Ex-Cub Carlos Zambrano threw his fifth quality start for the Marlins, getting his first victory (a complete game). He has had three games blown by the Marlins closer, Health Bell.
How are the center piece Cubs from Hendry's era doing with their new teams?
Pitcher Games W-L ERA WHIP K/BB ratio
Zambrano: 6 G, 1-2, 1.98 ERA, 1CG, 1 SHO, 1.024 WHIP, 2.29 K/BB ratio
Marshall: 11 G, 0-2, 5 saves, 1.355 WHIP, 4.67 K/BB ratio
Cashner: 15 G, 2-2, 3.95 ERA, 1.683 WHIP, 1.00 K/BB ratio
Hitters: G Avg HR-RBI-SB OBP
Ramirez: 28 G, .215 2-14-2, .259
Colvin: 21 G, .289, 2-10-1, .313
Theriot: 19 G .192, 0-2-0, .232
All three pitchers would be contributors on the Cubs this season.
Ramirez is off to another slow start which is his SOP.
Theriot and Colvin are bench players, but Colvin's part time work is on par with DeJesus.
May 8, 2012
May 7, 2012
WHOSE ON THIRD? FIRST
When the Cubs brought up Travis Wood to spot start for Matt Garza, the latest Cub to catch the locker room flu bug, the Cubs designated for assignment Blake DeWitt.
As stated in the earlier post, there is a market for veterans who can play third base. Numerous injuries on multiple teams who want to contend bring even Cub talent in play in the trade market.
A DFA is a contractual device for a team to take a player off their 25 man roster, but retain his rights for 10 days or so. In that time period, the club can put him through waivers or try to trade him. When a team goes DFA to create roster space, it is a clear signal that this player is available.
DeWitt was the odd utility man out at the end of spring training, went to the minors briefly, then returned as an early season Sveum favorite. But now, he could be moving to the Giants, Phils or Rays for low level prospects.
As stated in the earlier post, there is a market for veterans who can play third base. Numerous injuries on multiple teams who want to contend bring even Cub talent in play in the trade market.
A DFA is a contractual device for a team to take a player off their 25 man roster, but retain his rights for 10 days or so. In that time period, the club can put him through waivers or try to trade him. When a team goes DFA to create roster space, it is a clear signal that this player is available.
DeWitt was the odd utility man out at the end of spring training, went to the minors briefly, then returned as an early season Sveum favorite. But now, he could be moving to the Giants, Phils or Rays for low level prospects.
May 5, 2012
WHOSE ON THIRD?
There is a sudden demand for major league third basemen. ESPN's Jason Stark reports that the Rays and the Giants are looking for third basemen to replace injured stars Evan Longoria and Pablo Sandoval. Stark states that he believes the Rays are looking for more of a utility player they can use after Longoria returns. Also, the Phillies are in the market to replace Placido Polanco, who is at the end of his career.
A few names in the discount trade bin are Baltimore's Mark Reynolds, a power hitting strike out machine, and Minnesota's Danny Valencia.
This early in the season, teams with major injuries are not necessarily looking to permanently replace their fallen stars, but pick up salvageable journeymen who can plug the gap until the return of the regular.
Again, this type of news should have the Cubs GM Hoyer on the horn to make deals for prospects or other major leaguers to fill the holes in the current North Side roster.
Example, who would have thought that ex-Cardinal Joe Mather would have more HRs than ex-Cardinal Albert Pujols? Mather's stock is peaking right now. He can play LF, RF, 3B and 1B. But on most teams, including the Cubs, he is the 4th outfielder. Mather would be a good bargaining chip in a trade right now, especially to the Rays who are looking for a multi-positional player in return.
Blake DeWitt also fills that utility role. He can play third, second and outfield. And he is a left handed bat.
Jeff Baker is the same type player, only he bats from the right side. Ian Stewart has been a disappointment at third for the Cubs. He lacks the power and average that was promised when the Cubs got him from the Rockies. Stewart is not the Cubs long term answer at third. The Cubs have a roster loaded with utility journeymen candidates. Since the Cubs are going no where but hovering around the cellar this season, there is no reason to hang on to these players who are not important foundational pieces in the rebuilding for 2014.
A few names in the discount trade bin are Baltimore's Mark Reynolds, a power hitting strike out machine, and Minnesota's Danny Valencia.
This early in the season, teams with major injuries are not necessarily looking to permanently replace their fallen stars, but pick up salvageable journeymen who can plug the gap until the return of the regular.
