Maddux and $$$ to the Dodgers for Cesar Izturis

[sethuel1]

Woohoo, defense up the middle, Let's resign Pierre, trade Barrett, and make Henry Blanco our everyday catcher. World Series, here we come.

 

Pierre's defense is fine, he doesnt' have the best arm but what you want from CF is range. Barrett's defense is another story though.

 

I agree. Let's just ignore for a second that Pierre actually isn't above average defensively because his range isn't all that good because he gets terrible jumps and say he's good, and instead concentrate on the best hitting catcher in the National League, who certainly can't make up for his defensive shortcomings, which aren't all that bad to begin with, by hitting the living crap out of the ball.

 

Oh. Wait. I don't agree.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Silver lining part deux: 2004 was the year he actually had a BABIP in line with his LD%, he should've repeated his '04 numbers in '05 with the batted balls he had.

 

Now for the bad news. His LD% is way down this year, so much that his production is in line with his BABIP. Plus he's had 2500 Major League PA's, so it's probable that he's a guy who will consistently be below his expected BABIP despite having the tools not to do so. You know, like Neifi.

[NewUserName]

I just got home from work and all I have to say is AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH. Somehow doing nothing seems like a big improvement over what Hendry did today. What a poopin waste. When I heard about this move and Walkers I about drove off the road. The Cubs had an opportunity to unload waste. They Kept most of it and have added more. Hendry now officially replaces Dusty in my public enemy #1. What a complete baffoon. Sadly look at what the Dodgers have done with their middle infield by giving up very little. I HATE THE CUBS

[Hacking Out Machine]

You gave up the best mentor a young staff could ever hope for in exchange for a guy who you should have picked up off the scrap heap for a mid-level prospect, with the Dodgers eating a bunch of cash. Totally pathetic.

 

 

This is a great point. With Lugo coming aboard, if not for his contract, Izturis would likely have been DFA'd or at best a late inning replacement when Kent comes back from the DL. Now they are rid of Izruris and his contract.

[Wheelimus]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

Edited August 1, 2006 by Wheelimus

[Hacking Out Machine]

Woohoo, defense up the middle, Let's resign Pierre, trade Barrett, and make Henry Blanco our everyday catcher. World Series, here we come.

 

Pierre's defense is fine, he doesnt' have the best arm but what you want from CF is range. Barrett's defense is another story though.

 

I agree. Let's just ignore for a second that Pierre actually isn't above average defensively because his range isn't all that good because he gets terrible jumps and say he's good, and instead concentrate on the best hitting catcher in the National League, who certainly can't make up for his defensive shortcomings, which aren't all that bad to begin with, by hitting the living crap out of the ball.

 

Oh. Wait. I don't agree.

 

 

I agree with you, but that is one looooooong sentence.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

hendry turned down "high-level prospects" (that's plural) for a crummier, more expensive version of neifi. he's the laughing stock of baseball right now.

 

OH. EM. GEE. ](*,)

[RonnieWooWooSanto]

hendry turned down "high-level prospects" (that's plural) for a crummier, more expensive version of neifi. he's the laughing stock of baseball right now.

 

OH. EM. GEE. ](*,)

 

That seems to have some Dusty influence. The idea of not being able to win with young players and believing you need guys who have been around the league.

[Jon]

hendry turned down "high-level prospects" (that's plural) for a crummier, more expensive version of neifi. he's the laughing stock of baseball right now.

 

OH. EM. GEE. ](*,)

Psht, Izturis has already graduated. Prospects are just guys who haven't graduated.

 

It's a shame that Maddux will never be the beneficiary of Izturis' fantastic defense...

[wade]

Woohoo, defense up the middle, Let's resign Pierre, trade Barrett, and make Henry Blanco our everyday catcher. World Series, here we come.

 

I now absolutely believe Barrett will be traded in the off-season. He's no great shakes defensively and the direction the Cubs are moving does not seem likely to deviate.

 

I absolutely beleive you don't absolutely beleive that. With a MI of cedeno/izturis players like Barret, Lee, and Ramirez will be sorely needed. I now beleive JH will go after Carlos Lee and a SP in the offseason. .

 

But I do believe it! Have we not read numerous rumblings about Barrett's defensive woes?

 

I used to think the Cubs didn't have much of a plan at all, but I now firmly believe (I may be wrong, but I believe this) that the plan is to get guys that play good defense and don't strike out.

 

Just think of all the slap hitting defensive-wiz fast guys you could get for Michael Barrett.

[Jon]

Hahaha. Hendry cracks me up. The move was a "head start on what we're planning on doing next year so this doesn't happen again."

[cheapseats]

Hendry with Len and Bob just said he could have had two "really good prospects" from the Dodgers for Maddux, but when he found out Izturis was available, he had to make the deal. :x

[Jon]

At least Jim has learned that they need to "catch the ball better."

[hawkeyecub]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

 

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

 

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up.

 

I call shenanigans.

[cheapseats]

The thing is, we're already #5 in the league in defensive efficiency. We've been slightly better than the White Sox this year, for example. Our defense is very good.

 

And we're still hovering around last place. Defense isn't the problem.

