Hendry Not So Perfect Anymore

[CubsWin]

The Mark DeRosa signing seems to have wasted any good will Cubs fans may have had towards Jim Hendry after performing a trio of smartly priced signings. Many are very disappointed by the length and amount of DeRosa's contract and the news that he has been basically handed the starting 2B job.

 

I don't subscribe so absolutely to the theory that a player's past will always accurately predict his future, even at age 31, so I'm in wait-and-see mode on DeRosa, but he is far from a sure thing. However, the following quotes disappointed me more than spending 13 million over 3 years on a guy who may or may not be worth it.

ChicagoSports.com[/url]"]"I love our infield," Hendry said Tuesday night, referring to first baseman Derrek Lee, shortstop Cesar Izturis, Ramirez and DeRosa.

It appears Hendry is done acquiring starters to play the infield. Izturis will be the starting SS and DeRosa will be the starting 2B. Defense up the middle is important and DeRosa is apparently good with the glove at the 2B position, but it is going to take a lot of offensive improvement at the CF position in order to have this offense score enough runs to be legitimate playoff contenders.

 

That means one of two players must be signed to play CF, J.D. Drew or Alphonso Soriano. There was no mention of Drew in Phil Rogers' latest article, but Soriano did get named as a target. But what caught my eye was the pitchers that were listed as targets or, more importantly, the ones that were not listed.

ChicagoSports.com[/url]"]The targets remaining in his sights include outfielder Alfonso Soriano and two starting pitchers from a list that includes left-hander Ted Lilly, right-hander Vicente Padilla, right-hander Miguel Batista and Japanese left-hander Kei Igawa.

No Schmidt? No Zito? No talk of trade to acquire someone like Westbrook or, perhaps, Hudson?

 

Now before anyone starts running with these quotes it is important to note that they really mean very little. Rogers is the author of the second one, not Hendry or anyone in the Cubs front office. And the quote says that Hendry's remaining targets include those listed, but it says nothing about it being limited to only those listed.

 

All the same, I would like to hear Hendry or even some of the beat writers mentioning the level of interest in players like Drew, Schmidt and Zito. Unless, of course, Hendry is trying to fly below the radar or some nonsense like that.

[Larry Horse]

Win, we don't agree on much, but I'm with you here.

[BigbadB]

Don't you dare lose faith in Hendry. Who will I argue with?

[Banedon]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

[Lefty]

Hendry should be fired before he does any more damage.

[CubColtPacer]

I think the infield is done unless a trade just fell into our laps. This offense can still be pretty good though-sign either Drew or Soriano for CF, get a platoon partner for Jacque in right (or sign another second baseman, or use Jacque/Derosa/Theriot in a 3 way platoon at RF/second base). That would make the offense competitive, and then it would just rest on a huge amount of factors to see if the offense was good or not (only some of them need to come true)

1)Can Murton get even better this year?

2)Can Jacque put up close to what he did last year? (I certainly think he'll be better then his years in Minnesota-for the most part, his splits are horrible in the Metrodome.

3)Which Derrek Lee will we see?

4)Was Barrett's approach change to hitting to all fields the reason why his hitting improved that much, or was it simply a career year that will not be repeated?

5)Same question for Soriano as Barrett, or if Drew, does he get hurt during the year?

6)What does the middle infield put up? (probably at least the same as last year-Izturis will be at least a little better than either Neifi or Cedeno's numbers last year, probably at least a 30 point jump in OBP over either of those two. A reasonable projection for Derosa probably would be about Walker's numbers last year, with a slight dip in OBP from Walker and a slight uptick in SLG-that's a compromise from Derosa's numbers before and his numbers this year)

 

The only one that we really know for sure how much they'll produce is Ramirez, but the Cubs should have an average offense at least if they make those free agent signings and even 1-2 of those 6 questions goes their way next year.

[Backtobanks]

"Unless, of course, Hendry is trying to fly below the radar"

 

Personally, I think that is what Hendry is trying to do. As for Zito and Schmidt, I would be very interested until the bids get into the 5-6 year or $100 million range.

[BigbadB]

Getting excited about a middle infield of Izturis and DeRosa defies logic, unless Hendry truly is attempting to get the attention of other GMs in the league or tempering the contract demands of other 2b FA's. But, I don't understand what talking these guys up really accomplishes. Unless it's in hopes that media can portray these as good signings.

