? The Yanks may be leading him in that direction if they are not very high on him.

[SoxAce]

To their credit, Girardi has said before he would love to manage the Cubs (before he was the Yankee skipper), is a Naperville, IL native and I believe was a Cubs fan growing up. It isn't that unrealistic he would walk away from the Yanks to take on a challenge of not winning anything in 100+ years of a team he grew up rooting for. I would have to say though, the dollar figures have to be right however for him to leave, more-so than his roots.

[SoxFan562004]

To their credit, Girardi has said before he would love to manage the Cubs (before he was the Yankee skipper), is a Naperville, IL native and I believe was a Cubs fan growing up. It isn't that unrealistic he would walk away from the Yanks to take on a challenge of not winning anything in 100+ years of a team he grew up rooting for. I would have to say though, the dollar figures have to be right however for him to leave, more-so than his roots.

I wouldn't be shocked to see him as manager because of the reasons you listed, but if he goes to the Cubs I imagine it would have to be for a long term contract because with their reported cash flow problems they can't even come close to offering him the roster the NYY can, at least for a couple of years. I understand it's NL vs. AL, so easier to be competitive, but the Reds have younger players and will be good for awhile and the Cards will have a good core at least for one more year, so it's not like they have a cake walk in that division.

 

I caught an inning or two of yesterday's game and I was shocked at how empty the outfield seats were. I know the tickets were likely sold, but that team needs butts in the seats buying concessions.

[SouthsideNorthsideFan]

They will do Girardi over Sandberg as the minion will eat that up.

 

 

Huh?

[fathom]

My favorite moment over the weekend with regards to Girardi and the Cubs was the Score having "breaking news" from the Cell that Girardi said the Cubs job is a great job. They cut to an audio clip, and Girardi goes "every managerial job in the majors is a great job". Hmmm....that's worthy of breaking news?

[Balta1701]

7th time this season the Cubs have given up 14 or more, according to MLBN. Most for the Cubs in a season since 87.

[Harry Chappas]

The scene in the 8th inning of that crowd was amazing there was literally nobody there.

 

 

[Kyyle23]

LMAO

 

 

Ouch

[RockRaines]

I love how Zambrano is playing his way back onto the roster next year, just in time for a slow start, a blow up, and a shelling from the Sox.

[Balta1701]

I love how Zambrano is playing his way back onto the roster next year, just in time for a slow start, a blow up, and a shelling from the Sox.

I love how dead this thread is.

[Balta1701]

Link

You’re going to be hard pressed to find any major-league manager who is a sabermetrician. Most don’t speak that language but all are trying to get to the same destination by speaking their own. During today’s scrum with the manager, we talked some numbers. First, the lineup:

 

DeWitt, 2B

Castro, SS

Fukudome, RF

Nady, 1B

Colvin, CF

Soto, C

Soriano, LF

Barney, 3B

Coleman, P

 

Here is Q on how he uses numbers: “If you’ve got a sample size of 40 or 50 at-bats like you would have with a veteran like a Ramirez or Byrd or Sori or whatever, you feel pretty good about that sample size as far as what you can and can’t expect. The numbers don’t rule completely. If someone hits a game-winning home run that has not had success against a guy, that’s the nature of the game.

 

“Then you get a smaller sample size where you start looking at, ‘OK, the guy has had some success or not against a guy.’ But also, you might look at a pitcher or a hitter’s general tendencies. You just weigh that against who’s swinging the bat well and who fits in the lineup that particular day.

 

“I go round and round about this. I’m not a sabermetrics guy. But I’m smart enough to know the numbers do matter, and I do pay a lot of attention to them.”

 

For example, Q knows that Jeff Baker has a hitting line of .359/.397/.565 against left-handed pitching and a line of .066/.136/.066 against righties. So he’s had Baker lead off against left-handed pitching of late, with success.

 

Quade spent time with Oakland, which is known for its use of numbers. He said he didn’t feel threatened by that.

 

“Huge, huge number organization,” he said. “But ‘jamming it down my throat’ is probably not accurate because I’m a skeptic in a lot of ways. But OK, let me see your numbers and let me look inside them. I love that. I’ve always been a guy who likes to do that. I learned a lot, things I agreed with and things I didn’t. Being exposed to that was huge for me. I think anybody who aspires to do this benefits from paying attention to stats and those kinds of things.

 

“But then you can look at a situation like, a guy’s got like a 12 percent chance of scoring if you bunt the guy. I’m like, wait a minute. The guy that’s hitting right now is hitting like .090 against the guy so why not?”

 

Another interesting comparison arose out of last night’s game, when Quade had Ryan Dempster throw 105 pitches through 7 innings. He talked with Dempster about the eighth before deciding on a reliever. In Washington during Quade’s first series as manager, he removed Dempster without discussion after 7 innings and only 79 pitches. He said last night’s decision was more difficult.

 

“Well, we had the lead,” he said of last night’s game. “There were a variety of things. We were in the eighth inning in Washington. Here we had the lead. We didn’t have the lead in Washington. It’s always difficult when a guy’s throwing well. In Washington, he had 80 pitches. To me, in the eighth inning of a tie game, you’ve got to. The way the lineup was set up with the eighth hole, it’s just something you have to do. You know the guy doesn’t want to come out.

 

“Last night was a little different. He was throwing great. We kind of had 112-110 target. That’s kind of what I’m looking for down the stretch. We went beyond that with Z, who was dominant the other night. I really want to stay away from that late in the year. If you can go to the bullpen with confidence, that makes it a little easier. It was a situation where I talked to him. In Washington, I didn’t talk to him. I had to make a decision, and that’s it. He was throwing the ball so well, and I explained to him what my thoughts were, and we came to the agreement to go to the bullpen. But I didn’t feel it would have been a bad decision to let him hit and run him out. If I would have left him in the game in Washington, I would have felt, no matter what happened, that I made the wrong decision.”

 

This guy is proving to be a fascinating study as manager.

[chw42]

Wow, good to see Quade actually uses some sort of numbers...

[SoxAce]

Wow, good to see Quade actually uses some sort of numbers...

 

That is actually very impressive. Could be a nice hidden gem for a team in the future. Hell thats the type of guy Ozzie needs as a bench coach instead of Cora.