Chicago Cubs 2018 Season

#1,002      
Honestly, I think hitting coach is one of the least useful coaching positions in all of sports, except for the fact they are the perfect scapegoat for sputtering offenses.

That being said, look at the difference in the Red Sox from last year to this. Then look at who their hitting coach was. Correlation and causation sure, but his influence obviously isn't positive.
 
#1,003      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
Bryant will be a free agent. He’ll sign with the team that offers him the most money. If that team is the Cubs, he’ll re-sign with the Cubs. It could be the Cubs; the Cubs are one of the richest teams in baseball and should be able to compete for whatever free agent they want.

Speculating luxury tax implications, etc. for when Bryant is a free agent is kind of silly since the current collective bargaining agreement will have expired by then and teams could be playing by a completely different set of rules.
Is anyone here concerned with Bryant's numbers since the 2017 All-Star break? They aren't good. I think it would be fairly risky to extend him right now unless you could do it cheaply.
 
#1,004      

ILL in IA

Iowa City
Honestly, I think hitting coach is one of the least useful coaching positions in all of sports, except for the fact they are the perfect scapegoat for sputtering offenses.

That being said, look at the difference in the Red Sox from last year to this. Then look at who their hitting coach was. Correlation and causation sure, but his influence obviously isn't positive.
Its amazing what a hitting coach can do by adding J.D. Martinez to an offense. jk

Your first comment is spot on.
 
#1,005      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Its amazing what a hitting coach can do by adding J.D. Martinez to an offense. jk

Your first comment is spot on.

That's quite an impact JD is having on their offense. ;) I would need to check Boston's stats from last year to this but for sure, they hit a ton more homers this year.
 
#1,006      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Honestly, I think hitting coach is one of the least useful coaching positions in all of sports, except for the fact they are the perfect scapegoat for sputtering offenses.

That being said, look at the difference in the Red Sox from last year to this. Then look at who their hitting coach was. Correlation and causation sure, but his influence obviously isn't positive.

The stat I saw for the Cubs this year is that they lead MLB is hits to the opposite field. That's good but not at the expense of power/OPS, especially in the second half of the year.
 
#1,007      
That's quite an impact JD is having on their offense. ;) I would need to check Boston's stats from last year to this but for sure, they hit a ton more homers this year.
Boegarts and Devers going from 10-ish to 20-ish HRs and replacing Hanley Ramirez with JD Martinez pretty much accounts for the entirety of Boston’s uptick in HRs.

The hitting coach didn’t have anything to do with the personnel change. He may have helped the young players hit more homers, or it may have happened anyway as they got older, stronger, and more experienced.
 
#1,008      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Boegarts and Devers going from 10-ish to 20-ish HRs and replacing Hanley Ramirez with JD Martinez pretty much accounts for the entirety of Boston’s uptick in HRs.

The hitting coach didn’t have anything to do with the personnel change. He may have helped the young players hit more homers, or it may have happened anyway as they got older, stronger, and more experienced.

Yeah, I was only kidding about JDM, hence my wink.

Boston had more extra base hits this year (53 more doubles and 12 more triples) than last. The only thing Cubs are trailing on are HR. Having Bryant out hurt and every player but Baez had less HR this year as opposed to last.
 
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#1,009      
Is anyone here concerned with Bryant's numbers since the 2017 All-Star break? They aren't good. I think it would be fairly risky to extend him right now unless you could do it cheaply.

He wasn't healthy the entire 2nd half. Unless it's a long-term injury, he's about as safe a risk to extend. That said, he's going to hit free agency.
 
#1,010      
The last time the Brewers lost a game, the Cubs had a 2.5 game lead in the Central.

I literally have never witnessed a hot streak like this. Every single break has gone their way for a month.
 
#1,011      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
He wasn't healthy the entire 2nd half. Unless it's a long-term injury, he's about as safe a risk to extend. That said, he's going to hit free agency.
Its not just the second half of 2018. He's hit something like 23 homers in the last season and a half.
 
#1,013      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
If you are worried about Kris Bryant based upon his last 2 seasons, I don't know what else to say. He's been just fine when he hasn't been hurt.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bryankr01.shtml
Um, yes I'm worried about him because his first two seasons were outstanding, year three was good, and year four was pedestrian. Apparently he was hurt the second half last year and the whole first half with the shoulder this year? I don't think the Cubs have even said that.
 