 

Izturis has played very little the last 2 years. The time off will likely drop his offensive production to something lower than his career average. Unfortunately, his career average was nothing to write home about.

 

DeRosa has never held down a major league position in his life. Even last year, he was a super utility player that managed to get significant playing time due to his success in that role.

 

DeRosa is valuable as a super utility player, IMO. But, more than likely a liability if he's counted on to play 2b all year.

[goonys evil twin]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

 

It's the "guys who can catch the ball" of 2007.

 

Imagine for a second that the 2007 infielders all produce at their career averages in 2007, unlikely, but not absurd.

 

Lee - 155 games, 123 OPS+

DeRosa - 100 games, 90 OPS+

Izturis - 100 games, 68 OPS+

Ramirez - 140 games, 109 OPS+

 

Throw in a bad-nutted Michael Barrett - 130 games 91 OPS+, backed up by Blanco - 50 games, 66 OPS+

 

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.

[CubColtPacer]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

 

It's the "guys who can catch the ball" of 2007.

 

Imagine for a second that the 2007 infielders all produce at their career averages in 2007, unlikely, but not absurd.

 

Lee - 155 games, 123 OPS+

DeRosa - 100 games, 90 OPS+

Izturis - 100 games, 68 OPS+

Ramirez - 140 games, 109 OPS+

 

Throw in a bad-nutted Michael Barrett - 130 games 91 OPS+, backed up by Blanco - 50 games, 66 OPS+

 

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.

 

I think that's incredibly unlikely. Ramirez has been well over that figure for the last 3 years, and so has Barrett. The others have a chance of hitting their career numbers, but that is the low end projection for most of them. While I agree that the pitching needs to be good this year, it won't have to be as good as the numbers above would seem to indicate.

[soapy]

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.

 

Gil Meche to the rescue!!!! Based on the off-season so far, I'd say a 5 year $70 million offer is in order.

[FergieJ31]

I loved our 2005 opening day infield: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B04040ARI2005.htm ... and even that wasn't enough for a .500 record ( although it would have been with Walker / Nomar out there everyday )

 

The Cubs have a long history of signing the Mark Derosas of baseball and passing on the Carlos Beltrans of baseball.

[badger1679666666]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

 

It's the "guys who can catch the ball" of 2007.

 

Imagine for a second that the 2007 infielders all produce at their career averages in 2007, unlikely, but not absurd.

 

Lee - 155 games, 123 OPS+

DeRosa - 100 games, 90 OPS+

Izturis - 100 games, 68 OPS+

Ramirez - 140 games, 109 OPS+

 

Throw in a bad-nutted Michael Barrett - 130 games 91 OPS+, backed up by Blanco - 50 games, 66 OPS+

 

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.

 

Lee, Ramirez, and Barrett will all be at above their "career averages"

[goonys evil twin]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

 

It's the "guys who can catch the ball" of 2007.

 

Imagine for a second that the 2007 infielders all produce at their career averages in 2007' date=' unlikely, but not absurd.

 

Lee - 155 games, 123 OPS+

DeRosa - 100 games, 90 OPS+

Izturis - 100 games, 68 OPS+

Ramirez - 140 games, 109 OPS+

 

Throw in a bad-nutted Michael Barrett - 130 games 91 OPS+, backed up by Blanco - 50 games, 66 OPS+

 

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.[/quote']

 

Lee, Ramirez, and Barrett will all be at above their "career averages"

 

DeRosa, Izturis, Blanco and Jones could easily be below theirs.

 

 

I realize it's not likely that the players would hit their averages (as I noted above), but generally it's not an absurd to look at those for each player. I'd like it if they had some players who were a little more likely to perform than the players they currently have.

[USSoccer]

What's bothersome is we could have bumped the Blanco thread from 2004 and the Neifi thread from 2004 and just changed his name to DeRosa, and no one would have noticed.

 

It's the same. mistakes. over. and. over. Wasting money on marginal talent will result in a marginally okay team. Maybe.

[Peoriaman]

FWIW, I spoke today to a MLB scouting director who said he thought the DeRosa signing was a very good one. He said the guy has really developed into a good hitter and is very versatile. Unfortunately, though, with this free agent group and the excalating salaries of baseball, you can't get the perfect player at each position----you have to take some gambles.

