After nine games, the Cubs have committed ten official errors. This total leads the majors. But the total does not include the mental mistakes and other miscues like Feldman not covering first base in time, or bad foot work at first by Rizzo, or Castro's continued rush to flippy throws across the diamond, to horrible breaks on line drives by outfielders. The mental mistakes show a lack of what we call "baseball IQ."
Castro led shortstops with 27 errors last year. Yesterday's errors led to four unearned runs scoring, which turned around the game for the Giants.
The Cubs in 2012 had 105 team errors. That was 11th out of the 16 teams, or below the mean.
The 2012 NL total team field percentage was .983. The Cubs was .982, 7th out of 16 teams or average. The Cubs combined defensive WAR was 1.2.
The Cubs defense allowed an additional 51 runs to score. (Cubs allowed 759 runs, 708 were earned runs). Opponents scored 6.72 percent more runs just because of the Cubs defense.
If one was to objectively look at cutting down the defensive lapses, one needs to get to a core problem: Castro. He was responsible for 25% of the team's 2012 error total. Even if the coaching staff says that they have been working with Castro to improve his defense, it is not working. In nine games, he was three errors and a woeful .931 fielding percentage.
One could argue that the Cubs have been playing in cold weather. That conditions have been tough. But every team is playing under the same conditions. When Castro rushed a throw on a slow grounder, manager Sveum said Castro needs to know the situation - - - he did not have to rush a throw because the batter was the Giant's pitcher, Vogelsong. Castro is leading the team with 33 percent of the errors committed, which is at a higher pace than last season. So whatever the coaches did in spring training has not migrated into real game situations.
Defensive statistics are undervalued today because player contracts are bent towards offensive statistics. But for a team that has difficulty scoring runs, defensive lapses put more pressure on the offense. As it stands, it takes the Cubs 1.07 runs to each opponent's 1.0 run just to play even. That is generating another 1/3 of a run each game or a full run/per series. A good team manages to win series, but that is more difficult if you give your opponent a full run head start.
