Joe Maddon: The Man Behind the Glasses

[SKO]

I am sure Joe has his reasons. But hear out my radical notion: that reasoning could be bad

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

OPS in the month of September:

Jon Jay: .722
Ben Zobrist, including yesterday's 2-4 with a dinger: .692
Jason Heyward: .751
Kyle Schwarber: .970

Two straight games against RHP, which of these four sits both times?

None of the other three are playing LF.

Zobrist is in LF tonight. My personal preference would still be benching Heyward bc he has 1 XHB hit in his last 8 games, and even though his September numbers are better than the rest of his season #s his contact rates/hard hit rates haven't really changed much so there's not really much reason to think he'll continue being good going further. But still, it seems like "play the hot hand" only applies to Jay/Zobrist and not Schwarber, since Kyle has been a top 25 hitter in the NL since the break and is still getting sidelined for no fucking reason.

I'll say this-- knowing the Cubs have their ring in the bag and since they appear to have avoided the one scenario in which I'd have deemed this year a disappointment (either losing the division to STL or MIL or losing to STL in the playoffs--in fact they're doing the exact opposite and clinching/eliminating STL in one fell swoop this week, probably) I'm just going to let this October play out however it will.

A) check the calendar, Moran
B) I don't know that it's angst or panic or whatever Huey wants to call it to question why Joe is leaving one of the best hitters in the National League on the bench yet again.

For the same reason Heyward keep's playing: Defense. Kyle can't catch.

And he can't catch.

It's left field, dumbass.  You don't need to be Andruw Jones to play it.  Check out all of the World Series-winning left fielders in history and you'll see more Greg Luzinskis than Joe Dimaggios.

On top of that, Schwarber's been fine in left.  I can recall him dropping one ball this year--as did Heyward.  If you want to sound like you know what you're talking about, you wouldn't say something so infantile and provocative as "he can't catch"--he's a big leaguer and he can most certainly catch a goddamn flyball, as can anyone who makes it to the bigs-- but, rather, maybe that he has no range.  But of course, even that would be wrong because he's displayed more range than most people would have expected out of him.  He's rated slightly above-average, defensively, this year.

He's just fine and you're a damn fool for having ragged on Schwarber in May and now you're too proud to admit you don't know what the fuck you're talking about so instead you double-down because it makes you think you're saving face when you're not--you're just a vast reservoir of awful and wrong baseball takes.  Schwarber's just fine in left.

OK. Then why isn't Joe playing him? Spite?

This might sound silly but I feel like he's searching for a legitimate leadoff hitter to set the table for Bryant and Rizzo and the only options he has are 2 guys in Zobrist and Jay who otherwise might not be playing every day.  Had Schwarber been able to effectively lead off then I don't think we're having this discussion.

So, Jay/Zobrist in RF and Schwarber in left. Isn't that Joe's logical move? Unless he's valuing defense much higher.

Well my call would've been Zobrist in right field, but even that leaves me nervous with Zobrist as the everyday right fielder in the playoffs.  I can live with Heyward in right as long as it also includes Schwarber in left.  You're offsetting each other's deficiencies this way, but then you're stuck without any true table-setter at the top of the order (damn why couldn't Schwarber not've sucked at leadoff?).  As it is Heyward in right and Jay/Zobrist in LF doesn't do much for me.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Well my call would've been Zobrist in right field, but even that leaves me nervous with Zobrist as the everyday right fielder in the playoffs.  I can live with Heyward in right as long as it also includes Schwarber in left.  You're offsetting each other's deficiencies this way, but then you're stuck without any true table-setter at the top of the order (damn why couldn't Schwarber not've sucked at leadoff?).  As it is Heyward in right and Jay/Zobrist in LF doesn't do much for me.

You're a damn fool for ragging on Schwarber's May

[Quality Start Machine]

Giving Wilson the hook mid-AB was ice cold. I positive.

[Saul Goodman]

Giving Wilson the hook mid-AB was ice cold. I positive.

He called Jason Hammel after the game and they had a long but good cry.

[SKO]

Giving Wilson the hook mid-AB was ice cold. I positive.

If I remember correctly he did this once before, yanking Rondon from a game and replacing him with Strop back in 2015.

[Shooter]

SKO will be happy to know that Kyle is in the lineup tonight.

[Saul Goodman]

SKO will be happy to know that Kyle is in the lineup tonight.

