There is a metaphoric sink hole opening up at Wrigley Field. The Cubs offense has turned comatose. Cub manager Dale Sveum has become frustrated by the fact his team cannot get hits.
One of the foundational players, Starlin Castro, is now at a career low .238 BA.
The Cubs have lost 20 games when they had the lead.
The Reds have won their last 12 games played at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs have scored only 11 runs in the last 6 games. Quality start after quality start has been wasted.
"It is getting frustrating," Sveum said. "It is almost the same game
(everyday): Starting pitchers getting into the seventh inning with
quality starts and we are not having quality at-bats. We are not getting
enough quality at-bats from everybody on a daily basis."
Sveum does not define what he considers a "quality at bat." It takes a hard, fast and enforced organizational rule of how hitters should approach their at bats that seems to be lacking with the slumping Cubs.
A "quality at bat" can mean different things to different players. For a lead off hitter, a quality at bat would mean taking many pitches, drawing a walk or getting on base by creating offense by bunting. A quality at bat for a middle of the line up hitter would mean driving in runs by pulling shots down the line, or rocketing pitches into the gaps, or even making sure to hit long sacrifice flies to score runners. Each batter in a lineup should have a clearly defined role to play, a gear in the offense machine.
"We are just not getting aggressive swings," Sveum added. "Until we
start getting more aggressive in fastball counts ... we can't keep
swinging the bats the way we are in hitters counts."
Being "aggressive" is not the same as having an hitting philosophy. Theo Epstein has told us that his theory on the game is to have a lineup of high OBP players. A lineup of guys who consistently get on base will push across a steady stream of runs. However, the normal high OBP player is a disciplined hitter, willing to take a strike to work a hitter's count, defend the plate with any contact (foul balls), and the baseball IQ to out-think the pitcher in situations.
The Cubs batters seem to be on their own when they reach home plate. Early in the season they were jumping on first pitches time and time again. There has only been one recent game where the batters coaxed walk after walk from an opponent (because the opponent pitcher had no strike zone control.) But more often than not, the Cubs batters don't help themselves by wearing down the pitcher.
"We just have to get these guys going," Sveum said. "We just aren't
getting any solid contact or slugging percentage out of them at all."
Contact and slugging percentage are two different concepts. Contact means putting the ball into play. Moving a runner into scoring position by hitting to the opposite field would be considered a good situational at bat ("a productive out.") Slugging percentage is total bases divided by at bats. It is a comparable measure of power of hitters.
The Cubs rank 13th in team slugging percentage at .403. However, the Cubs rank 26th in OBP with .298. The Cubs rank 24th in team batting average at .241. The Cubs rank 21st in runs scored with 251 (the NL average for team runs scored is 267 and 276 for all teams).
There is a disconnect between what the front office is saying in how they want their players to perform (high OBP) and the actual performance on the field. The "do you own thing" approach at the plate will cause more inconsistency and frustration for everyone. But the Cubs approach to offense has not changed at all from Piniella, Quade or Sveum. Batters in slumps don't try to bunt for base hits. Batters don't like to work counts by taking many pitches. Batters go fishing in "their out zones" all the time. But since there is no player position competition on the major league roster, there is no sense of urgency to change any approach. And that is the true philosophy of bad that has creeped into the Cub culture.
