Middle Infield = Womack & Neifi

[frostwyrm]

I don't think Womack is an improvement over Neifi in any way. I'd rather see Neifi keep playing and maybe get a Neifurious hot streak going so he can be traded. Benching him for trash like Tony Womack only ruins whatever trade value he has or might have and it really doesn't help the team win in the short term either. Womack just flat out sucks, worse even than Neifi.

 

Career OPS+

 

Womack - 73

Neifi - 65

 

They both suck, but Womack sucks a little bit less. How lucky are we to have them both?

For predictive purposes I don't pay attention to career numbers of a player as old and broken down as Womack. 29 MLB teams think he's finished and see no reason to disagree.

 

I think the same can be said about Neifi.

Neifi stinks but unfortunately his contract can't be undone. There's no upside to benching him for garbage like Tony Womack and the downside is that it kills any chance for him to regain some market value.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Neifi stinks but unfortunately his contract can't be undone. There's no upside to benching him for garbage like Tony Womack and the downside is that it kills any chance for him to regain some market value.

 

I think it's funny that we're trying to decide who's better out of the 2. :lol:

[Caryatid]

I could live with playing a Womack IF it was simply to help the team get some level of respectability before July so they could blow it up and start from scratch with a new philosophy. However, as we've all seen with crappy veteran after crappy veteran, all that's needed to get the reputation of "saving the season" is a few good games here or there, and old, bad players will be signed to long-term high dollar deals. And if anyone thinks the likelihood of seeing an infield next year devoid of Todd Walker and featuring Tony Womack is anything less than 60-40, you're deluding yourself.

 

 

And that's why seeing Womack here is a bad thing.

[YearofDaCubs]

Truth be told, I hate the fact that Womack and Perez are on this team. I would rather have Womack start over Neifi though. I find it pathetic that both are on this team but what do you expect from a GM like ours.

[JakeSlater]

I think there's a little too much Womack bashing on here personally. He's played two games for the cubs and done well. When he was with the cubs, he played hurt. He certainly is more patient than Neifi, and has better speed. So let's give the guy a shot, he's no worse than what we have. Neifi, like all the other players, is being asked by Dusty to do things he is not capable of. Neifi is a defensive replacement who handles a bat well (doesn't strike out, can bunt if you need him to...etc). Stop all the Womack bashing, and let's see how it plays out. They nearly won on sunday except for Aramis, and they won yesterday. Rome wasn't built in a day

 

Hendry and Co. aren't being asked to build a world-wide empire.

 

Neifi handles the bat well? He sucks with the bat and his defense is overrated. He brings nothing to the team. Womack is 36 and has sucked the vast majority of his career. Just because he is no worse than what we have doesn't mean he's any good, or that fans should except him with open arms. That's similar to all the people who say fans who are pissed at the record under Hendry/Baker should be happy it's not as bad as other Cubs teams (although the current record is certainly making that ridiculous argument even more pointless). He's a crappy baseball player on a crappy baseball team put together by crappy management. He's as eligible for bashing as anybody else.

 

Brings nothing to the table?

 

How about the fact that he has gotten a few big basehits over the past year and a half.........clutch ones in fact........and he's not even the greatest hitter.

 

How about the fact that he can play 3 positions solidly in the infield, and back us up as a catcher if need be, even if he's only done it once.?

 

He shouldn't be our starter by ANY stretch, and he shouldn't play a bunch, but to say he brings nothing to the table is a very shallow thing to say.

[cheapseats]

From Jim Baker's article in today's Baseball Prospectus:

 

The Cubs have done it! They have managed to bring together two of the biggest sabermetrician's whipping posts of recent history not only on the same roster but in the same keystone combo! The much-maligned Tony Womack has joined the consistently-criticized Neifi Perez to form the gilded keystone atop the Cubs offensive arch. They have only played one game together in this capacity so far but it resulted in one of those outcomes that makes this game so damned fascinating. Together they combined for six hits in 12 at bats and drove in five runs, leading the Cubs to 12 tallies against the Braves on Sunday. (That Chicago still lost is besides the point.) When things return to normal, though, a lineup with Womack, Perez, Juan Pierre and a pitcher is a fairly scary proposition.

[frostwyrm]

From Jim Baker's article in today's Baseball Prospectus:

 

The Cubs have done it! They have managed to bring together two of the biggest sabermetrician's whipping posts of recent history not only on the same roster but in the same keystone combo! The much-maligned Tony Womack has joined the consistently-criticized Neifi Perez to form the gilded keystone atop the Cubs offensive arch. They have only played one game together in this capacity so far but it resulted in one of those outcomes that makes this game so damned fascinating. Together they combined for six hits in 12 at bats and drove in five runs, leading the Cubs to 12 tallies against the Braves on Sunday. (That Chicago still lost is besides the point.) When things return to normal, though, a lineup with Womack, Perez, Juan Pierre and a pitcher is a fairly scary proposition.

