Spring Has Sprung 2010

[D. Doluntap]

What the fuck, Lou?

Third baseman Chad Tracy contributed a three-run double in the Cubs' 12-1 victory over Texas on Wednesday in his bid to make the roster.

But from the sound of manager Lou Piniella, Tracy is still behind Kevin Millar in the battle for the last infield spot.

"We've got (Jeff) Baker that can play some third," Piniella said before the game. "That's about it. Tracy gives us a left-handed bat replacement for (Aramis) Ramirez. You know, he really hasn't hit that well this spring. ... I'd like to see him smack it around a little bit here the last week or so."

I guess we just have to hope Sullivan is wrong again.

Cowboy up.

[MAD]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

[Yeti]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

[MAD]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Seriously, are you a plant from ACB?

[Slaky]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Seriously, are you a plant from ACB?

It's like he's reading from a script. No one talks like that here.

[Yeti]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Seriously, are you a plant from ACB?

I'm just saying that if Baker's decent at 3rd, then he would be a better offensive option than Tracy at 3rd if Aramis goes down. If he has that versatility then the Cubs aren't "handcuffed" to keeping a guy just because of the position he plays. Not to sound like a Kaplan, but I'm not too worried about the 25th man. Not because he's the "insignificant" 25th man, because that position is significant, but no matter who they keep, they'll suck.

[Powdered Toast Man]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Seriously, are you a plant from ACB?

I'm just saying that if Baker's decent at 3rd, then he would be a better offensive option than Tracy at 3rd if Aramis goes down. If he has that versatility then the Cubs aren't "handcuffed" to keeping a guy just because of the position he plays. Not to sound like a Kaplan, but I'm not too worried about the 25th man. Not because he's the "insignificant" 25th man, because that position is significant, but no matter who they keep, they'll suck.

The important question here is how the fuck does Kevin Millar play third when Aramis goes on the DL?  Moreover, how the fuck does Kevin Millar make any sense on this roster?  Fuck.  This.  Shit.

[CT III]

I have a headache *this* big, and it's got KEVIN MILLAR written all over it.

Holy crap.  Wouldn't the fact that Ramirez gave us another reminder this Spring that he's ding-prone make Tracy more valuable?  Not that Tracy can play third anymore--he can't,  he does suck, but for 2 months we could live with it--but Millar can't play anywhere.  Goddamit.  I blame Sullivan and Kaplan.  Sullivan for befriending us dopes while underhandedly delivering his cynical Sox fan's heart's desires--making Cub fans all look like dumbass fucks who would actually want CURSE BUSTER Kevin Millar...like Dave Kaplan, who's convinced himself that it's gotta hai!

"It's just the 25th man, man.  I WANNA LAFF"

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Seriously, are you a plant from ACB?

I'm just saying that if Baker's decent at 3rd, then he would be a better offensive option than Tracy at 3rd if Aramis goes down. If he has that versatility then the Cubs aren't "handcuffed" to keeping a guy just because of the position he plays. Not to sound like a Kaplan, but I'm not too worried about the 25th man. Not because he's the "insignificant" 25th man, because that position is significant, but no matter who they keep, they'll suck.

The important question here is how the fuck does Kevin Millar play third when Aramis goes on the DL?  Moreover, how the fuck does Kevin Millar make any sense on this roster?  Fuck.  This.  Shit.

Because we need a full time backup to a guy who plays 150 games a year.

[Pre]

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Do you ever actually watch or follow the actual Chicago Cubs baseball team?

Is this a fake Muskbag question?

I mean, if you watched or followed the Cubs you'd remember that Baker played third a
decent amount last season and has been playing there some in spring training and in
general is considered a reasonable backup able to handle the position.  Hell, if you just
managed to pull up baseball-reference you would see he's played a decent amount of
third over his career and is at least decent at it.

[Slaky]

This has been a loooooooooooooong offseason.

[Yeti]

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Do you ever actually watch or follow the actual Chicago Cubs baseball team?

Is this a fake Muskbag question?

I mean, if you watched or followed the Cubs you'd remember that Baker played third a
decent amount last season and has been playing there some in spring training and in
general is considered a reasonable backup able to handle the position.  Hell, if you just
managed to pull up baseball-reference you would see he's played a decent amount of
third over his career and is at least decent at it.

I didn't look it up, nor do I get to watch too many games, since they play a lot of them during the day. He played 17 games at 3rd last year and 10 of them were in August/September, when I moved to apathetic mode. So, no, I don't really recall how he fared. Out of those 10, I assume I watched maybe 2 of them.

Looking at his Faggraphs UZR, it looks like he's just below average in 41 games.

[Saul Goodman]

Not that I want Millar but have the Cubs tried out Baker at 3rd? I ask because I heard that he was supposed to be 2010's DeRosa and if so, any indications on if he's any good?

Do you ever actually watch or follow the actual Chicago Cubs baseball team?

Is this a fake Muskbag question?

I mean, if you watched or followed the Cubs you'd remember that Baker played third a
decent amount last season and has been playing there some in spring training and in
general is considered a reasonable backup able to handle the position.  Hell, if you just
managed to pull up baseball-reference you would see he's played a decent amount of
third over his career and is at least decent at it.

I didn't look it up, nor do I get to watch too many games, since they play a lot of them during the day. He played 17 games at 3rd last year and 10 of them were in August/September, when I moved to apathetic mode. So, no, I don't really recall how he fared. Out of those 10, I assume I watched maybe 2 of them.

Looking at his Faggraphs UZR, it looks like he's just below average in 41 games.

Faggraphs thinks Theriot is awesome, therefore Jeff Baker is somewhere between Scott Rolen and Cal Ripken.

[Slaky]

An interesting analysis on Derrek Lee's 2010 season projections.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Does-Derrek-Lee-have-another-great-season-in-his?urn=mlb,230212

DOOMEDIT: Your good friend Paul has tweeted that Derrek Lee is getting treatment for a bad back injured in, what else, a chair collapsing accident. Yep.

He should be fine by tomorrow.

[Pre]

Looking at his Faggraphs UZR, it looks like he's just below average in 41 games.

UZR is generally considered somewhere around 3 times as noisy as most hitting stats.
You really want at least 3 year averages of UZR before you start to make evaluations
of it, which is one of it's main criticisms.  Someone's UZR for 40 partial games is like
looking at their hitting over 20-40 ABs, it just doesn't mean much.

[Eli]

UZR is generally considered somewhere around 3 times as noisy as most hitting stats.

And it's even more noisy for positions like corner infielders.