A report in the New York Daily News today says that the Yankees would like to trade for Cubs’ superstar Jock Jones.ÂÂ
Wait, what is today? No, it’s not April 1. Does anybody know if the writer, Sam Borden, is a crack addict?
I understand that the Yankees have never cared much about defense or baserunning when it came to evaluating players. They just want guys who can rake. Jock’s halfway there. He can’t field or run the bases with any degree of common sense, but he also can’t really hit.
Sure he’s at .288 right now. But you and I both know that .288 is just a weigh station for Jock’s batting average before it continues it’s annual plunge to .250.
Surely, the mighty Yankees, of all teams, know this. Right?
I have nothing personal against Jock. I know that there’s a sidebar on this site that lists why we’re booing him on this particular day, but…OK that probably seems personal. But I’m more frustated with the Cubs than with Jock. Why they gave him a three year deal at almost $6 million a year never made any sense. But now they apparently have a chance to give that mistake away.
After watching him play on a daily basis, I’m actually surprised the Twins won as many games as they did during his tenure. Jock is, simply put, not a “winning” ballplayer. He’s a liability defensively, where his good speed is wasted by his inability to track a flyball and his arm is a laughable combination of weeny and scatter. When he does get on base, which almost never happens by way of a walk, he seems confused as to the order in which you have to step on them to make it all the way back around to home.ÂÂ
Jock. It’s first, then second, then third, then home. I know that you like to go first, then second, then second again, then get tagged out, but it’s not how it works.
He can’t hit lefty pitching with any consistency, which is understandable, though the Cubs are busy trying a platoon in the other outfield spot.
The Yankees are missing both of their corner outfielders, so Jock makes sense for them. Gary Sheffield will probably be back before the end of the season, though given the varied diagnoses he received on his injury (the first time he hurt it and then when he reinjured it) probably is too strong of a word. Hideki Matt Suhey says he’ll be back, but what he did to his wrist was like taking Derrek Lee’s broken wrist and then cutting off the hand, then sewing it back on with dental floss and a fishing hook.
The Yankees don’t care about what they’ll do with Jock next year. As a veteran traded during a multi-year contract he could demand a trade before next season. I’m sure that would just crush the Yankees and their fans. Much like it crushed them when they got rid of Andy Fox.
Ironically, the biggest problem with trading Jock Jones is convincing Jim Hendry and Dusty Baker that it’s a good idea. You would think that if anybody has noticed that Jock, despite a solid batting average (so far) is a bad baseball player, it would be his manager and general manager. But those two dopes seem to only value two things in an offensive player. Batting average (which we know is a farce) and home runs. Given that criteria, is it any wonder Dusty voted for Rick Wilkins to win the 1993 MVP award?
This is the frustration of being a Cubs’ fan. A lot of fans think they know more than the “braintrust” of their favorite club. We know we do. You wouldn’t have given Jock a three year contract. But if Jock had gotten you drunk and you woke up with a sore jaw, a sore ass and a signed contract, you’d know enough to trade him right now, when his value (such that it is) is at a relative high.
When Derrek Lee comes off the DL on Friday in Minnesota (as all signs point to) the Cubs will need to make a player move. It probably…incredibly…means that Matt Murton goes to Iowa. Unbelievable. Why not just trade Jock to open a spot?
Honestly, the obvious move would be to DFA Neifi, but we all know that’s not going to happen.ÂÂ
Who plays right? Who cares? Play Freddie Boom Boom Bynum out there for all I care. The long-term future of the Cubs is what we’re concerned about. With Jock off the books, Hendry can try it again this offseason. Maybe this time he ends up Carlos Lee or Lee May or Carlos Bernard (by the way, I saw good old Tony Almeda throw out the first pitch last Thursday, he reminded me of a less tan, righthanded Chuck McElroy). Anything but Jock.
Eventually, this season, you want to turn an outfield spot over to Felix Pie, anyway. (Though right now his numbers are abysmal at Iowa. His average is down to .253, he’s four for eleven in stolen base attempts has struck out nearly three times as many times as he’s walked.) Why not open one right now when you can?
Given the pathetic right field that Jock has played, you can put pear-shaped Phil Nevin (that blousy jersey isn’t fooling anybody, tubby) in right and it won’t hurt the defense.
What should the Cubs get back from the Yankees? Does it matter? It may not look like a salary dump, or smell like one, but it’s what it would be. Pick a AA prospect you think might have a chance and just pull the trigger.
Nobody likes Jock, so it’s not like the fans will be any more pissed off than they are already.
But when Jock is hitting .244 in August and the deadline has passed, we’ll all look back at the week in June when he would have been easy to move, and we’ll all pause to boo.
Did I really call Jay Mariotti a “fag?” I gonna get in trouble, mang.
i’ve always tried to direct my vitriol at hendry instead of jock for the contract. i like him a 1 yr/ 3.5m or so, but i agree we have to cut ties with him for the space alone.
If anyone from the Yankee organization is reading this, Andy didn’t mean any of it. He is joking. He thinks Jones is the next “Mr. Cub” and that Jones has superb skills and that he just has to get used to the angles in Wrigley’s outfield. As to his batting average he meant to say that last year was an aberation and that he will average .324 with 35 homeruns this season and for the remainder of his contract. Right, Andy?
