Hairston a Sleeper?

[Knyption]

Granted, he was not THAT good in 2005 but heck, reading the cubs.com article about battling injuries and etc. (i know i know normal cubby smokescreen). I believe he is a sleeper for a nice 2 hole hitter.

 

If you look at his 2004 stats pre-injury

 

he hit .303 with a .378 opb.

 

He must have taken a ton of pitches which is what we need. His K/BB ratio has never been bad, and before his injury he was on pace for 25-30 SB's in '04. Not many DP's with Pierre on before him and hit / run DP's would be low regardless, they are both above avg speed. Not bad Defense, better than Walker worse than perez.

 

If walker is traded, I prey Hairston is the Starter over Neifi.

 

If he was to put up .285 avg .360 obp batting 2nd, there would be many more RBI chances for the middle.

[Omar]

If Walker is traded, we might get a 2B back in return... but yeah, I dont mind Hairston starting.

[goonys evil twin]

He could be a sleeper for decent play this season. But he'll turn 30 early in 2006, and his 2005 season closely mirrors his career numbers. The only times he's been better have been sub 300 AB seasons. If the Cubs could get 500 AB with somewhere between his 2003 (.271 .353 .372) and 2004 (.303 .378 .397) seasons, I'd be ecstatic, but I don't see it happening. The best we can hope for from 2B is that the Cubs make an about face on the Walker thing and let him be the starter this year, in which case you'd have a pretty good chance to see .290 .348 .441 (TW's career) from 2B this year.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Unusual. Hairston seems to have a consistently lower BABIP than you'd expect from someone with his style of play. Looking at first glance, I would've guessed his .300 AVG in '04 was BABIP inflated. While it was easily his career high, it wasn't astronomical(.332). That said, after 2000+ MLB PA's, it may be something of a trend. Hairston may bounce back this year, but you'll probably see something closer to his '03 line(.271/.353/372/.725) than his '04 marks(.303/.378/.397/.775). There's also the matter of him never putting up an OPS above .705 with over 300 PA's in a season.

[Yeti]

i have nothing to back this up and theres a high likelyhood that im wrong, but my gut tells me that Dusty views Jerry as nothing more than a back up for the outfield

[baseball7897]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

[goonys evil twin]

i have nothing to back this up and theres a high likelyhood that im wrong, but my gut tells me that Dusty views Jerry as nothing more than a back up for the outfield

 

I think you have something to back that up, that's how Dusty used him. There's been rumors that he is now out of the doghouse, but Dusty didn't like him before, and included him in the few guys who got called out in public.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

 

Hairston had a bad year stealing bases last year, but he hasn't been terrible in the past. That said, his base stealing ability, his bunting ability, and his non-sign missing ability aren't very high on the list of things I find important in a player.

[treebird]

wow, hairston's going to be 30 this season? i was thinking 27. my opinion of him just dropped a pretty decent amount.

[cheapseats]

 

Hairston had a bad year stealing bases last year, but he hasn't been terrible in the past. That said, his base stealing ability, his bunting ability, and his non-sign missing ability aren't very high on the list of things I find important in a player.

 

I'd have to go through my scorecards (yes, I'm so nerdy that I fill out scorecards for every game I go to), but I could have sworn that Dusty had Neifi lay down a sac bunt in the first inning of a game last season.

 

I don't want my #2 hitter sacrificing in the first inning of a game, so I don't care if JH can do that well or not.

[Magnetic Curses]

 

Hairston had a bad year stealing bases last year, but he hasn't been terrible in the past. That said, his base stealing ability, his bunting ability, and his non-sign missing ability aren't very high on the list of things I find important in a player.

 

I'd have to go through my scorecards (yes, I'm so nerdy that I fill out scorecards for every game I go to), but I could have sworn that Dusty had Neifi lay down a sac bunt in the first inning of a game last season.

 

I don't want my #2 hitter sacrificing in the first inning of a game, so I don't care if JH can do that well or not.

 

you see, i like when neifi bunts for some reason.

[Knyption]

I dunno, I think Jerry is the kinda obp SparkPlug we need behind Pierre.

 

I concur Walker is better all around, but waaay better than Neifi

 

IF walk is here I prey he starts and 2 hole.

 

Hendry messed up when he resigned Neifi, he was playing to Dustys weakness in making bad personell decisions.

 

anyways, to say Hairston is terrible is out of hand and to imply that he wont get on base is obsurd.

[abuck1220]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

 

how many signs did he miss last year? i can't find that stat (SM...MS?) on espn's stat page. also, how were is SM numbers compared to walker's?

[goonys evil twin]

anyways, to say Hairston is terrible is out of hand and to imply that he wont get on base is obsurd.

 

Did somebody do that?

[Knyption]

anyways, to say Hairston is terrible is out of hand and to imply that he wont get on base is obsurd.

 

Did somebody do that?

 

Well, there have been posts here and there by non-regulars that well do.

 

Anyways, I would like to give the guy a fair shot.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

 

how many signs did he miss last year? i can't find that stat (SM...MS?) on espn's stat page. also, how were is SM numbers compared to walker's?

 

I wouldn't bust anyone's balls for that one. The whole damn team missed signs like crazy last year. It was sickening, and it got worse as the season went along. I wish they would keep stats for that, it would have further highlighted how pathetic last year's team was at times.

