2015: The Back To The Future Season

[Quality Start Machine]

DPD

Know the best bit about this?

OPSes to date:

Bryant 1.194
Castillo .982
Soler .894
Rizzo .870
Castro .856
Coghlan .764
Ross .740 (FYSKO!)
Fowler .728
Montero .711

With the possible exceptions of Bryant and Castillo, nobody there is doing anything that they can't reasonably be expected to maintain, and there might even be room for improvement for a couple of guys.  If Russell can out-hit what Alcantara and Herrera (.303 and .415 respectively) have contributed, so much the better.

In short, there is absolutely no reason for the 2015 Cubs not to keep on keepin' on.  And no reason for my chub ever to diminish.

If David Ross finishes the season with an OPS of .740 or better I will shave Apex's ass and send him running through the park.

I think my point was more that, in his 100 ABs this year, there is a limited amount of damage that Ross can do to the Cubs bandwagon.

And as more guys show up, those OPS numbers will get even gaudier.

.....who are you still expecting, exactly?

Nobody this year, I was thinking more long term, Schwarber for sure next year.

You really expecting Schwarber next season? That seems rushed right? Thought it was 2017 for him as a catcher. It's probably next May or June if we're just talking about his bat.

Pretty sure they're simply not going to be able to justify keeping that bat on the farm a year from now, provided he keeps this up*.

*I have no idea what kind of a start he's off to at AA.

.261/.485/.478/.963   

But he played some pretty poor catcher yesterday.  

Couple of passed balls and 3 stolen bases (if you want to put those on him.)

I think if you think it through logically, there's no need to blah blah blah

I think that's how we've been thinking about it the whole time already.

Logically.

Yeah I certainly don't want them to blah blah blah...

So if one of them does go, I think it's Javy, but that decision can definitely wait till 2016.

The Cubs can afford to slow their roll on Javy now that Russell's up...hell, they might even ask him to find out what the world looks like from center field.

I'd actually like to see this.  

One of these guys needs to start eying CF, since Almora will probably never have the bat and McKinney will probably never have the glove.  

I'd be cool if it was Gleybar, as I've mentioned a couple times, but Baez certainly seems athletic enough.

Though, I have a feeling that the list of prospects who switched positions twice in the minors and went on to major league success is pretty short.  

At 6'0", 190lb, he might be a little too... er... "athletic" for centre field.  Fowler weighs about the same and is five inches taller.

Way too athletic.

[Eli]

There's no way Baez could play center. A corner? Sure. But center field is hard. I can't think of many successful transitions from the infield to center besides guys who had otherwordly speed to compensate for having never played there (guys like Billy Hamilton). Maybe Craig Biggio? But that only lasted a year and he was still below average.

[PenFoe]

There's no way Baez could play center. A corner? Sure. But center field is hard. I can't think of many successful transitions from the infield to center besides guys who had otherwordly speed to compensate for having never played there (guys like Billy Hamilton). Maybe Craig Biggio? But that only lasted a year and he was still below average.

Robin Yount did it.

Hell, Rick Ankiel (whose BMI is even higher than FAT Baez's, Tonk) converted from pitching to CF.

[Bort]

There's no way Baez could play center. A corner? Sure. But center field is hard. I can't think of many successful transitions from the infield to center besides guys who had otherwordly speed to compensate for having never played there (guys like Billy Hamilton). Maybe Craig Biggio? But that only lasted a year and he was still below average.

Even I have to acknowledge that this isn't just Sadsack Eli talking. If Baez actually became even a competent CF, I'd eat my hat. Cut into squares. With catsup.

[Tony]

Though, I have a feeling that the list of prospects who switched positions twice in the minors and went on to major league success is pretty short.

But most position switches are probably to find a place for a good bat to play, not because they're blocked by future HOFers everywhere. And Baez has shown he can handle both positions he's played.

[Quality Start Machine]

There's no way Baez could play center. A corner? Sure. But center field is hard. I can't think of many successful transitions from the infield to center besides guys who had otherwordly speed to compensate for having never played there (guys like Billy Hamilton). Maybe Craig Biggio? But that only lasted a year and he was still below average.

When you play half your games in Wrigley Field, center field can be pretty forgiving.

[Eli]

There's no way Baez could play center. A corner? Sure. But center field is hard. I can't think of many successful transitions from the infield to center besides guys who had otherwordly speed to compensate for having never played there (guys like Billy Hamilton). Maybe Craig Biggio? But that only lasted a year and he was still below average.

