Will missed ABs in ST hurt Lee and Barrett?

[CubinNY]

Three year splits for Lee
PRASB  272/366/536
POASB  314/399/578

Last year

PRASB  378/452/733
POASB  287/380/581

Three year splits for Barrett

PRASB  284/347/458
POASB  255/316/446

Last year

PRASB  264/323/448
POASB  292/373/519

 

Lee is a notoriously slow starter while Barrett usually has a better first half than a second. The conditions were reversed last year though.

 

My question: Will the missed ABs hurt Lee more than Barrett?

 

The hypothosis is this:

 

Lee appears to need the extra spring training swings to gear up for the season while Barrett seems to wear down as the season goes along.

 

This could mean that Barrett will have better season than last year and Lee regresses to career norms or worse.

 

or

 

It could mean nothing!

 

I am just putting this out there to get some discussion going. The last week of ST is dreadfully boring.

[katway]

Not at all conerned. They were able to train and play against good players through their WBC experience. In addition, Lee has a shoulder that needs a little time to get healthy, so I'd rather see him take a little time off at this point.

[Vinestal]

I dont think the WBC hurt Lee as much as the shoulder problem and the family problems that caused him to miss games. Lee got as many or more at bats during the WBC than he would have gotten during spring training games. Barrett however there may be cause for concern there, the US team should never have taken 3 catchers and barely used Barrett at all through the WBC, I think his lack of at bats could hurt him.

[rawaction]

I'm actually worried about Derrek starting off slow because of this. I'd like to see him get a few full games in before the season starts.

[goonys evil twin]

I'm very concerned about the lack of ABs for Lee. The injury just makes things worse. Of course he has to make sure he's 100%, and the rest helps that. But when they said all the extra work in spring training helped him last year, they left open the idea that the lack of work will hurt him this year. It remains to be seen of course. But coming off a career year, starting the year with an injury, and having very little work are three things that have to cause concern.

 

With Barrett I'm not so sure it matters. He's a catcher. He's used to somewhat irregular work patterns. He's used to playing banged up. He's probably going to be very similar to how he was last year.

[rawaction]

I'm very concerned about the lack of ABs for Lee. The injury just makes things worse. Of course he has to make sure he's 100%, and the rest helps that. But when they said all the extra work in spring training helped him last year, they left open the idea that the lack of work will hurt him this year. It remains to be seen of course. But coming off a career year, starting the year with an injury, and having very little work are three things that have to cause concern.

 

With Barrett I'm not so sure it matters. He's a catcher. He's used to somewhat irregular work patterns. He's used to playing banged up. He's probably going to be very similar to how he was last year.

 

That's exactly how I feel, just better articulated.

[brinoch]

Why not play Lee in minor league games and have him lead off every inning? This will get him a number of AB's very quickly and hopefully get his stroke ready for the season. The Cardinals were doing this with Junior Spivey the other day.

[Burtonbell]

brinoch wrote:

Why not play Lee in minor league games and have him lead off every inning? This will get him a number of AB's very quickly and hopefully get his stroke ready for the season. The Cardinals were doing this with Junior Spivey the other day.

 

 

I overheard Len and Bob during the game yesterday saying that very same thing. They say its a definite possiblity considering Lee's injury. We will just have to wait and see what the Cubs brass plans on doing.

[frostwyrm]

Probably no Prior and Wood for April, so if Lee starts slow things could get ugly real fast.

[Jon]

brinoch wrote:

Why not play Lee in minor league games and have him lead off every inning? This will get him a number of AB's very quickly and hopefully get his stroke ready for the season. The Cardinals were doing this with Junior Spivey the other day.

 

 

I overheard Len and Bob during the game yesterday saying that very same thing. They say its a definite possiblity considering Lee's injury. We will just have to wait and see what the Cubs brass plans on doing.

Dusty said that could happen, but he also wants to make sure he gets enough time at first with the big league club.