I wrote an article last week defending Joe Maddon from the ever-growing contingent of Cubs fans who think the fourth-year manager should be relieved of his duties. Since then, I’ve engaged in some pretty good dialogue online with Cubs fans on both sides of the Maddon fence and while I’ll never fully understand how one could justify getting rid of a manager who has accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, I did try to understand the other perspective.
At least I tried.
The common denominator when people tried to justify to me as to why they would fire Joe Maddon seemed to revolve around his use of the team’s center fielder, Albert Almora Jr. The 24-year-old has burst onto the scene in 2018 and outside of Javier Baez, there is not another Cub who I envisioned having such a surprising season. As of July 2, Almora is third in the MLB (and second in the National League) in batting with a .331 average. That average is only eight points behind the MLB leader Mookie Betts and one point behind the NL leader, Scooter f*cking Gennett.
Almora’s emergence in 2018 was so surprising to me because everyone and their brother knew what his achilles heel was coming into this season — hitting right-handed pitching. In 2017, his splits against right and left handed pitching were drastically different which led to Maddon using Almora almost solely against left-handed pitchers last season.
If you know me, you know that I don’t get caught up in a million different statistics as the only measure of a player but even I’ll admit that Almora’s splits from last year were pretty staggering.
2017 splits:
Vs. RHP – 188 ABs, 4 HR, 30 RBI, 36 K, .271/.291/.420, .313 BAbip.
Vs. LHP – 111 ABs, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 17 K, .342/.411/.486, .378 BAbip.
Those struggles have seemingly gone away in 2018.
Through the halfway point of the season, Almora is hitting both right and left-handed pitching almost identically.
2018 splits:
Vs. RHP – 173 ABs, 3 HR, 18 RBI, 36 K, .329/.364/.451, .400 BAbip.
Vs. LHP – 69 ABs (nice), 1 HR, 8 RBI, 5 K, .333/.377/.478, .338 BAbip.
Almora’s emergence as a viable everyday player is the foundation for Cubs fans who are frustrated with Joe Maddon. The funny thing about Almora “not playing everyday” is the fact that it’s simply not true. Almora trails only Javier Baez in games played this year and recently came off a stretch of playing in 28 of the 29 games in June. As much as I think Almora could play every day in center field for the Cubs, you can’t forget about what that would do regarding the development of another young outfielder, Ian Happ.
The Cubs have a great problem on their hands with two, young, talented outfielders in Happ and Almora and I believe Joe Maddon has done a masterful job at getting both players their at-bats this season (Almora 242 ABs, Happ 206). Happ struggled early in the season but Maddon stuck with him and let him figure it out by giving him relatively consistent at-bats. Was it frustrating watching Happ go 0-4 with 4 Ks early in the season? Sure. But think about what that did for his confidence which has resulted in Happ having a pretty solid season himself.
Albert Almora is having a brilliant season, hitting .331/.368/.459, with a 123 wRC+.
Since I still have characters left in this tweet, I'll also note that Ian Happ is hitting .257/.378/.461 with a 124 wRC+. pic.twitter.com/j4iBufivGA
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 2, 2018
If Maddon were to pencil in Almora everyday in center, where does that leave Happ? The only “fix” I see is possibly letting Happ play at second while Baez plays short but again, it’s not like Addison Russell and Ben Zobrist are putting up trash numbers so finding a spot for Happ really is an “odd man out” scenario. Also, when you take into account that both Kyle Schwarber and Jason Heyward have also had outstanding seasons thus far, there is a literal logjam in the outfield.
It’s also important to note here that Schwarber and Heyward are the only two outfielders that have more at-bats than Almora this season which is another testament to the job Maddon is doing getting all of his outfielders their at-bats. Apparently, Joe Maddon knows what he’s doing.
Great stat from the ABC broadcast. Joe Maddon has juggled the playing time of his outfielders and gotten great results this season. pic.twitter.com/glk5vhWUU4
— Cubs Insider (@realcubsinsider) June 30, 2018
I touched on all of these points in my previous article but thought it’d be a good idea to elaborate a little bit more in this article. With that said, if I know Cubs fans as well as I think I do, there are still some of you reading this thinking, “Maybe Happ should go to AAA and get his at-bats then. Albert needs to play everyday!”
If you STILL think Almora Jr. should be in the Cubs lineup everyday and think I’m just another Maddon ‘fanboy’ defending his brilliant juggling of the Cubs outfielders, maybe you’ll listen to someone a bit closer to Almora who is in favor of how he is being used this season.
His agent.
Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a great story yesterday shedding light on Almora’s agent, Scott Boras, and his praise of Joe Maddon and the Chicago Cubs. Boras, who also advises current Cubs players Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, and future-Cub Bryce Harper, sees nothing wrong with the way Almora is being used despite his All-Star caliber numbers.
“He’s got a [World Series] ring, and now he’s earning his way. This is a winning organization they’re running, rather than a development organization. For Albert, that’s something that probably cost him at-bats, but it’s well in line with what winning organizations do.’’
Granted, Boras did go on to say that he believes Almora has the skill and has earned the right to play everyday but even the usually outspoken Boras had nothing but praise for the Cubs and their use of Almora Jr. this season. Even Almora’s agent, who’s main job it is to find a way to get his client paid, understands that it’s Maddon’s job to put each of his players in the best position for success.
Boras could throw Maddon under the bus about not showcasing Almora everyday but Boras has been down this road before with Maddon (Jake Arrieta turned out to be OK.)
‘‘‘I’ve never had a player not do well under him. That goes back a long time. I let him run his show his way, and it usually works out pretty well for both.’’
So let’s add to the list of people who understand the benefit of using Almora Jr. the way Maddon has this season.
- Me
- Most Cubs fans
- Scott Boras
I know it’s frustrating for Cubs fans when they don’t see Albert Almora Jr. in the lineup every single day but you have to look at his situation from a “big picture” standpoint. Based off what the actual picture looks like, Almora is on pace for a career high in ABs and will probably surpass every offensive statistic that he’s set in his career. He can do all of this while the team simultaneously can continue to develop Ian Happ which is clearly a win/win for the team and the fans.
I know it pains some Cubs fans to admit it but it’s almost like Joe Maddon knows what he’s doing with his two young outfielders. The future will definitely be interesting however, if both players continue to play at the levels they are playing at this year. If that’s the case, I’m sure I’ll get to hear fans begin to complain about which player should be packaged for Manny Machado.
