The Internet long ago identified me as the biggest Luis Valbuena jock sniffer on the planet, and to that, I can only say, “So?”
Long, long ago, I founded the Hank White Fan Club and we, to this day, share glorious tales of Henry Blanco’s long (16 YEARS and counting), illustrious (he hit .266 in 2006!) career.
When Hank came to the Cubs he had the lowest career batting average (.201) of all-time for anyone with as much service time as he had. Â After he was swaddled in the love of the Hank White Fan Club though, he posted his best seasons of his career. Â Coincidence? Â Hah!
I’m not sure why I took to Luis, granted, it could have been his number.
Twenty-four’s a solid number in Cubs history, and many of my all-time favorites have worn the immortal two-four.
Longtime readers here know that as a kid, my favorite player was Shawon Dunston (honestly, I think it still is), but I also had a fondness for Brian Dayett. Â I honestly thought Dayett was going to be a star, and to this day I’m pissed at Gene Michael for not playing him more. Â Dayett was a guy with power (had had back to back 30 homer seasons as he was coming up through the Yankees minor league system first at double-A, then at triple-A). Â He had good plate discipline, too. Â Anyway, Dayett was the first 24 I really liked. Â Then, he was followed by a who’s who of semi-useful bums:
- Gary Varsho
- Cleotha “Chico” Walker
- Steve Buchele
- Manny Alexander (OK, they weren’t all useful, but Manny’s the dumbest Cub ever and that is really saying something.)
- Matt Stairs
- Michael Tucker
- One year of Roosevelt Brown’s illustrious career
- Dave Kelton
- Tom Goodwin
- Henry Blanco (He switched from 9 to get out from under the Todd Hundley curse and it worked.)
- Bobby Scales!
- Marlon Byrd broke his face in that number.
The other thing is that I actually thought Valbuena could be a useful player. Â He was a pretty highly thought of prospect coming up through the Mariners’ system. Â In 2008 he was flashing a little power (11 homers), some speed (18 stolen bases) and an on-base average of better than .380 as he advanced from AA to AAA during the year. Â Then he got traded to Cleveland as part of a 10 player, three team trade. Â Such luminaries as Mike Carp, Joe Smith and Endy Chavez were in the deal. Â The best players were Franklin Gutierrez, Aaron Heilman (blecch) and JJ Putz.
The Indians hoped to pair Luis in the middle infield, at second with Jhonny Peralta at short, and did for 77 games in 2009. Â Luis even played 28 games at short that year. Â He only hit .250, he didn’t get on base (.298) and he struck out too much. Â He was 23, surrounded by hot Cleveland babes and not ready.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT:Â Luis is the one who suggested Jhonny move the h up in his first name because it looked cool. Â
By 2010, Peralta was moved to third, Asdrubal Cabrera was at short and Luis was hitting only .193 at second. Â He spent most of 2011 in AAA Columbus where he was very good .302/.372/.476 with 17 homers and 72 RBI. Â But the Indians dropped him from the 40 man roster and the Blue Jays (because they claim everybody on waivers) claimed him. Â They cut him loose in spring training last year and the Cubs grabbed him, and sent him to Iowa where everybody hits. Â Luis came up on June 14 when Ian Stewart’s wrist fell off and the rest was history.
Well, pretty bad history. Â Luis took over at third and basically started there the rest of the year. Â He didn’t really hit (he only spent day at .250 or higher) and hit only .219. Â He played a good third, but good teams don’t play slap hitting lefty middle infielders at third unless they have no other choice.
Cue the 2013 Cubs, who have no other choice.
But guess what? Â Luis’ hitting like a real big leaguer. Â At this writing he’s still nursing a jammed pinky finger, but he’s hitting .271/.381/.479 and his .860 OPS translates to a robust 133 OPS plus. Â He leads the team in walks and OPS, he’s tied for second in homers (5) and he’s outslugging all of the regulars except Anthony Rizzo, Nate Schierholtz and David DeJesus.
DeJesus?
Whatever. Â Luis is only 27, 22 days younger than Darwin Barney, and while there’s no way he’s a long term answer at third, he might be at second.
If you don’t think he can handle second, just watch this:
LITTLER KNOWN FACT:Â In my winter job as the Spanish language voice of the Cardenales de Lera (translates roughly to Cardinals Who Drive Drunk and Die and are Immortalized With Shoulder Patches) I got to call plays like that all the time.
Regardless, he should have a nice, long career as an extra infielder on good teams.
He has a huge fan in Cubs manager Dale Sveum. Â During the spring Dale dismissed Valbuena’s .219 average in 2012 saying he “got a lot of big hits.” Â How many big hits does a 60 win team really have?
This year, he has claimed Luis is on a “30-something homer pace.” Â Dale’s right, if the Cubs play 200 games this year.
What he really likes is that Luis takes walks, plays good defense (he was fourth in range factor at third last year) (granted, he’s tied for third in errors at third base this year). Â He’s mostly hit Luis near the bottom of the order (his best spot is 7th where he’s hit most of the time and has a .293 average and .930 OPS), but he’s been in the starting lineup in the two hole (second) and three hole (twice).
Granted, Dale also said that Travis Wood is one of the best pitchers in the league. Â In Dale’s defense, when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Here’s an interview I did this winter with Luis. Â I asked him about what he thought about playing for the Cubs and I don’t have to tell you what he said:
For those of you who aren’t fluent in Spanish, basically what Luis did say was that he loves playing for the Cubs and feels like he could win the triple crown this year and the Gold Glove, and then we got interrupted for a while by Rubby Perez signing on the public address system.
Luis also talked a lot about what a great site Desipio is, how he never misses the podcast and was really excited that we were going to a video format, and he put down a lot of money to buy advance copies of my first novel, “Used To Be Famous” which will be on sale at semi-reputable online book sellers this fall. Â That Luis, what a guy!
Luis went on to talk about how great it is to play with great teammates like he has in Chicago, especially his best friend Steve Clevenger. Â He and Clevenger are inseperable. Â They go to movies on roadtrips, they love to binge watch Parenthood together and as you all know this past offseason they toured central and South America with “El Condor Pasa” their Simon and Garfunkel tribute band.
On the field, and off, Luis is proving to be indispensable.
And remember gang, you can’t spell Most Valuable without most of the letters in Valbuena.
