Yesterday was a reminder that Epstein declared the Cubs’ offense “broken” nearly 30 months ago. Since then of the 11 top players in Plate Appearances from 2018, 7 of them are still in the lineup, Schwarber got swapped out for his statistical twin, and the trio of Zobrist, Almora and Russell were replaced by the far less talented trio of Sogard, Marsinick and Duffy.
Chicago Cubs 2021 season
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Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I really haven't understood all the media talk about how this is a decent team. I really don't see it.
They can't hit their way out of a wet paper bag.
Arrieta going 6 strong, plus Bryant homering, plus Kimbrel striking out the side makes for a much better game than the last one.
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12 hits in a 3-game series isn’t going to win you too many series against non-Pirates teams.
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Cubs on pace to be the first 100-win team that bats under .200 for the season.
But more seriously, are the Cubs going to run more this year? They stole 24 bases in 60 games last year. They’ve stolen 5 in the first 4.
Batting .153 as a team. Pathetic. When they play good teams look out below. From Cub fan since I was 5 (1960).
1/19 tonight so far. I love these guys, but time to clean house.
Cubs 1-hit tonight
I just deleted a long rant. To sum up...
18/136 (.132) for the season so far. This is the second time in only 5 games where they've had 1 or 2 hits and double digit strikeouts.
I'm way past the point of saying, "These guys are too good to hit like this," because this is the 4th season in a row that they've gone on an extended stretch of being completely putrid at the plate. They're just doing it at the beginning of the season instead of the end of the season this year.
18/136 (.132) for the season so far. This is the second time in only 5 games where they've had 1 or 2 hits and double digit strikeouts.
I'm way past the point of saying, "These guys are too good to hit like this," because this is the 4th season in a row that they've gone on an extended stretch of being completely putrid at the plate. They're just doing it at the beginning of the season instead of the end of the season this year.
I keep saying that too, but now realize they aren't good. Everybody swinging up to hit home runs.
Do they surpass three hits today?
At this rate...no.
At this rate...no.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Hey Hey! Three hits and two errors today! 
Really ripped the cover off the ball 3-33. Tired of making excuses for why Bryant and others can't hit. Bring back Glenn Beckert 10-15 strike out for 600 at bats.Hey Hey! Three hits and two errors today!
But Sammy Sosa had 1815 strikeouts in 6990 at bats with the Cubs -- 26% of his at bats and had a higher batting average than Beckert and a much higher OPS (.928 vs .666)
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True, Sammy was a Hall of Famer except for the little potential steroid issue. I still think we need a solid "put the ball in play move the runners guy " once in a while.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I don't think anyone is insinuating that Beckert was a better offensive player than Sosa.
Sammy Sosa wasn’t a Hall of Famer. He had a Hall of Fame level decade, but generally the voters want someone to be better longer than Sosa was.
For example, Larry Walker - who was just admitted in the most recent class - and Sammy Sosa both had their peak bWAR decade during the exact same time period, 1993-2002. Walker put up 51.2 bWAR during that time frame and Sosa put up a slightly superior 54.2 bWAR. The difference is that in seasons outside that 10-year peak, Walker put up 21.5 additional bWAR, while Sosa put up only 4.4.
You can point to very similar other examples with Derek Jeter, Edgar Martinez and Chipper Jones, among other recent inductees.
Of the recent inductees, Sosa’s career is probably most similar to Vlad Guerrero’s, but Vlad was slightly better both inside and outside his peak, doesn’t have the taint of steroids around him, and for whatever reason was generally more respected and popular among the baseball press than Sosa was.
For example, Larry Walker - who was just admitted in the most recent class - and Sammy Sosa both had their peak bWAR decade during the exact same time period, 1993-2002. Walker put up 51.2 bWAR during that time frame and Sosa put up a slightly superior 54.2 bWAR. The difference is that in seasons outside that 10-year peak, Walker put up 21.5 additional bWAR, while Sosa put up only 4.4.
You can point to very similar other examples with Derek Jeter, Edgar Martinez and Chipper Jones, among other recent inductees.
Of the recent inductees, Sosa’s career is probably most similar to Vlad Guerrero’s, but Vlad was slightly better both inside and outside his peak, doesn’t have the taint of steroids around him, and for whatever reason was generally more respected and popular among the baseball press than Sosa was.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I really don't understand this reasoning. We can discuss WAR all we want. Sosa had 9,900 ABs, 2,408 hits, 609 homers, 1,667 RBIs, and 1,475 runs scored. His BA was .273 which isn't great but OK. That's a HOF career. To say Larry Walker deserves to be in the HOF over Sosa is kind of amazing. He put up the bulk of his numbers playing for the Rockies in the launching pad that is Coors Field, and his career numbers really aren't close to Sosa's. I think he did have 1,500-1,600 fewer ABs than Sosa. If you want to keep Sosa out for the steroids taint and getting caught once with a corked bat, OK. But not based on numbers.
You’re kind of missing the forest from all the trees on my argument. I’m just using bWAR as an all-encompassing aggregate number. Use whatever counting stat you’d like.
The point is that Sosa was an elite player for only about a decade. The guys that get voted into the Hall are elite for longer than that as was the case with Walker, Jeter, and Chipper Jones.
Whether it’s the right or wrong way to evaluate a player is beside the point. It’s how the writers vote.
The Veterans committee is a lot more accepting of guys with briefer peaks. Ted Lyons who got in in the last class via the veteran vote is a case in point there. If Sosa eventually gets into the Hall, it’s the Veterans committee that will put him there. That’s how Santo eventually got in and he had a similar relatively brief peak.
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