And Henry Blanco for 10 games.

[Outshined_One]

From Jim Baker's article in today's Baseball Prospectus:

 

The Cubs have done it! They have managed to bring together two of the biggest sabermetrician's whipping posts of recent history not only on the same roster but in the same keystone combo! The much-maligned Tony Womack has joined the consistently-criticized Neifi Perez to form the gilded keystone atop the Cubs offensive arch. They have only played one game together in this capacity so far but it resulted in one of those outcomes that makes this game so damned fascinating. Together they combined for six hits in 12 at bats and drove in five runs, leading the Cubs to 12 tallies against the Braves on Sunday. (That Chicago still lost is besides the point.) When things return to normal, though, a lineup with Womack, Perez, Juan Pierre and a pitcher is a fairly scary proposition.

And Henry Blanco for 10 games.

 

There is no God.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

From Jim Baker's article in today's Baseball Prospectus:

 

The Cubs have done it! They have managed to bring together two of the biggest sabermetrician's whipping posts of recent history not only on the same roster but in the same keystone combo! The much-maligned Tony Womack has joined the consistently-criticized Neifi Perez to form the gilded keystone atop the Cubs offensive arch. They have only played one game together in this capacity so far but it resulted in one of those outcomes that makes this game so damned fascinating. Together they combined for six hits in 12 at bats and drove in five runs, leading the Cubs to 12 tallies against the Braves on Sunday. (That Chicago still lost is besides the point.) When things return to normal, though, a lineup with Womack, Perez, Juan Pierre and a pitcher is a fairly scary proposition.

And Henry Blanco for 10 games.

 

I just threw up a little bit.

[Sammy Sofa]

Let's so you have terrible, awful, HORRIBLE diarrhea for days on end. Then, finally, when no relief was in sight, you have a solid bowel movement. Yes, TECHNICALLY, it's better than what you were getting before...but at the end of the day, you're still just taking a crap.

[JakeSlater]

From Jim Baker's article in today's Baseball Prospectus:

 

The Cubs have done it! They have managed to bring together two of the biggest sabermetrician's whipping posts of recent history not only on the same roster but in the same keystone combo! The much-maligned Tony Womack has joined the consistently-criticized Neifi Perez to form the gilded keystone atop the Cubs offensive arch. They have only played one game together in this capacity so far but it resulted in one of those outcomes that makes this game so damned fascinating. Together they combined for six hits in 12 at bats and drove in five runs, leading the Cubs to 12 tallies against the Braves on Sunday. (That Chicago still lost is besides the point.) When things return to normal, though, a lineup with Womack, Perez, Juan Pierre and a pitcher is a fairly scary proposition.

And Henry Blanco for 10 games.

 

I just threw up a little bit.

 

One good thing about Blanco is that we'll probably have an infinite amount more pick offs and throwing people out at second. That will help.

 

Still stinks that he can't hit at all though.

 

And I'm not listening to sabermatricians, Dayn Perry's, and garbage like that. Only stat I care about is W's at this point, and we need them.

[TB_11]

From Jim Baker's article in today's Baseball Prospectus:

 

The Cubs have done it! They have managed to bring together two of the biggest sabermetrician's whipping posts of recent history not only on the same roster but in the same keystone combo! The much-maligned Tony Womack has joined the consistently-criticized Neifi Perez to form the gilded keystone atop the Cubs offensive arch. They have only played one game together in this capacity so far but it resulted in one of those outcomes that makes this game so damned fascinating. Together they combined for six hits in 12 at bats and drove in five runs, leading the Cubs to 12 tallies against the Braves on Sunday. (That Chicago still lost is besides the point.) When things return to normal, though, a lineup with Womack, Perez, Juan Pierre and a pitcher is a fairly scary proposition.

And Henry Blanco for 10 games.

 

And Dusty will still give innings to Bynum.

[Caryatid]

 

And I'm not listening to sabermatricians, Dayn Perry's, and garbage like that. Only stat I care about is W's at this point, and we need them.

 

Well, with those two in the lineup, you can absolutely count on a whole lot less of those "W"s.

[JakeSlater]

Well, only time will tell. I won't just up and say that like a psychic.

 

It's up to what we have to get us out of this funk. Another win would be nice tonight.

[cheapseats]

JakeSlater

It's up to what we have to get us out of this funk.

 

This isn't a team in a funk. This is a team that sucks and was built to suck.

[Caryatid]

Well, only time will tell. I won't just up and say that like a psychic.

 

It's up to what we have to get us out of this funk. Another win would be nice tonight.

 

Time has already told-this is a bad team with bad players, a bad manager, and a bad GM. If they go 71-41 over the next couple months, I'll be proven wrong. More likely, though, they'll go .500 over the next couple months, Baker will be credited with "keeping the guys afloat," and he'll get an extension that dooms this team for at least 3 more years.