Yeah, let's get a look at that post-clinching lineup, shall we?

CF Martin
2B La Stella
RF Happ
C Avila
LF Schwarber
1B Caratini
3B Davis
SS Freeman
P Hendricks

If the Cardinals still lose, they should be contracted.

[Quality Start Machine]

SKO will be happy to know that Kyle is in the lineup tonight.

Yeah, let's get a look at that post-clinching lineup, shall we?

CF Martin
2B La Stella
RF Happ
C Avila
LF Schwarber
1B Caratini
3B Davis
SS Freeman
P Hendricks

If the Cardinals still lose, they should be contracted.

The Taylor Davis Game.

[D. Doluntap]

SKO will be happy to know that Kyle is in the lineup tonight.

Yeah, let's get a look at that post-clinching lineup, shall we?

CF Martin
2B La Stella
RF Happ
C Avila
LF Schwarber
1B Caratini
3B Davis
SS Freeman
P Hendricks

If the Cardinals still lose, they should be contracted.

Not sure I'd go with Avila then Schwarb...oh right...nevermind.

[Quality Start Machine]

SKO will be happy to know that Kyle is in the lineup tonight.

Yeah, let's get a look at that post-clinching lineup, shall we?

CF Martin
2B La Stella
RF Happ
C Avila
LF Schwarber
1B Caratini
3B Davis
SS Freeman
P Hendricks

If the Cardinals still lose, they should be contracted.

Not sure I'd go with Avila then Schwarb...oh right...nevermind.

I'm a little disappointed there are still two catchers on the bench.

[Saul Goodman]

SKO will be happy to know that Kyle is in the lineup tonight.

Yeah, let's get a look at that post-clinching lineup, shall we?

CF Martin
2B La Stella
RF Happ
C Avila
LF Schwarber
1B Caratini
3B Davis
SS Freeman
P Hendricks

If the Cardinals still lose, they should be contracted.

The Taylor Davis Game.

[SKO]

Season OPS/September OPS:

Schwarber: .782/.938
Jay: .749/.699
Heyward: .715/.798
Zobrist: .693/.648

Make the right call, Joe. Jay hit .313 with a .351 OBP in September, so he can at least get on base. Zobrist slashed .227/.307/.341 so he didn't really do anything well of late.

Also for any Chucks wanting to cry BUT MUH DEFENSE, Zobrist was a -4 run outfielder in 360 innings this year, Schwarber has been -9 in 821 innings. They're basically equally meh defensively, and one of them has been a demonstrably better hitter. It's not the old dude.  

[Chuck to Chuck]

Season OPS/September OPS:

Schwarber: .782/.938
Jay: .749/.699
Heyward: .715/.798
Zobrist: .693/.648

Make the right call, Joe. Jay hit .313 with a .351 OBP in September, so he can at least get on base. Zobrist slashed .227/.307/.341 so he didn't really do anything well of late.

Also for any Chucks wanting to cry BUT one thinking Joe Maddon's all about MUH DEFENSE, Zobrist was a -4 run outfielder in 360 innings this year, Schwarber has been -9 in 821 innings. They're basically equally meh defensively, and one of them has been a demonstrably better hitter. It's not the old dude.  

[R-V]

Season OPS/September OPS:

Schwarber: .782/.938
Jay: .749/.699
Heyward: .715/.798
Zobrist: .693/.648

Make the right call, Joe. Jay hit .313 with a .351 OBP in September, so he can at least get on base. Zobrist slashed .227/.307/.341 so he didn't really do anything well of late.

Also for any Chucks wanting to cry BUT MUH DEFENSE, Zobrist was a -4 run outfielder in 360 innings this year, Schwarber has been -9 in 821 innings. They're basically equally meh defensively, and one of them has been a demonstrably better hitter. It's not the old dude.

Also:

Happ: .842/.824
Almora: .782/1.000

If you assume a Rizzo-Baez-Russell-Bryant everyday infield alignment for October, that leaves 6 guys for 3 spots in the outfield (until the DH comes into play in a few weeks).

My personal preference would be a Schwarber-Almora-Happ alignment with Jay & Zobrist as excellent PH options and Heyward as a defensive replacement, but I've made my peace with the fact that Joe is going to have different ideas than I do and many of those ideas are going to include Jay & Zobrist starting.