Again, this type of news should have the Cubs GM Hoyer on the horn to make deals for prospects or other major leaguers to fill the holes in the current North Side roster.
Example, who would have thought that ex-Cardinal Joe Mather would have more HRs than ex-Cardinal Albert Pujols? Mather's stock is peaking right now. He can play LF, RF, 3B and 1B. But on most teams, including the Cubs, he is the 4th outfielder. Mather would be a good bargaining chip in a trade right now, especially to the Rays who are looking for a multi-positional player in return.
Blake DeWitt also fills that utility role. He can play third, second and outfield. And he is a left handed bat.
Jeff Baker is the same type player, only he bats from the right side. Ian Stewart has been a disappointment at third for the Cubs. He lacks the power and average that was promised when the Cubs got him from the Rockies. Stewart is not the Cubs long term answer at third. The Cubs have a roster loaded with utility journeymen candidates. Since the Cubs are going no where but hovering around the cellar this season, there is no reason to hang on to these players who are not important foundational pieces in the rebuilding for 2014.
A TRULY DUMB MOVE
The Chicago Tribune reported the strange news from the White Sox camp. A dejected Chris Sale left his manager's office after being told that he was being replaced in the rotation. He was assigned to the bullpen to be the new team Closer.
As the Tribune noted: "After showing promise with a 3-1 record and 2.81 ERA in his first five starts, the Sox decided to move him to the closer's role after he experienced soreness and tightness in his left elbow."
The White Sox claim that the move was in Sale's best interests.
"We're doing it because we feel it's best for him, his career and his health," pitching coach Don Cooper told reporters. "It's the best way to keep him healthy and strong."
But this is truly a dumb move.
If you want to keep Sale healthy and strong, you skip a start, send him to the doctor to check on the elbow and have him do physical therapy. You don't put him into a more stressful situation of being the bullpen closer - - - on call every game to pitch. There is probably more stress on the arm getting up and down warming up in the pen during a week, and throwing several innings of relief than a starter taking the mound once and throwing five or six straight innings then resting for 5 days.
But what is worse is the mental bomb Sox management exploded on their promising starter. It was a demotion. There is no two ways around it. Sale, after being one of the Sox's best starters this season, was demoted to the bullpen. It makes no sense. Quality starters are harder to find than relief pitchers.
To say that a closer's value is greater in saving one or two games a week is more important than a starter who can win a game a week is comparing apples to oranges. A starter's value is in eating up innings during the course of a season. You want your best pitchers to be starters to have more quality innings of work during the course of a season.
So Matt Thorton blows a save, and as the second Closer of the season fails, the White Sox panic and look for a replacement on their staff. What about Crain? What about the minor leagues? No, the man to fall on the hand grenade of a bad bullpen roster is Sale.
Part of this move has to be to appease the fan base by remaining near the top of the AL Central. The Sox slashed ticket prices in the off season to get more bodies into the Cell for games. The Sox need to continue to have a good record and be near the top of the standings to draw fans. And to do so it costs the team real development of a quality starter, so be it. A truly dumb move.
As the Tribune noted: "After showing promise with a 3-1 record and 2.81 ERA in his first five starts, the Sox decided to move him to the closer's role after he experienced soreness and tightness in his left elbow."
The White Sox claim that the move was in Sale's best interests.
"We're doing it because we feel it's best for him, his career and his health," pitching coach Don Cooper told reporters. "It's the best way to keep him healthy and strong."
But this is truly a dumb move.
If you want to keep Sale healthy and strong, you skip a start, send him to the doctor to check on the elbow and have him do physical therapy. You don't put him into a more stressful situation of being the bullpen closer - - - on call every game to pitch. There is probably more stress on the arm getting up and down warming up in the pen during a week, and throwing several innings of relief than a starter taking the mound once and throwing five or six straight innings then resting for 5 days.
But what is worse is the mental bomb Sox management exploded on their promising starter. It was a demotion. There is no two ways around it. Sale, after being one of the Sox's best starters this season, was demoted to the bullpen. It makes no sense. Quality starters are harder to find than relief pitchers.
To say that a closer's value is greater in saving one or two games a week is more important than a starter who can win a game a week is comparing apples to oranges. A starter's value is in eating up innings during the course of a season. You want your best pitchers to be starters to have more quality innings of work during the course of a season.
So Matt Thorton blows a save, and as the second Closer of the season fails, the White Sox panic and look for a replacement on their staff. What about Crain? What about the minor leagues? No, the man to fall on the hand grenade of a bad bullpen roster is Sale.
