Joe Maddon: The Man Behind the Glasses

[Yeti]

I get that Bryant has scuffled a bit and the grind of a full season is a lot for a rookie and everyone needs a day off. On the other hand Bryant homered off DeGrom the last time he saw him, this offense is beyond dreadful right now, they just had an off day on Monday and the All Star Break is barely a week away. Just...seems an odd day to sit him.

Don't you know? He's hungover....

Also, he has the Day-Blindness

[Eli]

I get that Bryant has scuffled a bit and the grind of a full season is a lot for a rookie and everyone needs a day off. On the other hand Bryant homered off DeGrom the last time he saw him, this offense is beyond dreadful right now, they just had an off day on Monday and the All Star Break is barely a week away. Just...seems an odd day to sit him.

Don't you know? He's hungover....

goddamnit chuck

[Brownie]

Getaway day game after a night game preceding a day game on Fourth of July Weekend, with a doubleheader against the ISIS Confederates Tuesday.

Bryant will pinch hit for Herrera or Arrieta in the 8th and hit a 3-run triple to put the Cubs up 6-0. All will be well.

[InternetApex]

Fuck you goddamn gutless fucking assholes.

Maddstink is wonderful.

[Saul Goodman]

Joe Maddon: Players want to play for him, lesser managers want to be him.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

If someone told me in March that at the All-Star Break...

...that Dexter Fowler would be having his worst offensive season, with an OBP barely hovering above .300...
...that Starlin Castro would be having an entirely abysmal offensive season with an OPS barely above .600...
...that Jon Lester would be 4-8...
...that Jorge Soler would have 4 HR and 20 RBI...
...that Javier Baez would not have played a single inning for the team...
...that Arismendy Alcantara would spend almost the whole first half in Iowa...
...that Tommy La Stella would've ducked into the Witness Protection Program...
...that Addison Russell would get called up but go .229/.299/.358 in 70 games...
...and that Jason Motte would be the Cubs' closer...

...and yet the Cubs would arrive at said All-Star Break 7 games over .500, with the 9th best record in baseball and sitting a game up in the second Wild Card position in the National League, I'd have told said someone to get fucked, there's no way that could be the case.

And yet here we are.  Maddon does some unusual, sometimes counter-intuitive things but the fact they're where they're at in spite of the all of things I mentioned above speaks pretty well to the man behind the glasses. 

Strap yourselves in, fellas, this second-half promises to be something special.

[Quality Start Machine]

If someone told me in March that at the All-Star Break...

...that Dexter Fowler would be having his worst offensive season, with an OBP barely hovering above .300...
...that Starlin Castro would be having an entirely abysmal offensive season with an OPS barely above .600...
...that Jon Lester would be 4-8...
...that Jorge Soler would have 4 HR and 20 RBI...
...that Javier Baez would not have played a single inning for the team...
...that Arismendy Alcantara would spend almost the whole first half in Iowa...
...that Tommy La Stella would've ducked into the Witness Protection Program...
...that Addison Russell would get called up but go .229/.299/.358 in 70 games...
...and that Jason Motte would be the Cubs' closer...

...and yet the Cubs would arrive at said All-Star Break 7 games over .500, with the 9th best record in baseball and sitting a game up in the second Wild Card position in the National League, I'd have told said someone to get fucked, there's no way that could be the case.

And yet here we are.  Maddon does some unusual, sometimes counter-intuitive things but the fact they're where they're at in spite of the all of things I mentioned above speaks pretty well to the man behind the glasses. 

Strap yourselves in, fellas, this second-half promises to be something special.

I'd add in there the fact that starting pitching has been one of the Cubs' strengths.

[Saul Goodman]

Tonight's line-up, except for #24, is quite acceptable.

CF Fowler (no) (CF Gomez oh please God please)
C Schwarber
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
RF Soler
LF Coghlan
SS Castro
P Hendricks
2B Russell

Castro's been dropped down.  Schwarber, Bryant, Rizzo, and Soler are forming a future murderer's row in the middle.  If only Fowler hadn't forgotten how to get on base, it'd be perfect.

[SKO]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

[InternetApex]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

Last night it was obvious he wanted to stretch Wood out and not get deep into the pen with a doubleheader today. Oh, well.

[Slaky]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

Last night it was obvious he wanted to stretch Wood out and not get deep into the pen with a doubleheader today. Oh, well.

I have precious little negative to say about how Joe's handled the pen. He clearly got his way by trotting out Phil Coke every single day earlier in the season because it worked. Coke was shitcanned into oblivion and now your fifth best reliever is Neal Ramirez.

He's also, seemingly, using Strop and Rondon - the guys with the nastiest stuff - in the highest leverage situations instead of just using them in the 9th.

Joe's a smart man. I love him long time.

[SKO]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

Last night it was obvious he wanted to stretch Wood out and not get deep into the pen with a doubleheader today. Oh, well.