Might as well trade Kerry, Greggie, Walker, and Unlucky. Why not throw in Scotty W. while we’re at it? I’m sure we could get some three year old Cracker Jacks and a Rey Sanchez trading card for him.
It’s just another way for the Cubs to fuck up. If only there was a trophy for that. The Cubs would have tons.
We forgive you, Ozzie. It was wrong, but hey…Jay Mariotti *is* a fag, after all.
Dolan,
Amen to ridding Jock Jones of the Cubs and dumping him onto the Yankees. This is a no brainer move. As soon as Jim Hendry reads this article about the Yankees’ interest, his dumbass should have been on the horn with big George.
Instead, I’m sure Hendry and Dusty are talking about what date the next Kerry Wood simulated game should be thrown.
You know I have bashed Dusty the last however many years on this website. True, he is an ignorant bastard when it comes to the game of baseball. But the King of Idiots through all this mess the last so many years, is none other then Jim Hendry himself.
This stupid fuck no doubt should not have an extension in this continous torture grip he has on Cub fans. He clearly has no clue how to manage(meaning go out and spend money and find the best players possible to win a championship for a team that hasn’t had one for close to 100 years) a professional baseball team.
This isn’t your son’s All-Star team here.
Dusty will soon be gone, but we’ll still have two stoogies left in Hendry and MacFail.
That’s enough torture.
Baker Basher
…as long as we keep this weeks MVP, Hank Aaro…I mean White.
Time to start the rumor that Jeff Smardizjcasdfa can play right field. I think he could be in the starting line-up by the fall.
I liked Baker Basher so much better when he was conspicuously absent.
How are they interested in this guy and not ME?
When they send Murton down is the day that I officially stop caring about this shit for good.
And is there any concern that we’re rushing Lee back? Or that we’ll overplay him in the first few weeks back? I’m not saying that he’s Carrie Wood, but I’d like to hear more about going slow and cautious with him. It’s not like he’s going to save the season or anything.
Please God, let Jock be played. It’d be enough of a blessing to barely hold me over until Dusty is axed.
Notice how the great Felix has not produced at AAA like he did in AA. Could this possibly be because the Cubs Farm system blows. They don’t produce any actual players. Whose fault is this? ::This break brought to you by the Bud Light Bleachers::
Jim Hendry.
Also, I am affraid that Derek Lee is going to have a broken arm single, when he returns.
If Murton’s sent down, I’m done watching this year. I check in to follow how Murt is doing, how Cedeno is doing, and how Carlos is doing – because those are the only three with a future on the Cubs. If Murt goes all Brant Brown or Hee Seop due to Dusty and hendry, they can fuck off, and I won’t watch again until there’s a regime change. This kid has hit every place he’s ever been in his entire life. He was a high draft pick and has been a stud prospect at every level. In his first 300 or so at-bats he looked like what he should probably end up – a really damn good, smart, patient, hitter, with some weaknesses against righties and on the road, and developing power. But Dusty and Co have worked their magic on this kid and if it’s permanent, it’s a shame. I hope by the end of the year Murt’s starting in left for a team led by an interim manager (who was not one of Dusty’s guys).
We’re full of old-ass, broken down ballplayers, and our farm system is a vast wasteland. What the hell do we have to trade for Jock? Weill we get involved in a multi team trade deal?
Even counting all the time since Dusty criticized Murton’s approach and Matt tanked, look at his OBP compared to those of his awful teammates, including the very popular “success” Ronny Cedeno, who is popular and a success only because nobody with the Cubs knows that AVG is unimportant compared to OBP. Send Juan Pierre down.
Dude, I don’t want Lee to come back, either. Once he does, I don’t have any more excuses for the shitty way this team is playing.
At least Baker Basher refrained from making some quixotical sexual refrence of particularly creepy nature in attempts to prove whatever inane point he’s trying to make. Unless it’s written in code.
Did you all just hear me say that Todd Walker is the eighth different Cub to bat eighth this season? I left out the obvious part, about how the Cubs are an entire team of #8 hitters.
I want to personally thank Mr. Hendry for letting me go so I can play baseball again with an organization that has a plan.
I’ll never have anything bad to say about Mr. Hendry, but what do I know- I’ve had my senses knocked out….
I’m, dare I say, en fuego muchacho!!! I’m getting hot enough that I should expect Dustino to bench me…but at least not until “Rocky” comes back from his suspension.
Hey Phil, what are you doing putting catching gear on gringo?!?
Costanza!!!!
Is everyone talking about the Matt Murton on the Cubs? He may have had plate discipline and developing power in some Daily Doses in March and April. Maybe everybody followed through and really did quit paying attention to the games.
Hey Jock, you should be familiar with the concept of a slump by now.
I don’t see how Matt Murton will develop power. He doesn’t swing the bat like a player with developing power. When he stands at the plate, all I see is someone who might hit a floater over second. I like Matt Murton and I want him to develop power. I want Matt Murton to be a part of the solution for this team. But, right now, I don’t see any power in him. He needs to make some changes at the plate…maybe stand more upright and open his stance a little. Now, that Neifi…there’s power.
Have you guys looked at my numbers against right handed pitchers? I’m not very good and would be platooned in most organizations with somebody who can’t hit lefties–Jack Jones.