In 2008, the Cubs offense was wildly successful partially as a result of drawing a ridiculous amount of walks.  In 2009, well, we all know what happened there.  Sure the power went out a bit as well, but the importance of getting on base cannot be discounted.

Which brings us to Rudy Jaramillo.  He was the hitting coach for the Texas Rangers over the last decade or so.  During that time, the Rangers have generally had a great hitting ballclub.  The problem with Rudy is this past season.  The Rangers offense was so dismal that the team felt the need to fire Jaramillo.  In fact, the team was 12th in the AL in OBP and 12th in walks.

So what does this all mean?  I’m not sure.  It looks like Jaramillo will be heavily pursued by many other major league teams.  It also doesn’t really seem like the Cubs have any good internal options and I’m not sure where else they would look.

Oh and another little bonus, Jaramillo worked very well with Bradley when he was in Texas.  I mean, Bradley is probably on his way out anyways, but you never know.

***UPDATE: Apparently the Cubs are in talks with Jaramillo and he is likely to take the gig. [The Friendly Blogfines]

This year teams that walk zero or one time win about one third of their games. If they walk two to three times it jumps up to about 45 percent. If they walk four or five times they win about 57 percent of the time. And if they walk six times or more their winning percentage is .646.

On top of that, those numbers are not unique to this year.  According to the article those numbers have pretty much stayed consistent throughout the decades.  If a team walks 4-6 times, it is obvious that they will have a far greater chance to win.  What I find interesting is that a team that only walks once a game is going to be a loser 66% of the time.  I wonder how Dusty Baker would refute these statistical facts.  I don’t know if his earthy wisdom is going to persuade me out of this one.