I have precious little negative to say about how Joe's handled the pen. He clearly got his way by trotting out Phil Coke every single day earlier in the season because it worked. Coke was shitcanned into oblivion and now your fifth best reliever is Neal Ramirez.

He's also, seemingly, using Strop and Rondon - the guys with the nastiest stuff - in the highest leverage situations instead of just using them in the 9th.

Joe's a smart man. I love him long time.

I have precious little negative to say about Joe in general. He's great. This is a minor nit. I'm not going to die on the hill for James Russell, and last night I get trying to squeeze more out of Wood (although the inverse is true...he'd also seem like a guy you'd want to save for today to go 3 or 4 if Dallas Beeler shits himself), just an observation that Wood seems to get more opportunities than his performance would merit and Russell gets less.

[InternetApex]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

Last night it was obvious he wanted to stretch Wood out and not get deep into the pen with a doubleheader today. Oh, well.

I have precious little negative to say about how Joe's handled the pen. He clearly got his way by trotting out Phil Coke every single day earlier in the season because it worked. Coke was shitcanned into oblivion and now your fifth best reliever is Neal Ramirez.

He's also, seemingly, using Strop and Rondon - the guys with the nastiest stuff - in the highest leverage situations instead of just using them in the 9th.

Joe's a smart man. I love him long time.

I have precious little negative to say about Joe in general. He's great. This is a minor nit. I'm not going to die on the hill for James Russell, and last night I get trying to squeeze more out of Wood (although the inverse is true...he'd also seem like a guy you'd want to save for today to go 3 or 4 if Dallas Beeler shits himself), just an observation that Wood seems to get more opportunities than his performance would merit and Russell gets less.

That's indeed a small nit to pick. I don't think it's cost them much of anything. He does seem to love him some Travis Wood though, I'll grant you.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

Last night it was obvious he wanted to stretch Wood out and not get deep into the pen with a doubleheader today. Oh, well.

I have precious little negative to say about how Joe's handled the pen. He clearly got his way by trotting out Phil Coke every single day earlier in the season because it worked. Coke was shitcanned into oblivion and now your fifth best reliever is Neal Ramirez.

He's also, seemingly, using Strop and Rondon - the guys with the nastiest stuff - in the highest leverage situations instead of just using them in the 9th.

Joe's a smart man. I love him long time.

I have precious little negative to say about Joe in general. He's great. This is a minor nit. I'm not going to die on the hill for James Russell, and last night I get trying to squeeze more out of Wood (although the inverse is true...he'd also seem like a guy you'd want to save for today to go 3 or 4 if Dallas Beeler shits himself), just an observation that Wood seems to get more opportunities than his performance would merit and Russell gets less.

That's indeed a small nit to pick. I don't think it's cost them much of anything. He does seem to love him some Travis Wood though, I'll grant you.

Maybe my eyes have been deceiving me, but I think Wood has largely been effective ever since he shit the tub in St. Louis in May before getting relegated to the pen (last night notwithstanding).  I'm too lazy to look into my Big Book of Statfaggotry to back this up so I'll just leave my unsubstantiated observation right here and wait for SKO to refute me in no fewer then 11,000 words.

[SKO]

I don't get why Joe seems to trust Travis Wood in any situation and doesn't appear to ever want to use James Russell unless he's forced. Maybe neither of those guys should be in a high leverage situation, but given my pick of the two I'll take the guy who has proven himself a quality major league reliever.

Last night it was obvious he wanted to stretch Wood out and not get deep into the pen with a doubleheader today. Oh, well.

I have precious little negative to say about how Joe's handled the pen. He clearly got his way by trotting out Phil Coke every single day earlier in the season because it worked. Coke was shitcanned into oblivion and now your fifth best reliever is Neal Ramirez.

He's also, seemingly, using Strop and Rondon - the guys with the nastiest stuff - in the highest leverage situations instead of just using them in the 9th.

Joe's a smart man. I love him long time.

I have precious little negative to say about Joe in general. He's great. This is a minor nit. I'm not going to die on the hill for James Russell, and last night I get trying to squeeze more out of Wood (although the inverse is true...he'd also seem like a guy you'd want to save for today to go 3 or 4 if Dallas Beeler shits himself), just an observation that Wood seems to get more opportunities than his performance would merit and Russell gets less.

That's indeed a small nit to pick. I don't think it's cost them much of anything. He does seem to love him some Travis Wood though, I'll grant you.

Maybe my eyes have been deceiving me, but I think Wood has largely been effective ever since he shit the tub in St. Louis in May before getting relegated to the pen (last night notwithstanding).  I'm too lazy to look into my Big Book of Statfaggotry to back this up so I'll just leave my unsubstantiated observation right here and wait for SKO to refute me in no fewer then 11,000 words.

He has been decent in the pen, certainly, but Russell's numbers are still better than Reliever-Only Wood. It just seems odd that Wood is ahead in the pecking order, is all, but oh well.