When you play half your games in Wrigley Field, center field can be pretty forgiving.

That doesn't mean Baez would be remotely competent there.

[PenFoe]

DPD

Know the best bit about this?

OPSes to date:

Bryant 1.194
Castillo .982
Soler .894
Rizzo .870
Castro .856
Coghlan .764
Ross .740 (FYSKO!)
Fowler .728
Montero .711

With the possible exceptions of Bryant and Castillo, nobody there is doing anything that they can't reasonably be expected to maintain, and there might even be room for improvement for a couple of guys.  If Russell can out-hit what Alcantara and Herrera (.303 and .415 respectively) have contributed, so much the better.

In short, there is absolutely no reason for the 2015 Cubs not to keep on keepin' on.  And no reason for my chub ever to diminish.

If David Ross finishes the season with an OPS of .740 or better I will shave Apex's ass and send him running through the park.

I think my point was more that, in his 100 ABs this year, there is a limited amount of damage that Ross can do to the Cubs bandwagon.

And as more guys show up, those OPS numbers will get even gaudier.

.....who are you still expecting, exactly?

Nobody this year, I was thinking more long term, Schwarber for sure next year.

You really expecting Schwarber next season? That seems rushed right? Thought it was 2017 for him as a catcher. It's probably next May or June if we're just talking about his bat.

Pretty sure they're simply not going to be able to justify keeping that bat on the farm a year from now, provided he keeps this up*.

*I have no idea what kind of a start he's off to at AA.

.261/.485/.478/.963   

But he played some pretty poor catcher yesterday.  

Couple of passed balls and 3 stolen bases (if you want to put those on him.)

I think if you think it through logically, there's no need to blah blah blah

I think that's how we've been thinking about it the whole time already.

Logically.

Yeah I certainly don't want them to blah blah blah...

So if one of them does go, I think it's Javy, but that decision can definitely wait till 2016.

The Cubs can afford to slow their roll on Javy now that Russell's up...hell, they might even ask him to find out what the world looks like from center field.

I'd actually like to see this.  

One of these guys needs to start eying CF, since Almora will probably never have the bat and McKinney will probably never have the glove.  

I'd be cool if it was Gleybar, as I've mentioned a couple times, but Baez certainly seems athletic enough.

Though, I have a feeling that the list of prospects who switched positions twice in the minors and went on to major league success is pretty short.  

At 6'0", 190lb, he might be a little too... er... "athletic" for centre field.  Fowler weighs about the same and is five inches taller.

Way too athletic.

Can Thrill (or Eli, maybe?) run the BMI analysis for us again?

Here's a very cherry-picked list to prove he's, at the very least, not too fat (Tonk) to play CF.

Baez: 25.8
Trout: 30.2
Ankiel: 27.7
Mantle: 27.2
Puckett: 27.1 (this seems VERY generous)
Tris Speaker: 26.9

[SKO]

There's no way Baez could play center. A corner? Sure. But center field is hard. I can't think of many successful transitions from the infield to center besides guys who had otherwordly speed to compensate for having never played there (guys like Billy Hamilton). Maybe Craig Biggio? But that only lasted a year and he was still below average.

When you play half your games in Wrigley Field, center field can be pretty forgiving.

That doesn't mean Baez would be remotely competent there.

Hear me out. We get the machine from The Fly to fuse Baez and Almora into one prospect that plays Gold Glove defense in CF, hits huge dingers, and never ever fucking walks, like ever.

[Bort]

Baez is not going to become a CF. Stop it. It's wishful thinking at a level that borders on magical thinking.

[PenFoe]

Baez is not going to become a CF. Stop it. It's wishful thinking at a level that borders on magical thinking.

Fine, we'll move Castro to CF, Baez to 2B and Russell to SS. 

[InternetApex]

Baez is not going to become a CF. Stop it. It's wishful thinking at a level that borders on magical thinking.

It's NSBB like. I don't really know what they were like because I never went there. But if you guys want to move this discussion over to that messageboard, that'd be great.

[SKO]

Baez is not going to become a CF. Stop it. It's wishful thinking at a level that borders on magical thinking.

It's NSBB like. I don't really know what they were like because I never went there. But if you guys want to move this discussion over to that messageboard, that'd be great.

JAVY BAEZ FOR DUNNA ND AUSTINK EARNS

[Yeti]

Javy isn't going to any field until he learns to deal with death like a man

[Eli]

Comparing Baez's BMI to Mike Trout's BMI in an attempt to prove Baez could handle center field is something I'm going to have to journal about tonight so I can fully process it.