Part of this move has to be to appease the fan base by remaining near the top of the AL Central. The Sox slashed ticket prices in the off season to get more bodies into the Cell for games. The Sox need to continue to have a good record and be near the top of the standings to draw fans. And to do so it costs the team real development of a quality starter, so be it. A truly dumb move.
May 3, 2012
POO
Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don't make.
Cub fans dreamed of the possibility of stealing away Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols this off season.
The best hitter in baseball was a free agent looking for a long term, $25 million per season deal.
New Cub management played along with the fantasy, but had no real desire to tie up $250 million in one player. Instead, they made the trade for their first baseman of the future: Anthony Rizzo.
Some general managers have learned from the mistakes of others, especially giving veterans expensive long term contracts as the player's swansong contract. Soriano is still owed $53 million. He is unmoveable: as a trade candidate, at the plate, on the bases or in the outfield. The Cubs are stuck with an overpaid, underperforming player. It's called dead money.
The Angels made the move to sign Pujols to a huge, career concluding contract. Cue, Soriano theme song. For as the season moves into its second month, Pujols has been a huge disappointment.
Pujols is batting only .208. His on base percentage is a woeful .252. He has zero home runs, and only 5 RBIs. A rookie would have been optioned back to the minors.
In contrast, the Cubs one year stop gap at first, Bryan LaHair is batting around .380, a .429 OBP, with 7 HRs and 16 RBIs. He is literally the entire Cubs power so far this season. The Cubs have lucked out with their 29 year old career minor leaguer being paid the minimum salary.
On a cost benefit analysis on performance to date, the Cubs are clearly better off with LaHair than Pujols.
Cub fans dreamed of the possibility of stealing away Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols this off season.
The best hitter in baseball was a free agent looking for a long term, $25 million per season deal.
New Cub management played along with the fantasy, but had no real desire to tie up $250 million in one player. Instead, they made the trade for their first baseman of the future: Anthony Rizzo.
Some general managers have learned from the mistakes of others, especially giving veterans expensive long term contracts as the player's swansong contract. Soriano is still owed $53 million. He is unmoveable: as a trade candidate, at the plate, on the bases or in the outfield. The Cubs are stuck with an overpaid, underperforming player. It's called dead money.
The Angels made the move to sign Pujols to a huge, career concluding contract. Cue, Soriano theme song. For as the season moves into its second month, Pujols has been a huge disappointment.
Pujols is batting only .208. His on base percentage is a woeful .252. He has zero home runs, and only 5 RBIs. A rookie would have been optioned back to the minors.
In contrast, the Cubs one year stop gap at first, Bryan LaHair is batting around .380, a .429 OBP, with 7 HRs and 16 RBIs. He is literally the entire Cubs power so far this season. The Cubs have lucked out with their 29 year old career minor leaguer being paid the minimum salary.
On a cost benefit analysis on performance to date, the Cubs are clearly better off with LaHair than Pujols.
May 2, 2012
PROJECTED 2013 1/2 ROSTER
By the next season's trade deadline, the Cubs should be in a position to turn over most of the Hendry era roster to transition into the Epstein era.
By midseason 2013, the Cubs team will probably look like this:
OF: Soriano, B. Jackson, DeJesus, Campana, Sappelt
IN: Vitters, Castro, Cardenas, Rizzo, LaHair, Baker, Barney
C: Castillo, Clevenger
SP: Garza, Maholm, Samardzija, Volstad, T. Wood
RP: Russell, Dolis, Marmol, Maine, L. Castillo, Bowden
Your starting lineup:
1. DeJesus RF
2. Cardenas 2B
3. Castro SS
4. B.Jackson CF
5. Rizzo 1B
6. Soriano LF
7. W. Castillo C
8. Vitters 3B
The projected starting rotation could change if Iowa's Rusin or J. Jackson excel to the point that they are better choices than Volstad or T. Wood. This season, Blake Parker is the Iowa closer so he may be in the mix to be the eventual replacement for Marmol in the bullpen.
By midseason 2013, the Cubs team will probably look like this:
OF: Soriano, B. Jackson, DeJesus, Campana, Sappelt
IN: Vitters, Castro, Cardenas, Rizzo, LaHair, Baker, Barney
C: Castillo, Clevenger
SP: Garza, Maholm, Samardzija, Volstad, T. Wood
RP: Russell, Dolis, Marmol, Maine, L. Castillo, Bowden
Your starting lineup:
1. DeJesus RF
2. Cardenas 2B
3. Castro SS
4. B.Jackson CF
5. Rizzo 1B
6. Soriano LF
7. W. Castillo C
8. Vitters 3B
The projected starting rotation could change if Iowa's Rusin or J. Jackson excel to the point that they are better choices than Volstad or T. Wood. This season, Blake Parker is the Iowa closer so he may be in the mix to be the eventual replacement for Marmol in the bullpen.