[JakeSlater]

Whatever dude, whatever.

 

Team's playing awful right now, but they aren't an awful team. They can play better than this, and the last two games have shown that.

[CubinNY]

Whatever dude, whatever.

 

Team's playing awful right now, but they aren't an awful team. They can play better than this, and the last two games have shown that.

 

Two games?

[JakeSlater]

Whatever dude, whatever.

 

Team's playing awful right now, but they aren't an awful team. They can play better than this, and the last two games have shown that.

 

Two games?

 

They've won two in a row, haven't they?

 

They can play better than that month of May showed. They just have to, period.

[Caryatid]

Whatever dude, whatever.

 

Team's playing awful right now, but they aren't an awful team. They can play better than this, and the last two games have shown that.

 

Two games?

 

They've won two in a row, haven't they?

 

They can play better than that month of May showed. They just have to, period.

 

They are in the bottom five of all of baseball in record, and last in virtually every offensive category. They're awful. End of story. If they play better than they are right now, they will be a mediocre team. Whoppee.

 

The only thing that will get them to the point of being a true contendor is a complete overhaul.

[JakeSlater]

Easy to say that when the team's 20-31 with the star first baseman out, the two main pitchers out, the 40 year old being the #2 pitcher, a long suspension coming up, and other sordid things.

 

This isn't a full blast 20-31 team, you seem to forget that. If it was, I'd have put Dusty's head on the block personally.....and I have twice anyway this year, not personally of course.

 

I'm not saying we'll win. We might go 63-99 for all I know. I'm just not going to go 51 games into the year saying it's over, it's over. I don't take the easy way out, and I never have.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Easy to say that when the team's 20-31 with the star first baseman out, the two main pitchers out, the 40 year old being the #2 pitcher, a long suspension coming up, and other sordid things.

 

This isn't a full blast 20-31 team, you seem to forget that. If it was, I'd have put Dusty's head on the block personally.....and I have twice anyway this year, not personally of course.

 

I'm not saying we'll win. We might go 63-99 for all I know. I'm just not going to go 51 games into the year saying it's over, it's over. I don't take the easy way out, and I never have.

 

The pitching will likely improve if Prior and Wood can get back to 100%, and anything Miller provides will be an added bonus. However, adding Lee back to this lineup will not suddenly catapult them over bunches of other teams to put us in a position to be significantly better than we currently are. We had a weak lineup with Lee in it, and we have painfully seen how putrid it is without him. The optimism is admirable, but reality is saying the season is over. This isn't a lineup that will put together a 35-10 stretch.

[goonys evil twin]

Easy to say that when the team's 20-31 with the star first baseman out, the two main pitchers out, the 40 year old being the #2 pitcher, a long suspension coming up, and other sordid things.

 

This isn't a full blast 20-31 team, you seem to forget that. If it was, I'd have put Dusty's head on the block personally.....and I have twice anyway this year, not personally of course.

 

I'm not saying we'll win. We might go 63-99 for all I know. I'm just not going to go 51 games into the year saying it's over, it's over. I don't take the easy way out, and I never have.

 

This shouldn't be a 20-31 team, but it is, and bums like Hendry and Dusty should take the fall for that.

[Wild_Cubs04]

Easy to say that when the team's 20-31 with the star first baseman out, the two main pitchers out, the 40 year old being the #2 pitcher, a long suspension coming up, and other sordid things.

 

This isn't a full blast 20-31 team, you seem to forget that. If it was, I'd have put Dusty's head on the block personally.....and I have twice anyway this year, not personally of course.

 

I'm not saying we'll win. We might go 63-99 for all I know. I'm just not going to go 51 games into the year saying it's over, it's over. I don't take the easy way out, and I never have.

 

The pitching will likely improve if Prior and Wood can get back to 100%, and anything Miller provides will be an added bonus. However, adding Lee back to this lineup will not suddenly catapult them over bunches of other teams to put us in a position to be significantly better than we currently are. We had a weak lineup with Lee in it, and we have painfully seen how putrid it is without him. The optimism is admirable, but reality is saying the season is over. This isn't a lineup that will put together a 35-10 stretch.

 

Alot of people seem to think that Lee being out of the lineup is the reason the offense sucks. No one person makes or breaks an offense.

[frostwyrm]

Neifi stinks but unfortunately his contract can't be undone. There's no upside to benching him for garbage like Tony Womack and the downside is that it kills any chance for him to regain some market value.

 

I think it's funny that we're trying to decide who's better out of the 2. :lol:

Yah, I never thought I would write the words "I advocate sticking with Neifi Perez", but that was before Neifi was benched for Tony Womack. As bad as he's been Hairston would be preferrable to either, but I think he's blown any chance to gain Dusty's favor and I don't expect him to stay past the break.