Maddon is Sick and Tired of Your Lineup Complaints, “It’s Such a Non-Sophisticated Conversation”
Joe Maddon welcomes second-guessing, he wants you to ask why he did X when you think Y would have been better. He welcomes open and honest baseball conversation because he knows it makes everyone smarter. One conversation he is completely done with? Questioning his lineup decisions.
“I try not to comment on it, because really it’s such a poor discussion,” Maddon told reporters Tuesday, via ESPN. “There’s no sophistication to it whatsoever. It makes zero sense. It doesn’t belong in today’s game.”
This is a complete 180 compared to how Maddon has treated other “silly” questions in the past. While I believe and will argue till I’m blue in the face, Joe misused Aroldis Chapman and pulled Kyle Hendricks too early, he at least answers that question each and every time he’s asked.
But when you question his lineups? That’s a no go.
“Honestly, it’s such a non-sophisticated conversation,” Maddon told reporters. “It really is. I don’t know how it begins. I’ve heard it from old baseball dudes. I think fathers pass it down to sons on occasion. It’s like teaching your kid how to drive a stick shift. It just gets passed along.”
The Cubs have used 29 different lineups in 34 games, which is the sixth most lineups in 2018, and most per percentage of games played. The Cubs have scored 178 runs in their 34 games played, good for an average of 5.24 runs per game, which as of this writing is tops in the National League. But we can all agree that there has been little consistency to the Cubs offensive production.
Because of those inconsistencies, Cubs fans have been screaming from every corner of Cubdom that the reasons for the lack of consistency have been Joe’s inconsistent lineup. They also believe he should have never broken up the duo of Albert Almora and Javier Baez from the leadoff and two-hole spots in the lineup.
I will say this, those two up top, when working, was pretty magical. The offense rolled and seemed to immediately put Kris Bryan and Anthony Rizzo in a position to plate runs early in games. But I think most fans misremember what just happened. This might be why science tells us the eyewitness account is the worst form of evidence, we tend to remember what we want to remember.
Albert Almora hit .188/.235/.250 as the first batter of the game, and .265/.324/.353 as the Cubs leadoff hitter. He walked exactly four times in those 54 plate appearances or just 7% of the time. As a whole, Almora has only walked 7 times all season. Over the past 14 days, Almora was only hitting .212 and slugging .242. With a hitter that isn’t hitting his way on base, isn’t walking, and the minimal amount of times he did hit the ball it wasn’t more than a single here or there.
Baez was a similar story. Never being a patient hitter (he is swinging at 60.8% of all pitches thrown to him) Baez wasn’t walking, and he wasn’t getting on base any other way. In the six games Baez played from 4/26 through 5/2 he hit .179. Again, he wasn’t hitting his way on and he wasn’t walking, leaving the top two spots as duds in a sputtering offense.
I know you want to see a guy get in the game to keep a rhythm, to create familiarity, to just have something that made sense day-to-day. I get it, I do, but I also know that there is little difference between the two spot and the eighth spot in a lineup today. I know that with a versatile roster, guys will be in and out of the lineup rather often. I know that players aren’t going to play every day, especially knowing the incredible information teams have on opposing players these days.
I also know that Joe Maddon has played this game with his lineup cards for 13 years and has won 54% of his games. He has also won almost 60% of his games in Chicago, has brought the team to the playoffs each season he has been here, and even won a World Series. You might recall that.
I also know that Joe coaches the game a lot differently before July. He tries things, he puts guys in different situations, he tests their abilities – which grows them as players. Once July hits he changes the way he manages. He pushes the pedal to the floor and guns it, coaching each and every game like it was a playoff game. In doing so he has navigated the Cubs to a 152-77 mark in the second half. I think the fans have the right to ask the questions, but I also believe they should trust a process that has worked for 13 years and has proven to lead the Cubs to the most successful stretch of baseball in 100 years.