#1,014      
Um, yes I'm worried about him because his first two seasons were outstanding, year three was good, and year four was pedestrian. Apparently he was hurt the second half last year and the whole first half with the shoulder this year? I don't think the Cubs have even said that.

Go ahead and take the Eeyore approach to Bryant, based upon 1/2 a season. As far as risk goes, I firmly believe he is among the safest players in the league to extend, alongside the likes of Trout, Arenado, Betts, and Altuve.
 
#1,015      
Go ahead and take the Eeyore approach to Bryant, based upon 1/2 a season. As far as risk goes, I firmly believe he is among the safest players in the league to extend, alongside the likes of Trout, Arenado, Betts, and Altuve.
Those four you mentioned there are the only ones I would consider as 100% locks. Machado, Ramirez, Bryant, etc. are all a step below them, but only because there are some signs that worry you about their total value. Not saying those guys wont get the type of contract that Trout or Betts will/did, there just a noticeable jump in risk (albeit still very low).

Bryants problem is he probably wont stick as 3rd for very long, nor be a plus defender anywhere. Which is fine, but you're taking about those four above, they are GG and SS winners perennially (though Altuve is probably just an above average 2B), and that is worth something more.

I would consider him in the top tier if he were to perennially challenge for the triple crown, but his plate discipline is quite there. He's still so young anything is possible offensively though.
 
#1,016      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Cubs have new hitting coach. Anthony Iapoce. Was in the org a few years ago.
 
#1,017      
Cubs have new hitting coach. Anthony Iapoce. Was in the org a few years ago.

New school hitting coach from what I've read. Emphasizes a lots of walks and a high launch angle with the cost being excess strikeouts.

I love it, but I foresee plenty of complaining.
 
#1,018      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
New school hitting coach from what I've read. Emphasizes a lots of walks and a high launch angle with the cost being excess strikeouts.

I love it, but I foresee plenty of complaining.

Cubs already strike out a lot. Can they strike out more? I don’t know anything about him so I’ll withhold judgement until next year.
 
#1,020      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
If they do so alongside an uptick in dingers and walks, I'll take it.

Actually, just checked the stats. They were 5th in walks and were 13th in Ks and way at the bottom of HR. Seems like a good way to go with this guy.
 
#1,021      
The Cubs struck out a lot relative to baseball played in the 1980s. They didn’t strike out a lot compared to MLB in 2018.

Iapoce was most recently the Rangers’ hitting coach, but before that he was a Cubs minor league instructor and will be familiar with a lot of the Cubs’ hitters.

There’s been some disagreement in the media as to whether Chili Davis was a Joe-guy or a Theo-guy. Iapoce is most definitely a Theo-guy.
 
#1,022      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
Go ahead and take the Eeyore approach to Bryant, based upon 1/2 a season. As far as risk goes, I firmly believe he is among the safest players in the league to extend, alongside the likes of Trout, Arenado, Betts, and Altuve.
Obviously we can agree to disagree, but I don't get why you keep talking about half a season. I'm referring to the last year and a half a big drop off in his power.
 
#1,023      
Obviously we can agree to disagree, but I don't get why you keep talking about half a season. I'm referring to the last year and a half a big drop off in his power.

2015: 26 HR in 559 at bats.
2016: 39 in 603.
2017: 29 in 549.
2018: 13 in 389.

Where is this big drop off in power that you are seeing? The 1/2 season I am referring to is the first half of 2018 before he got hurt (i.e., the only time in his young career where anybody should be "concerned"). But even discounting that, I am not seeing your point.
 
#1,024      
Bryant's batting average and on-base percentage were a little down, but within a reasonable variance from his career numbers. It was his slugging that was way down. His extra base hit percentage was bang on his career numbers. It was his HR percentage that was way off his career norm. 4.7% previously vs. 2.8% in 2018, accounting for pretty much the entire drop in his slugging. So basically, balls that were home runs in previous years were doubles this year.

It was widely reported that Bryant changed his swing in order to alleviate the shoulder pain he was dealing with, and that was the big reason for the drop off in home runs. I'm reasonably confident that when he's healthy, he'll be the same old Bryant. What worries me is that his shoulder didn't get any better after he sat out almost a quarter of the season. They say he doesn't need surgery. I'm afraid they're going to change their minds at some point of the off season and he'll then miss half the season.

They haven't really ever announced what the problem with the shoulder is. It sounds like it's just tendinitis, which just needs rest and physical therapy and shouldn't need surgery. I hope that's the case.