The 2016 Cubs: SPLOOGE SPLOOGE SPLOOGE

[Yeti]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

2014-07-23                                     
2012-05-11                                     
2011-06-18                                     
2011-04-22                                     
2010-09-26                                     
2010-08-09                                     
2009-04-29                                     
2007-08-03

[ChuckD]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

2014-07-23 (Lost 8-3)                          
2012-05-11 (Lost 8-7 in 13 innings)                    
2011-06-18 (Lost 4-3)  
2011-04-22 (Lost 12-2)                      
2010-09-26 (Lost 8-7)                    
2010-08-09 (Lost 4-3)                      
2009-04-29 (Lost 10-0)                                
2007-08-03 (Lost 6-2)

[Saul Goodman]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

2014-07-23 (Lost 8-3)                          
2012-05-11 (Lost 8-7 in 13 innings)                    
2011-06-18 (Lost 4-3)  
2011-04-22 (Lost 12-2)                      
2010-09-26 (Lost 8-7)                    
2010-08-09 (Lost 4-3)                      
2009-04-29 (Lost 10-0)                                
2007-08-03 (Lost 6-2)

2016-08-18 (WON 9-6)

Cubs Voodoo Magic?

[WTB...A RING FFS!!]

I wasn't talking about the trash we basically put on the mound from '11-13, I was talking about this current staff of the last 2 years which's been pretty damn good and not especially prone to a ton of walks, but point taken about the last decade. I just don't expect it from this group.

[Chuck to Chuck]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

Radio speculation this AM that it's a Contreras-behind-the-plate thing.

[SKO]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

Radio speculation this AM that it's a Contreras-behind-the-plate thing.

Was it Willson's fault when Jake couldn't throw a strike for an entire month before the ASB when Montero was catching him?

Willson had caught 8 games during this team's 18-3 run before yesterday, and the staff had allowed a whopping 2.5 R/G and had allowed 16 walks total (4 of them by Edwards during his meltdown) in those 8 games.

Jake and Maddon both said Willson did a great job and had nothing to do with it, and sure, you expect them to pick up their guy, but really there's zero evidence for this being Willson's fault, especially since control has been an issue for Jake all season long. Why are the people who talk about sports in this town so fucking dumb.

[SKO]

DPD,

Per Baseball Prospectus' Framing Runs statistic Miguel has been worth 7.9 framing runs above average with 2879 framing chances. Willson has been worth 1.9 Framing Runs above average with 1325 chances. So if Willson held steady, given the same number of chances you'd expect his framing to be worth about 3 runs less than Montero's, although his throwing and overall defense has been better. As you'd expect the veteran is a better framer than the rookie but the gap is not so wide that it would explain ten walks, especially when Jake was nowhere close on a number of those, and especially when Jake has averaged 3.5 BB/9 this year while mostly throwing to the Almighty Framer himself.

This narrative is bullshit.

[ChuckD]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

Radio speculation this AM that it's a Contreras-behind-the-plate thing.

Was it Willson's fault when Jake couldn't throw a strike for an entire month before the ASB when Montero was catching him?

Willson had caught 8 games during this team's 18-3 run before yesterday, and the staff had allowed a whopping 2.5 R/G and had allowed 16 walks total (4 of them by Edwards during his meltdown) in those 8 games.

Jake and Maddon both said Willson did a great job and had nothing to do with it, and sure, you expect them to pick up their guy, but really there's zero evidence for this being Willson's fault, especially since control has been an issue for Jake all season long. Why are the people who talk about sports in this town so fucking dumb.

Contreras has been about average as far as framing goes. Maldonado is a pretty good framer (about on par with Montero/Ross), so the rustled jimmies may have been due to watching the contrast between Maldonado picking up a call here and there (which he did/was) and Contreras just ... not.

The Cubs were getting squeezed a bit yesterday. I counted about 6 out of 13 pitches b/w Arrieta and Patton that were taken on the black where the ump called ball. Maldonado got strikes called on all 10 of his. One or two of Willson's were cross-ups/misses (e.g. Willson set up low and Patton's first pitch to Broxton was up) but the majority of them were just squeezes. There wasn't anything really bad in terms of technique, so just chalk it up to statistical noise.

Looking back over the list, really, the only one of those that hurt them directly was the Broxton pitch because it walked in a run.

[morpheus]

WTF's up with all these damn walks? Have they been that wild, umps squeezing them or combo? Cuz I honestly can't remember the last time I saw them give out 10.

Radio speculation this AM that it's a Contreras-behind-the-plate thing.

Was it Willson's fault when Jake couldn't throw a strike for an entire month before the ASB when Montero was catching him?

Willson had caught 8 games during this team's 18-3 run before yesterday, and the staff had allowed a whopping 2.5 R/G and had allowed 16 walks total (4 of them by Edwards during his meltdown) in those 8 games.