May 1, 2012
CALL UPS
There are various rumblings from fans when will the Cubs 2.0 management call up hot prospects Rizzo and B. Jackson. The simple answer is in 2013. That is not a joke.
The new breed of general manager is more focused on controlling their prospects free agency time line than quickly promoting a player to the major league roster. The reason is simple: after a certain time period, a good prospect can turn into a Super Two ( two plus years of ML service) as being the top 17 percent of the rookie crop, which means one less year of arbitration (one year earlier for free agency). The status also means a bump in pay, too. So cost conscious teams want to limit the amount of Super Twos on their roster.
The Cubs rank last in power stats. LaHair has half of the team's total HR total. The current starting outfield (Soriano, Campana and DeJesus) have zero. Statistically, LaHair may be the second best NL hitter behind LA's Kemp. LaHair's fast start is another reason that Rizzo will remain in Iowa for the full season.
Another reason is that the Cubs are on pace to lose 106 games. An 8-15 April does not show the team is ready to compete for the division. Why start the free agency clock when the team is not going to contend?
A third reason may be marketing. By leaving Jackson and Rizzo at Iowa to build up monster numbers, the Cubs PR machine will use them as new hope for 2013 (in an attempt to get season ticket renewals from an exhausted fan base). Yes, it is a cheap and unrealistic ploy on the team's part.
Another reason Jackson and Rizzo will not be called up soon is that they are effectively blocked by current players. Manager Sveum has stated that Campana is going to play 80% of the remaining games as his center fielder. That blocks Jackson from playing every day. Campana is a one dimensional player (speed) compared to a five tool prospect like Jackson. But Sveum thinks he can use Campana in the second hole and create some offensive, steals and scoring chances for the middle of the order.
LaHair's fast start blocks the need for Rizzo to be called up to play first. LaHair has no other natural position to go to; playing him in LF instead of Soriano makes the team weaker, since Soriano is still the number one HR power source on the club. Playing RF instead of DeJesus would be a stretch because LaHair is not fast to cover that corner. It would also highlight a potential mistake in signing DeJesus in the first place, a thing that the new administration would loath to give the media fodder to criticize the Theocracy.
Rizzo and Jackson are part of the Cubs future. But the Future is still a long ways away.
The new breed of general manager is more focused on controlling their prospects free agency time line than quickly promoting a player to the major league roster. The reason is simple: after a certain time period, a good prospect can turn into a Super Two ( two plus years of ML service) as being the top 17 percent of the rookie crop, which means one less year of arbitration (one year earlier for free agency). The status also means a bump in pay, too. So cost conscious teams want to limit the amount of Super Twos on their roster.
The Cubs rank last in power stats. LaHair has half of the team's total HR total. The current starting outfield (Soriano, Campana and DeJesus) have zero. Statistically, LaHair may be the second best NL hitter behind LA's Kemp. LaHair's fast start is another reason that Rizzo will remain in Iowa for the full season.
Another reason is that the Cubs are on pace to lose 106 games. An 8-15 April does not show the team is ready to compete for the division. Why start the free agency clock when the team is not going to contend?
A third reason may be marketing. By leaving Jackson and Rizzo at Iowa to build up monster numbers, the Cubs PR machine will use them as new hope for 2013 (in an attempt to get season ticket renewals from an exhausted fan base). Yes, it is a cheap and unrealistic ploy on the team's part.
Another reason Jackson and Rizzo will not be called up soon is that they are effectively blocked by current players. Manager Sveum has stated that Campana is going to play 80% of the remaining games as his center fielder. That blocks Jackson from playing every day. Campana is a one dimensional player (speed) compared to a five tool prospect like Jackson. But Sveum thinks he can use Campana in the second hole and create some offensive, steals and scoring chances for the middle of the order.
LaHair's fast start blocks the need for Rizzo to be called up to play first. LaHair has no other natural position to go to; playing him in LF instead of Soriano makes the team weaker, since Soriano is still the number one HR power source on the club. Playing RF instead of DeJesus would be a stretch because LaHair is not fast to cover that corner. It would also highlight a potential mistake in signing DeJesus in the first place, a thing that the new administration would loath to give the media fodder to criticize the Theocracy.
Rizzo and Jackson are part of the Cubs future. But the Future is still a long ways away.
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