[imb]

FWIW, I spoke today to a MLB scouting director who said he thought the DeRosa signing was a very good one. He said the guy has really developed into a good hitter and is very versatile. Unfortunately, though, with this free agent group and the excalating salaries of baseball, you can't get the perfect player at each position----you have to take some gambles.

 

If it's true that Jaramillo really did "fix" DeRosa, it might turn out to be a very good signing.

[Peoriaman]

He came up as a scrawny shortstop and has really transformed his body. He is not a SS anymore due to his body type, but he has made himself into what a lot of baseball people think is a pretty good hitter.

[TruffleShuffle]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

 

It's the "guys who can catch the ball" of 2007.

 

Imagine for a second that the 2007 infielders all produce at their career averages in 2007, unlikely, but not absurd.

 

Lee - 155 games, 123 OPS+

DeRosa - 100 games, 90 OPS+

Izturis - 100 games, 68 OPS+

Ramirez - 140 games, 109 OPS+

 

Throw in a bad-nutted Michael Barrett - 130 games 91 OPS+, backed up by Blanco - 50 games, 66 OPS+

 

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.

 

Hey, while we're doing that, can we also assume that Mark Prior and Kerry Wood will pitch to their career averages? The pitching is looking pretty darn good once we do that.

[treebird]

The "I love our infield" comment is discouraging.

 

It's the "guys who can catch the ball" of 2007.

 

Imagine for a second that the 2007 infielders all produce at their career averages in 2007, unlikely, but not absurd.

 

Lee - 155 games, 123 OPS+

DeRosa - 100 games, 90 OPS+

Izturis - 100 games, 68 OPS+

Ramirez - 140 games, 109 OPS+

 

Throw in a bad-nutted Michael Barrett - 130 games 91 OPS+, backed up by Blanco - 50 games, 66 OPS+

 

Man, the pitching better be really really good this year.

 

Hey, while we're doing that, can we also assume that Mark Prior and Kerry Wood will pitch to their career averages? The pitching is looking pretty darn good once we do that.

 

im pretty sure that doesn't make any sense, unless you really meant to imply that prior was going to make 22 starts

[CubinNY]

Like everyone else, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the rest of the offseason. Yet, I believe it is appropriate to comment on every personnel decison Hendry makes. Right now, the big picture does not look too promissing.

 

So far Hendry has done nothing to improve the team, although he has maintained the status quoe

 

DeRosa = Walker

Blanco = Blanco

Aramis = Aramis

 

Maybe with a healthy Lee all year a better outcome will result.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Like everyone else, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the rest of the offseason. Yet, I believe it is appropriate to comment on every personnel decison Hendry makes. Right now, the big picture does not look too promissing.

 

So far Hendry has done nothing to improve the team, although he has maintained the status quoe

 

DeRosa = Walker

Blanco = Blanco

Aramis = Aramis

 

Maybe with a healthy Lee all year a better outcome will result.

 

DeRosa < Walker

[A New Era]

Like everyone else, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the rest of the offseason. Yet, I believe it is appropriate to comment on every personnel decison Hendry makes. Right now, the big picture does not look too promissing.

 

So far Hendry has done nothing to improve the team, although he has maintained the status quoe

 

DeRosa = Walker

Blanco = Blanco

Aramis = Aramis

 

Maybe with a healthy Lee all year a better outcome will result.

 

DeRosa < Walker

 

Walker < DeRosa.

[SouthSideRyan]

Like everyone else, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the rest of the offseason. Yet, I believe it is appropriate to comment on every personnel decison Hendry makes. Right now, the big picture does not look too promissing.

 

So far Hendry has done nothing to improve the team, although he has maintained the status quoe

 

DeRosa = Walker

Blanco = Blanco

Aramis = Aramis

 

Maybe with a healthy Lee all year a better outcome will result.

 

DeRosa < Walker

 

Walker < DeRosa.

 

Walker ^ DeRosa

[A New Era]

Like everyone else, I'm going to wait and see what happens with the rest of the offseason. Yet, I believe it is appropriate to comment on every personnel decison Hendry makes. Right now, the big picture does not look too promissing.

 

So far Hendry has done nothing to improve the team, although he has maintained the status quoe

 

DeRosa = Walker

Blanco = Blanco

Aramis = Aramis

 

Maybe with a healthy Lee all year a better outcome will result.

 

DeRosa < Walker

 

Walker < DeRosa.

 

Walker ^ DeRosa

 

Walker - DeRosa = Neifi.