Jake and Maddon both said Willson did a great job and had nothing to do with it, and sure, you expect them to pick up their guy, but really there's zero evidence for this being Willson's fault, especially since control has been an issue for Jake all season long. Why are the people who talk about sports in this town so fucking dumb.

Contreras has been about average as far as framing goes. Maldonado is a pretty good framer (about on par with Montero/Ross), so the rustled jimmies may have been due to watching the contrast between Maldonado picking up a call here and there (which he did/was) and Contreras just ... not.

The Cubs were getting squeezed a bit yesterday. I counted about 6 out of 13 pitches b/w Arrieta and Patton that were taken on the black where the ump called ball. Maldonado got strikes called on all 10 of his. One or two of Willson's were cross-ups/misses (e.g. Willson set up low and Patton's first pitch to Broxton was up) but the majority of them were just squeezes. There wasn't anything really bad in terms of technique, so just chalk it up to statistical noise.

Looking back over the list, really, the only one of those that hurt them directly was the Broxton pitch because it walked in a run.

Pitchf/x agrees with your assessment of the Cubs getting squeezed a little. Just take the two starting pitchers:





An awful lot of green dots inside the box for Arrieta vs. Davies.  Patton and Grimm didn't throw enough pitches to see the same sort of effect.  Chapman had 1-2 that were borderline that were called balls, but his pitches are admittedly harder to see.

See for yourself at Pitchf/x.

At any rate, "statistical noise" as you put it is probably the real explanation here.

[SKO]

Lackey and Rondon to the DL (team insists both moves are precautionary) and Rob Zastryzny and Felix Pena recalled up to replace them.

Really hope they aren't lying about Rondon. Zastryzny has underwhelming numbers overall but apparently has good stuff and has really good of late. He'll also be the first starting pitching prospect drafted/signed by the Theo Administration to make a big league appearance.

[Brownie]

Lackey and Rondon to the DL (team insists both moves are precautionary) and Rob Zastryzny and Felix Pena recalled up to replace them.

Really hope they aren't lying about Rondon. Zastryzny has underwhelming numbers overall but apparently has good stuff and has really good of late. He'll also be the first starting pitching prospect drafted/signed by the Theo Administration to make a big league appearance.

If something serious is wrong with Rondon, my gut says Papelbon would be in Denver tonight.

[SKO]

Lackey and Rondon to the DL (team insists both moves are precautionary) and Rob Zastryzny and Felix Pena recalled up to replace them.

Really hope they aren't lying about Rondon. Zastryzny has underwhelming numbers overall but apparently has good stuff and has really good of late. He'll also be the first starting pitching prospect drafted/signed by the Theo Administration to make a big league appearance.

If something serious is wrong with Rondon, my gut says Papelbon would be in Denver tonight.

I heard the A's and Brewers are in a bidding war for him as they look to add his services for their deep playoff runs.

[WTB...A RING FFS!!]

Well it's good to know it wasn't a real issue with Willson's framing. Even if for the next yr or so he's only half as good as Montero at it, I'm sure everyone would be fine with that considering his arm/defense/offense is WAY better than what Montero's doing.

[Brownie]

Lackey and Rondon to the DL (team insists both moves are precautionary) and Rob Zastryzny and Felix Pena recalled up to replace them.

Really hope they aren't lying about Rondon. Zastryzny has underwhelming numbers overall but apparently has good stuff and has really good of late. He'll also be the first starting pitching prospect drafted/signed by the Theo Administration to make a big league appearance.

If something serious is wrong with Rondon, my gut says Papelbon would be in Denver tonight.

I heard the A's and Brewers are in a bidding war for him as they look to add his services for their deep playoff runs.

Very true. Why wouldn't the A's or Brewers want to take a flyer on him, too? He'll cost very little and if he continues to be a prick, the cost of dumping him is minimal, too.

[Canadouche]

Lackey and Rondon to the DL (team insists both moves are precautionary) and Rob Zastryzny and Felix Pena recalled up to replace them.

Really hope they aren't lying about Rondon. Zastryzny has underwhelming numbers overall but apparently has good stuff and has really good of late. He'll also be the first starting pitching prospect drafted/signed by the Theo Administration to make a big league appearance.

If something serious is wrong with Rondon, my gut says Papelbon would be in Denver tonight.

I heard the A's and Brewers are in a bidding war for him as they look to add his services for their deep playoff runs.

What's funny to me is that Papelbon had demanded a trade from Philadelphia because they weren't competitive. "I signed up with a team that won 102 games, and I expected certain things. It didn't happen, and I've tried to ride that ship and keep my mouth shut as much as I can. But it's time for the Phillies to you s--- or get off the pot."

So they trade him to a competitive team that has as good a chance as anybody not named the Cubs of getting to the World Series, and because they made the competitive choice of demoting him to middle relief in favour of an actually effective closer, Mr. Competitive demanded to be released ... which will likely result in his pitching for a team that has a better shot at winning a scratch off than reaching the playoffs.

Stay classy, Paps.