[Knyption]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

 

how many signs did he miss last year? i can't find that stat (SM...MS?) on espn's stat page. also, how were is SM numbers compared to walker's?

 

I wouldn't bust anyone's balls for that one. The whole damn team missed signs like crazy last year. It was sickening, and it got worse as the season went along. I wish they would keep stats for that, that would have further highlighted how pathetic last year's team was at times.

 

If so many players missed signs, its either

 

A> they are all dimwits

 

or

 

B> The coaching staff sucks ass and cant remember the signs they have to give.

[goonys evil twin]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

 

how many signs did he miss last year? i can't find that stat (SM...MS?) on espn's stat page. also, how were is SM numbers compared to walker's?

 

I wouldn't bust anyone's balls for that one. The whole damn team missed signs like crazy last year. It was sickening, and it got worse as the season went along. I wish they would keep stats for that, it would have further highlighted how pathetic last year's team was at times.

 

Given the apparant quality of coaching in other areas, and the number of players who reportedly did miss signs, I'm not sure this whole thing isn't a start at the top problem instead of just a few slacker players.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Given the apparant quality of coaching in other areas, and the number of players who reportedly did miss signs, I'm not sure this whole thing isn't a start at the top problem instead of just a few slacker players.

 

I think it was a lot of both -- players getting lazy and coaches being close to incompetent at times.

[abuck1220]

The only problem I have with Hairtson is, he misses way to many signs, he is not a good base stealer, and he is not a good bunter.

 

how many signs did he miss last year? i can't find that stat (SM...MS?) on espn's stat page. also, how were is SM numbers compared to walker's?

 

I wouldn't bust anyone's balls for that one. The whole damn team missed signs like crazy last year. It was sickening, and it got worse as the season went along. I wish they would keep stats for that, it would have further highlighted how pathetic last year's team was at times.

 

yeah, but he's basing his statements solely on a couple quotes in the media. he has no idea how many signs he missed and how many everyone else missed. it's also pretty obvious that dusty finds ways to keep guys he doesn't like on the bench, and i'm not so sure this wasn't the case with hairston and the missed signs.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

yeah, but he's basing his statements solely on a couple quotes in the media. he has no idea how many signs he missed and how many everyone else missed. it's also pretty obvious that dusty finds ways to keep guys he doesn't like on the bench, and i'm not so sure this wasn't the case with hairston and the missed signs.

 

I agree, but I also think that statement has much more merit than a lot of the other arguments you'll see. The team was absolutely horrible with their fundamentals last year, and picking up signs was near the top of that list.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

 

Hairston had a bad year stealing bases last year, but he hasn't been terrible in the past. That said, his base stealing ability, his bunting ability, and his non-sign missing ability aren't very high on the list of things I find important in a player.

 

I'd have to go through my scorecards (yes, I'm so nerdy that I fill out scorecards for every game I go to), but I could have sworn that Dusty had Neifi lay down a sac bunt in the first inning of a game last season.

 

I don't want my #2 hitter sacrificing in the first inning of a game, so I don't care if JH can do that well or not.

 

you see, i like when neifi bunts for some reason.

 

Me too, but that comes from the realization that Neifi is so likely to make an out, at least when he sac bunts it's a productive out.

[CuseCubFan69]

Hairston reminds me of Ramon Martinez. He's a good player that always seems to be injured.

[cheapseats]

 

Hairston had a bad year stealing bases last year, but he hasn't been terrible in the past. That said, his base stealing ability, his bunting ability, and his non-sign missing ability aren't very high on the list of things I find important in a player.

 

I'd have to go through my scorecards (yes, I'm so nerdy that I fill out scorecards for every game I go to), but I could have sworn that Dusty had Neifi lay down a sac bunt in the first inning of a game last season.

 

I don't want my #2 hitter sacrificing in the first inning of a game, so I don't care if JH can do that well or not.

 

you see, i like when neifi bunts for some reason.

 

Me too, but that comes from the realization that Neifi is so likely to make an out, at least when he sac bunts it's a productive out.

 

I didn't say I don't like it when Neifi bunts; I said I don't want a #2 hitter sacrificing in the first inning. Neifi shouldn't be a number two hitter. Ever.

 

But at least when Neifi bunts, he'll probably only cost us one out; when Dusty lets him swing, he's a double play waiting to happen. Proof: in 97 opportunities last year, he hit into 22 double plays. That's a 22.7% double play percentage, worst among Cubs position players. Next, at 22.6%: Jose Macias. :(

[anemic offense]

Granted, he was not THAT good in 2005 but heck, reading the cubs.com article about battling injuries and etc. (i know i know normal cubby smokescreen). I believe he is a sleeper for a nice 2 hole hitter.

 

If you look at his 2004 stats pre-injury

 

he hit .303 with a .378 opb.

 

He must have taken a ton of pitches which is what we need. His K/BB ratio has never been bad, and before his injury he was on pace for 25-30 SB's in '04. Not many DP's with Pierre on before him and hit / run DP's would be low regardless, they are both above avg speed. Not bad Defense, better than Walker worse than perez.

 

If walker is traded, I prey Hairston is the Starter over Neifi.

 

If he was to put up .285 avg .360 obp batting 2nd, there would be many more RBI chances for the middle.

 

He's got to get playing time first. And we all know he's not one of Dusty's "boys".