Early in the Spring, Chicago Cubs manager Mike Quade was talking a big game about the Cubs’ consistently low stolen base totals, and about how that was going to change under his watch. His comments were met with more than one raised eyebrow as folks looked over the Cubs’ roster and, predictably, thought who exactly is going to be stealing all of these bases?
And then Aramis Ramirez asked to get the green light on stolen base attempts, and the whole thing devolved into absurdity.
Fortunately, Quade now sees the light.
“I almost feel like we’re forcing something that we shouldn’t,” Quade said. “It goes against everything (I believe) — ‘We’re going to be aggressive, we want to run …’ Yeah, you’re going to run yourself into a lot of outs.”
Quade does want Starlin Castro to improve his baserunning instincts, knowing he has the speed. But he also wants the Cubs to run “intelligently” and won’t send him just to be aggressive.
“Do I see him stealing 30 (bases a year) some day? No,” he said. “Make a liar out of me. That’s fine. We just need to run with our heads.” chicagotribune.com.
A team has to steal bases at something like a 3:1 success ratio for it to net a positive impact on performance. Very few teams achieve that ratio, but hey, people like stolen bases. Fortunately, the Cubs won’t be one of those teams, just trying to steal bases because “that’s one of the things you do in baseball.”
It’s another sign of a slightly more forward-thinking regime.
Just about every game I watched on WGN, they had the moment where the commentator would say “Mike Quade holds the runner at third”. Didn’t matter if it was a slow grounder to RF, a shot off the CF wall, Quade would hold the runner at third, especialy if Koyie Hill was the next batter. And this guy wants the Cubs to run?
He wont do it but I think castro should be leading off because I think he has the speed to steal basses.
Not sure how this is even a conversation since most Cub runners are timed with a sundial.
Other acceptable timing methods: calendar, pill box, vaginal thermometer.
Our team speed is absolutely tectonic.
Good.
It’s a shame Soriano can’t run worth a squat anymore. Wish we could at least get some stolen bases out of him for all that paper he’s collecting. He’s had 5 seasons where he stole 30 or more bases. Oddly enough, he also had 5 seasons where he hit 30 or more home runs. Oh Alfonso, where hast thou gone??
Aging is a bitch.
yeah mike, well how ’bout some coaching on the matter.
in my opinion, i think el comandante, the steed, dar-bar, and maybe even fonzarelli should be stealing bags in the right situation. i think the team just has done it so badly or so infrequently for so long, no one knows how to do it. like their defense, and other basics in baseball, the cubs base stealing is not well coached or executed.
related note: i will say im pretty sick of getting thrown out at the plate! sedning pena the other day.. what a dipshit! come on… ivan of the jesus!
what the? how the hell did i get sucked into this old thread? i wasnt even hunting around for reading material! either way, 3 months later, stolen bases are a problem. sorry for beating a decompsed horse.
Probably some spammer left a comment on an old post, and you followed the breadcrumbs.