The trading deadline has come and gone and apparently, all the Cubs have to show for it are Pirates lefties John Grabow and former Marist standout Tom Gorzelanny. Considering the Cubs have actually hit the ball in July, a little fine tuning to the pitching was probably a good idea.
In today’s Sun-Times, our pal the Albino once again waxed poetic about how much the Cubs miss Lassie Edmonds. I’m not sure if anybody buys any of this bullshit, but Gordon sure enjoys shoveling.
I like how he works Edmonds’ age into the story in a way that suggest the Cubs should call him up. Because a lefthanded hitting centerfielder is such a need for them right now. Kosuke sucks. He’s only hitting .356 with a 1.036 OPS in 71 plate apperances as a leadoff guy.
Not only that, but Kosuke’s hitting .462 with a 1.303 OPS when he leads off the game. Gordon fails to mention just where Edmonds would be playing, unless the Cubs decided to go with a fancy slow-pitch softball alignment with a “rover” (and how perfect would Lassie be as a rover?). The other curious thing is that Edmonds isn’t playing for anyone, and as late as October was non-committal about how much he even wanted to play again. And let’s not overstate how good Edmonds was last year. He was great in June, when he hit .319 with a 1.085 OPS and managed to avoid being released. He was just OK in July and September and he was bad in August (he hit .200). The one thing he was pretty good at was getting on base with a Cubs’ OBA of .369. Oh, and limping back to the dugout after strikeouts to remind us “Hey, I’m old!”
The perceived value of Edmonds and how much the Cubs miss him is curious, since the one thing Edmonds did consistently is the one thing Milton Bradley has done consistently for the Cubs.
As lousy as Milton’s been overall, it seems funny that he doesn’t get much credit for his .385 on base average (after all those post-Sosa years of hacks like Burnitz and Jock flailing around out there and never getting on base–until Kosuke last year, who only got on base for two months), or that even as much as he’s struggled as a lefty hitter his OBA is .378.
It was assumed that the Cubs would try to add a right handed hitting outfielder to fill the void created when Reed Johnson broke his foot yesterday. Instead, the Cubs are going to with Mini Baseball Jesus, Sam Fuld. But Fuld bats lefty! Oh, no!
Fuld’s actually hit lefties better than righties at Iowa (small sample size, just like the fact that Grabow is being compared to Remlinger because his batting average against this year is higher against lefty hitters, when his three year splits are just what you’d want from a lefty reliever), and the Cubs don’t see many lefty starters, so I can’t see that finding a replacement for Reed was really that important today.
Where the Cubs could have used an upgrade today is at second base.
I was hoping that going back to second, instead of having to play third, would rejuvenate Mike Fontenot’s bat. And he’s been better (.269 in July) but he’s not getting on base (.300 OBA), and if he’s not going to hit, the complete lack of range that him and Ryan Theriot have up the middle just sticks out even more. I’m not saying they should play Blanco at second (because they should play him at short and Theriot at second if it ever came to that), but assuming Geovany Soto comes back and hits a little, the only spot in the lineup that is lacking right now is the Fontenot/Jeff Baker platoon.
And why do I always “feel” like Baker has played better than he has? Everytime he gets a hit I think “Hey, he’s been pretty good for the Cubs.” And then I realize his batting average is still under .200, so no, he hasn’t been pretty good for the Cubs.
So what about yesterday’s trade? Grabow’s not great but he’s better than Neal Cotts was (who isn’t?), and it should allow Lou to use Sean Marshall for the most important lefty at bats later in the game. Marshall’s clearly a lot better than Grabow.
I like the flyer on Gorzelanny, too. Ascanio’s no great shakes and never will be, Hart won three games in a row, sure, but the Cubs scored at least 11 runs in two of them and scored three runs in the first in the other one. He still walked more guys than he struck out for the Cubs this year.
If it’s true that the Cubs had three million to spend at the deadline, they’ve still got most of it. Grabow makes $2.3M, so the Cubs owe him two months of that and that only comes to less than $800K minus whatever Ascanio was due because Hart and Gorzelanny are a wash. So Hendry’s probably got $2.3 M left. He could basically acquire anybody who makes less than $7.5M this year and fit the remainder of their contract into what he’s got left.
And having that money is important now that trades can only happen if a player either clears waivers, or clears them to you and you claim him then try to work out a deal with his team. You have to be careful, especially this year with so many teams crying (and many of them not lying) poor. Useful players are going to make it through waivers this year who in the past might have been claimed. Why? Because in the past a team might claim a guy who they think one of their competitors could really use. The idea is to claim that player and force the team who put him on waivers to pull him back off.
However, you have to be careful. Say you’re Jim Hendry (hey, get back here, the nachos can wait!) and you see that the Reds have put Aaron Harang on waivers. You think to yourself “If the Cardinals got him and put him on their Dave Duncan/Dave McKay HGH regimen he might be pretty good again.” So you’re tempted to claim him and block him from clearing waivers and being traded to the Cardinals. You’d better not do it. Because if you do, Reds GM Walt Jocketty will take off his shirt and dance around his office, and he won’t pull Harang off waivers, and you’ll be paying that Mongoloid $11 million dollars next year.
But this never happens right?
