Cubs sign DeRosa for 3 yrs/$13M

[TruffleShuffle]

Wow, you all freak out about the littlest things. We know what Hank brings and its not like he's making starting catcher money. He's our backup, calls a great game, cut down other teams running, and is limited with the bat. I'll take my chances with Hank over Soto at this point. Calm down.

Again, it's a pattern:

$4.15 to Izturis

$4.5 to DeRosa

$3.25 to Rusch

$2.5 to Blanco

 

It's $14.4 million. It's not the "littlest thing"

 

You're assuming that those four positions on the team would be adequately filled by people making $0. You have to assume that the people there are at least making something.

 

4 players at an average of $400,000 each, combines to $1.6m. Make one of those guys a millionaire veteran and the total cost is $2.2 million, leaving $12.2 million on the table for somebody, or somebodies, who can actually help the team get better.

 

So you're going with Cedeno, one of the worst hitters in all of baseball, over Izturis next year. And you're going with Theriot, very possibly a one-year wonder, over DeRosa.

 

yeah, b/c if anybody is not a one year wonder, it's definitely derosa.

 

In two of DeRosa's other five seasons in the majors, he had an OPS+ within 8 points of what he did last year. Meanwhile, Theriot has been a mediocre hitter his entire career in the minors, and all of a sudden has a 134 OPS+ with the Cubs - helped out by a .363 BABIP.

[goonys evil twin]

We did discuss it from a player/money perspective. He told me you can throw out the standard money preconceptions now as baseball is awash with money and this is a weak free agent class. He said anybody that thinks 4 million is outlandish in this environment is ill-informed.

 

This guy wouldn't make a good GM, unless maybe he went to the Yankees. This thinking is how teams like the late 90's Orioles happen.

[USSoccer]

We did discuss it from a player/money perspective. He told me you can throw out the standard money preconceptions now as baseball is awash with money and this is a weak free agent class. He said anybody that thinks 4 million is outlandish in this environment is ill-informed.

 

I guess, but I think that DeRosa is the kind of player you wait on, not rush out and sign right away on the 3rd day of FA.

 

If moves like this are the rule for this offseason, then this is typical stupidity. If we improve and DeRosa is simply just garnish to the side dish of improvement, I won't care nearly as much.

[TruffleShuffle]

We did discuss it from a player/money perspective. He told me you can throw out the standard money preconceptions now as baseball is awash with money and this is a weak free agent class. He said anybody that thinks 4 million is outlandish in this environment is ill-informed.

 

This guy wouldn't make a good GM, unless maybe he went to the Yankees. This thinking is how teams like the late 90's Orioles happen.

 

No, they threw big contracts at marginal players. This is a marginal player who is getting a contract that will prove to be less than average for guys past the point of unrestricted free agency.

[Laura]

FWIW: Murphy had Josh Lewin, 'voice of the Rangers' on the Score, and he said that DeRosa completely changed his approach once he came to Texas. He and Michael Young apparently now look identical batting when viewed on split-screen.

 

He's apparently good defensively wherever he's been put and he can throw the ball (ex-Penn QB).

[Wheelimus]

Thanks Serena, nice to see a little bit of hope. Hopefully the change continues.

[Peoriaman]

thanks Serena.

[imb]

I'm going to go on record as being Down with DeRosa. Blanco? Not so much.

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm going to go on record as being Down with DeRosa. Blanco? Not so much.

 

Agreed. DeRosa I'm all right with, because he brings these positives:

 

-good defense at a bunch of positions

-decent eye (careeer IsoP .058)

-coming off two pretty good years, with suggestions that the Rangers hitting coach helped improve his hitting

-certainly not OLD, and with players playing well into their 30s, he shouldn't decline a whole lot by age 34

-with him, you have a better idea of what you're getting. Cedeno could improve, Theriot could be all right, but at this point I want to know I'll get decent production. It's possible that Theriot could bomb just as badly as Cedeno, and then you're up crap creek without a paddle.

