Cubs Fans are Pissed at Joe, He Explains the Move
It seems after any loss this season, Chicago Cubs fans try to point a finger at someone in blame. All too often this season, those fingers are pointed at Cubs skipper, Joe Maddon.
In Sunday’s series ending game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, fans and media were critical of Joe’s decision to lift pitcher Kyle Hendricks for Tommy La Stella. The scenario was a runner on first and second, no outs, and Kyle was coming to the plate. Having thrown only 86 pitches, Joe pinch hit Tommy for Kyle in an effort to get something to happen that inning. It didn’t work out, as Tommy hit into a double play in that at bat.
Folks are critical as it could have been an opportunity, with Hendricks pitching extremely well, to bunt the runners over and giving the top of the lineup a shot to score them. This is how we’ve always seen the game, especially in the National League, be played.
This is a fundamental difference that Joe has when it comes bunting. Joe sees the bunt as a way to give up outs, and I mostly agree. But I also believe there’s a time and a place for the bunt, and this situation was likely it.
Playing this out, Kyle bunts and let’s assume he gets it down and runners advance as expected. Now you turn the game over to Javier Baez (who is the team’s RBI leader, but struggling hard) and the hottest hitter on the roster (perhaps league) – Jason Heyward. Taking your chances with those two as opposed to Tommy La Stella seemed to be the proper call.
But remember, we are only looking at it from a right now perspective. Here is how Joe looked at this scenario.
“You got to look at the whole picture,” Joe told reporters Sunday after the game. “Meadows, Dickerson, Moran coming up, 86th pitch. If I got to pull him (Hendricks) in the next inning without really taking a shot right there, then it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.”
What Joe is saying is, it was unlikely that Kyle was going to pitch past that next inning. He has only thrown more than 100 pitches once this season. That inning, or that half-inning and the following half-inning was the ballgame. If Joe didn’t take the shot right there, and with how Ivan Nova was pitching, the entire effort by Kyle would have been wasted.
I still take my chances with Kyle, who is better than every reliever on your roster in that situation. But I understand that scenarios like this are one of the reasons that baseball is extremely fun to follow. There aren’t always pigeon holed moves for every scenario, and a coach’s philosophy often dictates how that scenario plays out. Joe would rather his players swing away when there’s a potential bunting opportunity, and the vast amount of statistics back his philosophy here. We’ve been almost trained into believing that bunting is the only play in those situations. It often is the worst option that one could employ.
I disagree with Joe this time, but I’m also not naïve to the fact that Joe Maddon is one of the absolute best managers in the game today. He’s different at times, doesn’t always make calls based on numbers, doesn’t always make calls based on what history has shown us, and doesn’t always make calls based on his gut reaction. He weighs them all, jumbles them up, and picks what he believes has the most merit at that time. He can be frustrating, but his track record speaks volumes about his ability to lead a ballclub.