In 1998 the San Diego Padres were so sure that that Giants or Dodgers would want Randy Myers that when the Blue Jays put him on waivers, the Padres claimed him to block it. One problem, the Blue Jays let them have him. The Padres ended up paying Myers more than $14 million to put up an ERA of over 6.00 for them in the last two months of 1998 and then not pitch at all in 1999 and 2000 while they still had to mail him checks twice a month.
In 2000 the New York Yankees claimed Jose Canseco, for reasons only known to them, and Tampa Bay was overjoyed to let them have him. The fact that the Yankees had to pay him a million dollars for the two months he played there was bad, but having to have that turd on their team the rest of the season was worse.
And finally (mock applause fills the Interwebs), you have to hand it to Kenny Williams for doing it again. No “it” wasn’t trading for Carl Everett or Robbie Alomar again, he traded for Jake Peavy for the second time this year. The first time, in May, Peavy turned down the trade saying he didn’t want to pitch for them. This overjoyed Cubs fans who wanted Peavy to pitch for them.
But Kenny traded for him again today, and this time Peavy said “OK, fine, whatever” and he’s coming to the Sox with the $53 million left on his contract. The Sox traded four pitcher for him, one who is pretty good (Clayton Richard) one who is really good (Aaron Poreda) and two who are OK.
So when is Peavy going to pitch for the Sox? Tonight? Sunday?
Well, he might pitch for them in 2009. Sometime. Maybe.
He’s got a torn tendon in his ankle and hasn’t thrown a baseball since June 8. Under the most optimistic scenario he’s a couple weeks away from starting a serious throwing program. That will mean he’ll need to go on a rehab assignment for a start or two. If he pitches before September it’ll be a minor miracle.
Now long term, this is a good move for the Sox. But in terms of them “going for it” in 2009? Not so much.
Oh, and as for the Reds trading for Scott Rolen? Isn’t it obvious? They ARE going for it. In 2003. Huh?
Jeff Baker is currently batting .242/.306/.455 since coming to the Cubs, which has not been great, but he has been twice as good as he was in Colorado (.130/.167/.217) this year. This should be more than enough to keep Aaron Miles on his “rehab” assignment in AAA until the rosters expand in September. That is all I ask of him.
I died sometime in mid-July, right?
Can I really not crack the Baker / Blanco / Fontegnome three-headed automatic out?
You’ll be working for me soon Aaron.
1 extra base hit in 9 innings? Maybe a little more fine-tuning is in order. Woof.
You have business to finish with us.
Please Mike, not the hair…
Grabow asked for uniform number 34 and was told he couldn’t have it.
Holy crap, you mean they’re really going to retire it for Ray Burris?
But at least I have the sacred DeRo #7 – maybe I’ll get some weird standing ovations
“The perceived value of Edmonds and how much the Cubs miss him is curious, since the one thing Edmonds did consistently is the one thing Milton Bradley has done consistently for the Cubs.”
Did I really just read that the 08 CF deal was no better than the current arrangement? The argument that Edmonds would suck now is obvious. But I’m pretty sure I read in that diatribe something that justified the crap that is Fuku, and Milton Bradley.
Other than the fact that Edmonds actually hit home runs, drove in runs, still caught everything he could get to and didn’t forget how many outs there were, it’s like they are twins.
It’s know fun defending Gordo and Edmonds. But, Edmonds had a 900+ ops last year and knocked in 49 in 85 games. Bradley has knocked in 26 in the same 85 games. Since the switch is basically Edmonds for Bradley it’s really hard to understand this. In addition to misplaying another ball last night and forgetting how many outs there were (in this case 3 so it didn’t matter), Mbrad’s ops is 775.
Edmonds was a putz, and man friendly. That doesn’t diminish the #’s he put up last year, nor the dropoff in CF this year.
And defending Bradley’s obp is straight out of yellonville. He has the same #’s as fuku b/c he walks but can’t hit. You can live w/ a leadoff man who walks a lot but doesn’t advance any runners. Hard to justify that from a middle of the order guy.
The truth is the majority of the drop off in offense from last year (leave C aside w/ injuries etc) has from CF and 2b. That’s 2 places where the team turned platoon deals into really good #’s. Either Fuku or MB hasn’t filled the void left by non replacement of Edmonds.
IF, if if, Edmonds was capable of putting up the #’s he did last year (he’s not which is why he’s retired), he would be a huge upgrade for the lack of production that is either fuku or bradley. Pick one.
Stop trying to outhink Gordo. It does internal damage.
I’m a big hairy pussy
I’m a ****sucking **** that deserves to get cancer of the ****
Kevin Gregg, your mom has a hairy pussy.
What I wouldn’t do for a closer?
Maybe that’s why they are holding 34?
And why do I always “feel†like Baker has played better than he has? Everytime he gets a hit I think “Hey, he’s been pretty good for the Cubs.†And then I realize his batting average is still under .200, so no, he hasn’t been pretty good for the Cubs.
That’s exactly the wrong attitude. The proper way to respond to a guy who feels like he’s been pretty good is not to double check his stats, but to buy his jersey, loudly announce at every opportunity that he’s the “unsung hero of the team” and start a small cult dedicated to pressuring the club into signing him to a long term deal at any cost. Then, if he leaves the club, wail and gnash your teeth and declare that he’s just tipped the balance of power to whichever team acquires him. No wonder you’re not a highly paid columnist yet, with all this reliance on statistics to measure performance and whatnot.
We comprise the Axis of Evil.
This web site needs some fine tuning…..and so does your mom.