 

Blanco, I just don't get. $2.5M for a guy who really plays one position (yeah, he can play first, but his bat is lousy for a catcher, do you really want his bat at first base?) He also has a career line of 225/290/367, which is a bit short of spectacular, to put it mildly. Soto could reasonably be expected to hit as well as Blanco in the next two years. And he's 34, which is getting old for a catcher.

[YearofDaCubs]

Have you guys seen this?

 

http://www.allcubs.com/2006/11/projecting_mark.html

[Derwood]

We also don't have to worry about the Dusty/Sarge/Clines trifecta messing him up

[daske17]

FWIW: Murphy had Josh Lewin, 'voice of the Rangers' on the Score, and he said that DeRosa completely changed his approach once he came to Texas. He and Michael Young apparently now look identical batting when viewed on split-screen.

 

He's apparently good defensively wherever he's been put and he can throw the ball (ex-Penn QB).

 

I can't remember where I read something along those lines (Sun-Times or Tribune), but DeRosa attributes his changed approach to Rudy Jaramillo.

 

Here's hoping he doesn't fall into bad habits with no one to being him out of it.

[TarzanJoeWallis]

FWIW: Murphy had Josh Lewin, 'voice of the Rangers' on the Score, and he said that DeRosa completely changed his approach once he came to Texas. He and Michael Young apparently now look identical batting when viewed on split-screen.

 

He's apparently good defensively wherever he's been put and he can throw the ball (ex-Penn QB).

 

To piggyback on what Serena said, Lewin also mentioned that DeRosa used to try to be Chipper Jones at the plate. Once he stopped doing that, and started to emulate Young instead, he turned things around.

[David]

Have you guys seen this?

 

http://www.allcubs.com/2006/11/projecting_mark.html

 

Makes me feel a bit better.

 

I like that it appears that his offensive improvement came with a change in approach/hitting style.

 

The fact that we now have a good hitting coach that won't screw with this doesn't hurt, either.

 

I honestly wasn't that disappointed with this move, although it does feel like we overspent on someone with really only one year to go off of (at least it's one good year).

 

Hank White and possibly Gil Meche, however, are another matter.

[WrigleyField 22]

I still don't want to count on him being any more than a number 8 hitter. Its actually a great risk at that spot. With him in the lineup I don't want to be taking any chances on young guys like Theriot or Pie. And I certianly don't want crap like Izturis (not that I ever really did, but I resigned myself to the fact). In fact, if we can dump Izturis without eating much or any salary, we will have basically made an Izturis for DeRosa swap. Only issue then really is that SS might be harder to fill than 2B in this market, but we are showing interest in Lugo anyway.

 

Sign Lugo, sign or trade for a big bat in CF, get a nice 4th OF and our offense would be set

 

Lugo SS

Murton LF

Lee 1B

Ramirez 3B

Andruw Jones? CF

Barrett C

Jaque Jones RF

DeRosa 2B

 

I fear we are going to see something like this though:

Lugo/Roberts CF

DeRosa 2B

Lee 1B

Ramirez 3B

Jaque Jones RF

Barrett C

Murton LF

Izturis SS

 

Really only a difference of one guy, but its a HUGE difference and DeRosa is still a question mark.

[A New Era]

Now if Lou is smart, and I think he is. If Theroit has a decent spring and makes the team as the bench backup. Then he will have Derossa play atleast a good portion of Jones games in RF when facing LHP and Theroit takes 2nd on those days.

 

It could work out very well and get some decent #'s out of those positions if Lou decides to do that. .

[UBlink]

He's apparently good defensively wherever he's been put and he can throw the ball (ex-Penn QB).

 

 

If we wanted to get an Ivy Leaguer, why didn't we get one who actually graduated?

