Mike Quade Doesn't Get It

Reed Johnson is starting in right for the third straight game tonight. I love Reed Johnson. But he could bat 1.000 for the rest of the year and the Cubs wouldn't make the playoffs. He's also 34. Tyler Colvin is 25. Which of these guys do you think might be more important to the Cubs in the future, and thus should see most of the time in right for the rest of the year? Let's see what Quade thinks:

"It's a delicate balance between guys who have earned the right to play and guys who are here to play as young players and get better, and also giving them what I presume is the best opportunity for them to succeed and get back into doing what we saw him do last year."

Is what you saw him do last year "sit on the bench?" Because that's what your doing with him. If Colvin is going to get back to pre-almost-getting-stabbed-to-death-with-a-bat levels, it would be nice if, I don't know, actually played in right field. Or left. Or fucking third base, I don't care, the rest of the season doesn't matter, and there's no reason Colvin, Starlin Castro, Darwin Barney, and maybe Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson shouldn't be given as many at-bats as possible. Start thinking 2012 please, Quade. Or are you worried you're not going to be around for that, and maybe Reed Johnson can help you scrape just enough wins to keep you around? Hmm....

Credit Where Credit is Due- Cubs/Giants Game 4

This is the first time I've done a credit post for baseball. It's kind of cheap, since baseball is a sport where the exact amount of credit can be assigned at the end of the game scientifically. I know you can theoretically do it for basketball, too, but I've touched on before the differences between the two sports statistically. Anyways, I'm going to try to give out credit on my own before looking at the WPA (win probability added) for each player.

Marcus Mateo- 35%

You might think about going right to Geo, but I know I said to my friend when Mateo came in, "here comes 4 or 5 runs". I did not expect 5 strong innings of 2-hit ball (both the inning he came in) with 6 strikeouts. Nice to be pleasantly surprised by the bullpen for once.

Geo- 25%

Every time a pinch-hitter came up I said "Where's Geo?" Quade chose to hit with Reed Johnson, Lou Montanez, and Jeff Baker before Geo in situations where the game could have potentially been over with one swing (and that's why Quade will not be receiving any credit here.)

The rest of the bullpen- 20%

Marshall, Samardzija, Russell, and Marmol stepped up big, too. Which is extra important when your starting pitcher can't last an 2 innings.

Aramis- 15%

Aramis is batting .360 with 5 home runs in his last 10 games. If he can stay this hot for awhile, maybe we can win more than 2 games in a row.

Darwin Barney- 5%

Huge clutch hit to keep it alive for Soto. 2-6 isn't bad in your 2nd game back.

No Credit-

Quade- Why save your only power hitter left on the bench until last when 1 swing can end the game? Oh, because you are a moron.

Big Z- I wonder if "back spasms" is code for "I hurt my pride on my (shoulda been) 2 error play.

Carlos Pena- Carlos has been great lately, but 0-5 will land you here.

So I Guess I Have to Write About the Cubs Now?

"The problem wasn't Pujols, the problem was [Theriot's] at-bat. We should have known better than this. We are playing like a Triple-A team. This is embarrassing. Embarrassing for the team and the owners. Embarrassing for the fans. Embarrassing, that's the word for this team."

"We should know that Ryan Theriot is not a good fastball hitter, we should know that as a team. We should play better here. We stink. That's all I've got to say." -Big Z

Let's start by getting this out of the way: he's not wrong about any of this. They should be embarrassed, the way they're playing right now. But there are way more problems than Marmol having a bad week. Here are some basic numbers for you:

The Cubs are 9th in the NL in OPS but 4th to last in Home Runs, with 40. They're ahead of the Mets and Astros, who both suck, and the Padres, who play in the most spacious pitchers park in the game.

The Cubs are dead last in the league (and all of baseball) in ERA at 4.75. And before Big Z starts pointing fingers at the bullpen, he should know the Cubs are also last in quality starts, with 20 out of a possible 57 (that's really bad, non-baseball-fans)

Also, while it's not a great stat to use as a pure metric, the Cubs are tied for last in fielding percentage as well (.978)

So we have enough blame to go around before I even get to Mike Quade (and I'll get to Mike Quade in a minute). But let me get back to Zambrano. You say "We should know Theriot is not a good fastball hitter." Maybe, but you should also know that your closer is not a good fastball pitcher. But when he has his slider working, it's one of the best in the game. It hasn't been working in two games in the past week, and he's blown two saves. In between that he appeared in two games and struck out 5 of the 9 batters he faced. His ERA before this week was 1.17, and he hadn't allowed an earned run since April 20th before last Tuesday. Marmol is not the problem.

The problems start with Mike Quade. I'm sick and tired of Zambrano being allowed to run around being an asshole without anyone putting him in his place. I know Michael Barrett tried, but he was traded a few weeks later. A real team with a real manager would have put a stop to this by now. I don't even want him traded necessarily (which I know is impossible due to his no-trade clause), I just want someone to put their foot up his ass every time he opens up his mouth to say something stupid. That's the manager's job, and he's not doing it.

And while we're at it, what the hell was Tyler Colvin doing practically playing center field on that hit? Did they really think there was no chance Theriot could turn on a Marmol slider? And why is Soriano, our only power source before he got hurt, consistently batting 6th or lower in the batting order and being protected by Koyie Fucking Hill? And why, as I'm typing this, is Carlos Pena getting picked off of first on a single because he rounded first but the runners in front of him both held? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY FUCKING PROBLEMS WITH THE CUBS RIGHT NOW?!?!?!?

Sorry, lost it there for a second. To answer your unasked question, Big Z, the Cubs are playing like a triple-A team because they're managed like a triple-A team. It's like there's a different agenda with the lineups and bullpen decisions, but there's not, and you're somehow 6th in baseball in payroll but getting swept by teams like the Astros. It's pretty ridiculous. I'm about to live in a world where the Packers, Heat, and Canucks are all champions in their respective sports at the same time. At least give me something to root for, here.