With the late-July trading season approaching, the usual rule applies that you trade older, more expensive players at positions where you have a surplus. While I hope they make a few deals, this team does not need to be “blown up,” as some fans are saying. The Cubs won’t make the postseason, and the [...]
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Posted 01 July 2010
† Phil
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Hendry § Piniella § prospect § soriano § trade
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Also tagged: alfonso soriano, andrew cashner, brett jackson, carlos silva, d.j. lemahieu, geovany soto, jim hendry, jody davis, joe carter, joe girardi, lou piniella, marlon byrd, micah hoffpauir, rafael palmeiro, rebel ridling, robinson chirinos, sean marshall, shawon dunston, starlin castro, ted lilly, tyler colvin, welington castillo
I fancy myself a bit of a scout–a scout of the armchair, box-score persuasion, one who never set eyes on any of the players mentioned in this post unless they happened to be on WGN on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in March.
The results of my scouting are tabulated, weekly during the season, in the [...]
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Posted 12 March 2010
† Phil
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prospect
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Also tagged: alex maestri, alfonso soriano, andrew cashner, aramis ramirez, blake parker, brad snyder, brandon guyer, brett jackson, carlos marmol, chris archer, chris carpenter, chris huseby, david cales, dexter fowler, dustin sasser, geovany soto, greg reinhard, hak-ju lee, james adduci, jay jackson, jeff beliveau, jeff stevens, jeffry antigua, john gaub, jose valdez, josh vitters, juan pierre, koyie hill, kyler burke, logan watkins, manolin de leon, marlon byrd, matt camp, micah hoffpauir, michael bourn, nyger morgan, ryan buchter, sam fuld, starlin castro, tony campana, tyler colvin, willie taveras, xavier nady
The answer depends on how much credit you are willing to give Joshua for Derrek Lee’s resurgence as a power hitter. The timing of Lee’s second-half power burst favors Joshua, as does the following syllogism.
a) Lee has been looking for–and turning on–fastballs middle-in, pitches that confounded him during the previous two seasons as he [...]
I’m probably the wrong person to give Gerald Perry his due. I was leery of a coach with a reputation for raising a team’s OBP, and I called for Perry’s dismissal last October after the offense went flat in the Dodger playoff series, even though a coach should not be blamed for his hitters’ performance [...]
It’s been a great spring for filling scarce roster spots, not so great for showcasing legitimate major-league prospects.
This is going to be an excellent Cub team, the best I’ve seen, good to the last roster spot. All of the battles for positions and roster spots have broken the right way. Fontenot has replaced DeRosa at [...]
The Cubs have improved in some areas this winter but there are still three trouble spots.
First, they haven’t created an opportunity for Micah Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir was a lefthanded power bat that the Cubs should have gotten into the lineup, even at the expense of Derrek Lee. Fontenot is an additional lefty bat, sure, and so [...]
I’m very glad Jim Hendry pushed himself away from the table at the winter meetings. In post-mortem remarks to Tribune reporter Phil Rogers, Hendry discussed–very refreshingly, I thought–what the impact of the trade would have been on the team three or four years out.
Hendry said he was looking beyond the 2009 team when he [...]
I’ve written everything that I think needs to be said about Larry Rothschild and the Wuertz-ification of the Cubs’ staff, except to offer some historical perspective: when Rothschild coached the Marlin staff in ‘97 and they won the Series, Cleveland scored 44 runs in 7 games, or 6.3 per game.
I’d rather turn my attention to [...]
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Posted 05 October 2008
† Phil
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Hendry § coaching § pie § trade
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Also tagged: felix pie, gerald perry, jim edmonds, kosuke fukudome, larry rothschild, mark derosa, micah hoffpauir, michael wuertz, mike fontenot, reed johnson, von joshua
These are full-season numbers. The column groupings are explained here.
Cubs
1. 1st->3rd on single
2. score from 1st on double
3. score from 2nd on single
4. score from 3rd, < 2 out
5. score from 1st, 0 out
6. totals
Johnson
7
19
37%
4
8
50%
10
12
83%
13
17
76%
18
25
72%
52
81
64%
Theriot
11
22
50%
9
14
64%
16
21
76%
35
44
80%
26
63
41%
97
164
59%
DeRosa
6
27
22%
6
16
38%
12
20
60%
33
34
97%
22
50
44%
79
147
54%
Fukudome
7
23
30%
6
8
75%
14
18
78%
14
23
61%
18
41
44%
59
113
52%
Ramirez
6
19
32%
2
13
15%
9
19
47%
29
40
73%
25
49
51%
71
140
51%
Soriano
6
16
38%
2
4
50%
7
15
47%
25
32
78%
12
35
34%
52
102
51%
Fontenot
8
18
44%
1
4
25%
6
11
55%
11
13
85%
4
16
25%
30
62
48%
Edmonds
6
14
43%
2
5
40%
3
4
75%
9
16
56%
8
20
40%
28
59
47%
Lee
6
30
20%
6
14
43%
9
15
60%
23
31
74%
14
41
34%
58
131
44%
Soto
0
9
0%
6
11
55%
3
11
27%
13
18
72%
9
38
24%
31
87
36%
Totals:
557
1086
51.3%
Dodgers
1. 1st->3rd on single
2. score from 1st on double
3. score from 2nd on single
4. score from 3rd, < 2 out
5. score [...]
Check out this syllogism:
Hoffpauir is putting up numbers at Iowa this season that are reminiscent of Soto’s breakout season last year.
Soto has put up numbers at Chicago in 2008 that track closely with those of Derrek Lee.
Therefore, the Cubs should seriously consider trading Lee in the offseason and going with Hoffpauir (plus maybe some [...]