[soccer10k]

Hendry with Len and Bob just said he could have had two "really good prospects" from the Dodgers for Maddux, but when he found out Izturis was available, he had to make the deal. :x

 

This is absolutely depressing. Why not take the prospects? UGH.

[Illini Iceman]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

 

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up.

 

The Dodgers never would have DFA'd him.

 

I will miss Maddux. It was an honor to watch him pitch. I would rather that he stayed but realistically he was gone in the offseason anyway so I hope he can have some good luck in cavernous Dodger stadium.

 

Izturis doesn't thrill me, but his cost next year should not keep the Cubs from making any other moves they might want to make. The option buy out for '08 is so low that basically he is on a one year contract. I think this is a bit of a vote of no confidence in Cedeno. Hendry did not want to risk going to 2006 with him as the only option at SS again.

 

It seems very unlikely that the "really good" prospects that Hendry referred to were any of the ones that the people here are looking for.

[Guest]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

 

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up.

 

The Dodgers never would have DFA'd him.

 

I will miss Maddux. It was an honor to watch him pitch. I would rather that he stayed but realistically he was gone in the offseason anyway so I hope he can have some good luck in cavernous Dodger stadium.

 

Izturis doesn't thrill me, but his cost next year should not keep the Cubs from making any other moves they might want to make. The option buy out for '08 is so low that basically he is on a one year contract. I think this is a bit of a vote of no confidence in Cedeno. Hendry did not want to risk going to 2006 with him as the only option at SS again.

 

It seems very unlikely that the "really good" prospects that Hendry referred to were any of the ones that the people here are looking for.

Neifi backing up Cedeno is basically the same thing as Izturis at half the cost. Well, 1/3 the cost with both of them on the roster.

[cheapseats]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

 

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up.

 

The Dodgers never would have DFA'd him.

 

I will miss Maddux. It was an honor to watch him pitch. I would rather that he stayed but realistically he was gone in the offseason anyway so I hope he can have some good luck in cavernous Dodger stadium.

 

Izturis doesn't thrill me, but his cost next year should not keep the Cubs from making any other moves they might want to make. The option buy out for '08 is so low that basically he is on a one year contract. I think this is a bit of a vote of no confidence in Cedeno. Hendry did not want to risk going to 2006 with him as the only option at SS again.

 

It seems very unlikely that the "really good" prospects that Hendry referred to were any of the ones that the people here are looking for.

 

This morning Will Carroll stated they were probably talking about Kemp or Guzman.

 

As for Izturis, his projected WARP next year is almost identical to Cedeno. They're basically the same player. But Izturis makes $4 million more. That SHOULDN'T keep the Cubs from making other moves they might want to make, but the Tribune Company is well known for having a very inflexible salary ceiling. Stupid decisions like this one add up.

[Illini Iceman]

Really, the question is.

 

If Cesar was DFA'd, would any team in baseball other than the Cubs have picked him up his contract as is?

 

If the answer is no, then we just PAID for a privilage no other team in baseball would have wanted.

 

Brilliant...

 

The answer is yes. Major League teams value 26 year old shortstops who have won 2 gold gloves, had 193 hits in a season and an All-Star appearance. At $4.5M there are multiple teams who would have picked him up.

 

The Dodgers never would have DFA'd him.

 

I will miss Maddux. It was an honor to watch him pitch. I would rather that he stayed but realistically he was gone in the offseason anyway so I hope he can have some good luck in cavernous Dodger stadium.

 

Izturis doesn't thrill me, but his cost next year should not keep the Cubs from making any other moves they might want to make. The option buy out for '08 is so low that basically he is on a one year contract. I think this is a bit of a vote of no confidence in Cedeno. Hendry did not want to risk going to 2006 with him as the only option at SS again.

 

It seems very unlikely that the "really good" prospects that Hendry referred to were any of the ones that the people here are looking for.

Neifi backing up Cedeno is basically the same thing as Izturis at half the cost. Well, 1/3 the cost with both of them on the roster.

 

Worst case that is probably true. However, IMO I don't think Cedeno has an upside as high as Izturis's best year and Cedeno's downside is .240 with no OBP and no power.

[Jon]

No OBP and no power sounds a lot like Izturis.

[CubColtPacer]

No OBP and no power sounds a lot like Izturis.

 

Yes, but at least Izturis is 25-30 points better OBP, more if he can come back to the form he was in before the injury.

[Jon]

No OBP and no power sounds a lot like Izturis.

 

Yes, but at least Izturis is 25-30 points better OBP, more if he can come back to the form he was in before the injury.

He was still quite bad in his career year. If Hendry is thinking of keeping Izturis, Cedeno, and Neifi around for the middle infield next year, it might be one of the worst middle infields in club history.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

No OBP and no power sounds a lot like Izturis.

 

Yes, but at least Izturis is 25-30 points better OBP, more if he can come back to the form he was in before the injury.

He was still quite bad in his career year. If Hendry is thinking of keeping Izturis, Cedeno, and Neifi around for the middle infield next year, it might be one of the worst middle infields in club history.

 

I doubt there is any might to it.