 

http://chrisyounginjapan.mlblogs.com/photos/uncategorized/cyjapan.jpg[/b]

[RichHillIsABeast]

I have high hopes for DeRosa. I was checking him out on mlb.tv archives. He's a lot better offensively than his career line indicates. Last season was no fluke. Nice swing. He's pretty slick at 2B too.

[jjgman21]

judging by the Wes Helms deal, I think it safe to say that the Cubs overspent by about $2M per year for and gave one year more than needed to Mark DeRosa.

[Balsa]

judging by the Wes Helms deal, I think it safe to say that the Cubs overspent by about $2M per year for and gave one year more than needed to Mark DeRosa.

Seems to be a common thread for Hendry. Although reports are today he was facing competition from other teams, he wasn't bidding alone.

[CubColtPacer]

judging by the Wes Helms deal, I think it safe to say that the Cubs overspent by about $2M per year for and gave one year more than needed to Mark DeRosa.

 

Well, on every site I read at, DeRosa was projected to make a little bit more than Helms-so the fact Helms made 2.75 million makes the DeRosa deal look even a little bit better. I do agree on the third year thing though.

[A New Era]

judging by the Wes Helms deal, I think it safe to say that the Cubs overspent by about $2M per year for and gave one year more than needed to Mark DeRosa.

 

Well, on every site I read at, DeRosa was projected to make a little bit more than Helms-so the fact Helms made 2.75 million makes the DeRosa deal look even a little bit better. I do agree on the third year thing though.

 

It's not like he's ancient. Remember we were saying simular things about Jones last year. And look how that panned out. Maybe their scouts saw something about him we do not. Maybe they see, he can put up those #'s again.

[CubColtPacer]

judging by the Wes Helms deal, I think it safe to say that the Cubs overspent by about $2M per year for and gave one year more than needed to Mark DeRosa.

 

Well, on every site I read at, DeRosa was projected to make a little bit more than Helms-so the fact Helms made 2.75 million makes the DeRosa deal look even a little bit better. I do agree on the third year thing though.

 

It's not like he's ancient. Remember we were saying simular things about Jones last year. And look how that panned out. Maybe their scouts saw something about him we do not. Maybe they see, he can put up those #'s again.

 

I'm not too upset about the third year. It makes it more of a risk, but it has more potential reward as well. I'm just saying that it wasn't necessarily needed in order to be able to sign him-it could turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing, and I think it will be somewhere in between. He can drop from last year's numbers and still be performing to his contract level, as then he'll just be like most of the second basemen around the league even if he drops 60 points.

[jjgman21]

judging by the Wes Helms deal, I think it safe to say that the Cubs overspent by about $2M per year for and gave one year more than needed to Mark DeRosa.

 

Well, on every site I read at, DeRosa was projected to make a little bit more than Helms-so the fact Helms made 2.75 million makes the DeRosa deal look even a little bit better. I do agree on the third year thing though.

 

I don't consider 1.5M "a little bit more."

 

which sites are speculating how much various lesser tier FA contracts will be?

[CubColtPacer]

Well, let's see. This site didn't have contract information listed with it, but it has DeRosa as the 17th best free agent, and Helms as the 81st.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-freeagents110906&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

Fox Sports had Derosa going to the Phillies for 2 years and 8 million-Helms is nowhere to be found, and they list several on the other list.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/story/5916868

 

I posted a site several pages back that had DeRosa going to the Padres for 2 years 14 million, but I don't remember what they had Helms at.

 

This site also listed Derosa as going to the Phillies for 2 years and 8 million-Helms is not listed for a contract, just listed under other free agents: (Edit: Looks like it's made by the same people as from above-sorry, I'll list it only because it is a nice overview of free agent contracts)

 

http://fantasybaseball.usatoday.com/content/column.asp?sport=MLB&column=14&articleid=26761

 

 

That's just a quick list. I knew I saw some others yesterday (especially some news articles) that said DeRosa and Helms were being pursued by some teams, but DeRosa would cost more on the market as he was more valuable.