Thank God For Another Cubs Blog
You know, without ACB, Cubs fans would have nowhere else to learn that Ryan Theriot, along with his .893 OPS and steady glove, is the single worst shortstop in the major leagues. Plus, they wouldn’t get their daily soap opera reading such as this.
What the fuck is this?:
First, like this title says, I do not hate Ryan Theriot. I don’t know the man. I’ve never met him. As far as I know he could be the greatest guy on earth. I don’t know. And I don’t care. The ability to hate a ballplayer means you also have the ability to love one and I think most of us would find that to be rather foolish. I think I’ve made it clear here for the last few years that I don’t think enough about any of these ballplayers to have much of an opinion about them other than what they do on the baseball field. I don’t care how these people live their lives. I don’t care how they treat others. I don’t care about anything other than how they play this game and help this team win games.
What the fuck is this, Oprah? I’m dying laughing! I mean seriously… what the fuck are these people on? From drug addict to ‘Cubs as Soap Opera’ addict?
As is obvious, I haven’t been blogging much of late. That’s because the Cubs don’t consume my entire being. They certainly aren’t my life like they are for some others. Why does this guy go into so much semantics and sociology over the Cubs? Is this like his version of Jane Austin or something? What an idiot. What a girl. Seriously, he writes about Theriot like he’s writing fucking ‘Sense and Sensibility’.
God, I haven’t visited that site in ages… and I come back to read that he’s really flown off the handle. It’s pretty funny actually. The lengths people will go to for their defense mechanisms. Maddog, I think this would suffice, “Perhaps I’m wrong about Theriot and he’s not as bad as I pretend him to be.” Idiot. God is it funny.
Aren’t statheads the kings of sample size? And yet, Theriot earned complete condemnation after two weeks:
The point is that you don’t have to hate the guy (Theriot) to know he’s not very good at baseball. Anybody who has gotten the impression I hate this man simply has not read much of what I have said here. I hope he does well. I won’t hold my breath waiting for it, but I really do.
.893 OPS and steady glove… just terrible. Of course, even though two weeks was enough to call Theriot the worst shortstop in baseball, Maddog will counter all this with, you guessed it, ’sample size’. “Well, the .893 is only through April 20.” No shit, Sherlock. Just like it’s no shit that Theriot is what he is, a good ball player. He’s no all star, no hall of famer, but you’re also not going to get better production from ‘any replacement level player’. God are you and your frat buddies fucking stupid. Theriot helps his teams win and it’s something you morons will never understand. You imbeciles only understand home runs and strikeouts. For you guys, a hit and run is like fucking quantum mechanics.
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All these dumb fucking statheads are surprised the Cubs are scoring well despite Soriano’s injury:
With Soriano out and Fukudome taking today off because of a cyst above his eye, you’d think the Cubs offense would have trouble scoring runs. Baseball is a funny game.
Once again, thank god for ACB. Without them, we might actually learn the Cubs scored more runs per game with Theriot leading off last year than with Soriano.
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I will say this. Last I knew, ACB was preoccupied with three subjects: Brian Roberts’ sucking, Ryan Theriot sucking, and yours truly. At least they’re down to one, Ryan Theriot sucking. Who knows, maybe they’ll truly make progress and realize they have absolutely no idea what the fuck they’re talking about… that all they really are in the end… is all they ever have been… Dumb Hicks Talking Shit.
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Well, let me end on a positive note instead of simply a humorous one. Thank god for JBrokaw. Otherwise, I would think every other Cubs blogger in existence is an utterly hopeless imbecile.
JBrokaw, can you believe the Cubs’ current 1-8 hitters are all carrying OBP’s over .350? Are pigs flying around Wrigley field? Have they smuggled in impostors, incognito, to take over the Cubs starting lineup?
April 21, 2008 at 5:30 am
No, I can’t.
I was looking at the mlb.com stats last night, and the Cubs are first in BA, OBP, TB, Hits, and doubles, and second in runs, walks, RBI, fourth in SLG, fifth in HR. And in the middle of the pack in strikeouts. I heard during the game that they lead the majors in pitches per plate appearance! 3.94.
It’s like Alice in Freaking Wonderland.
And what is interesting is that even though their leadoff guys haven’t done much this year, they’re still pounding out runs, probably because of plate discipline and drawing all those walks. Which makes me ask which is more important, having a good leadoff guy or having a whole lineup of disciplined hitters. Curious what will play out as the season goes on.
Mainly, though, I’m just really pleased to see them finally playing smart. Thank you, Lou.
April 21, 2008 at 11:32 am
It’s truly a revelation. I wish there was a stat freak around to look up one thing. I’m not sure how to do it. I’d guess that there has never been a Cubs team in history that after 15 games, has featured a 1-8 with OBP’s over .350. I’m including years like 1908. It’s pretty unreal. And I agree, thanks Lou.
I also appreciate your leadoff man observation. As you well know, I subscribe to the idea that an offense goes as its leadoff man goes. This year appears counter-intuitive, though I doubt it will last.
Cubs at leadoff – .242 obp
Soriano at leadoff – .269 obp 11 Games
Mike Fontenot at leadoff – .133 obp 2 Games
Reed Johnson at leadoff – .400 2 Games
Ryan Theriot at leadoff – .200 2 Games
E-Patt at leadoff – .000 1 Games
Obviously the only guy to see consistent time there has been Soriano, and even that’s been minimal.
Cubs w/ Soriano at leadoff – 5.727 runs per game
Cubs w/out Soriano at leadoff – 6.857 runs per game
Cubs w/ Soriano in lineup – 5.231 runs per game
Cubs w/out Soriano in lineup – 8.6 runs per game
These are indeed small samples, as the statheads love to point out, but it looks an awful lot like last year. When Soriano’s out, it isn’t quite the same as when we’re missing DLee or Aramis.
Soriano’s obviously a valuable player, but he’s definitely NOT worth $17 million per year.
April 22, 2008 at 7:17 am
I too have believed in the “team goes as the leadoff guy goes” theory. But I’m thinking about the Yankees of the late 90s … that team showed great plate discipline, and worked counts deep on almost every AB. And they had a monster offense, and great success with it. Not sure what their leadoff stats were, and I don’t have time to look into this right now, just throwing it out there.
With what Cedeno is doing lately — .407 OBP, 8 runs scored and 8 RBI in only 24 AB (without benefit of any HR) — I have to wonder if he could be that leadoff guy. Or Pie, who has shown flashes of “getting it”. The ususal disclaimers, their stats have been compiled at spots other than leadoff, etc. Still, the upside could be huge if either of these guys can deliver a .380 OBP or so. Maybe a platoon makes sense for either of these guys. The ‘84 Tigers did pretty well with platooning, IIRC …