Cubs sign Cliff Floyd?

[frostwyrm]

Most likely scenario I see is Murton gets only about 50 ABs vs. RHP and we go into 2008 still not knowing if he's the LF of the future because we still won't know if he's capable of being effective vs. RHP over the course of a whole season.

[goonys evil twin]

I'm confused and I haven't been able to find anything through this thread to quell it. Has there been any indication that the Cubs are looking to platoon Murton with anyone, let alone Floyd or Warde? Or is this just speculation?

 

In the press release announcing Warde, Hendry explicitly said that he sees him as the first pinch-hitter off the bench. And on top of that, he's had man-love for Murton since he first traded for him. It was more Dusty that reduced his role than anything.

 

If I'm off-base and have missed some reports I'd like to know. But if this is just speculation, then speculate away. . .

 

Hendry has said he wants a short-term CF, and that he wants a LH OF help. He's said this even after acquiring Ward. And it's been rumored by everybody that Floyd would come here, eventually.

 

It's been assumed that Soriano is the RF, and it's safe to assume he'll play everyday, or very close. Ward is basically a LF or 1B option. You can rest assured he will get starts this year, and unless Lee misses 50 games, some of those starts will come in LF. If Floyd is here, he will get spots in LF.

 

 

As far as I know, the Cubs haven't come out and said Murton will platoon with somebody in LF. But every action and every word they have spoken has indicated that Murton will share time out there. Whether it's a strict platoon, where he's get maybe 30% of the time, a 50/50 platoon where he faces some RH, or a situation where he still gets 75% of the PA, is unclear. But if Floyd is signed, you can pretty much guarantee Murton will not play LF everyday.

[daske17]

I'm confused and I haven't been able to find anything through this thread to quell it. Has there been any indication that the Cubs are looking to platoon Murton with anyone, let alone Floyd or Warde? Or is this just speculation?

 

In the press release announcing Warde, Hendry explicitly said that he sees him as the first pinch-hitter off the bench. And on top of that, he's had man-love for Murton since he first traded for him. It was more Dusty that reduced his role than anything.

 

If I'm off-base and have missed some reports I'd like to know. But if this is just speculation, then speculate away. . .

 

Hendry has said he wants a short-term CF, and that he wants a LH OF help. He's said this even after acquiring Ward. And it's been rumored by everybody that Floyd would come here, eventually.

 

It's been assumed that Soriano is the RF, and it's safe to assume he'll play everyday, or very close. Ward is basically a LF or 1B option. You can rest assured he will get starts this year, and unless Lee misses 50 games, some of those starts will come in LF. If Floyd is here, he will get spots in LF.

 

 

As far as I know, the Cubs haven't come out and said Murton will platoon with somebody in LF. But every action and every word they have spoken has indicated that Murton will share time out there. Whether it's a strict platoon, where he's get maybe 30% of the time, a 50/50 platoon where he faces some RH, or a situation where he still gets 75% of the PA, is unclear. But if Floyd is signed, you can pretty much guarantee Murton will not play LF everyday.

 

That's the clarification I was looking for! Thanks!

[craig]

...Ward is basically a LF or 1B option. You can rest assured he will get starts this year, and unless Lee misses 50 games, some of those starts will come in LF.....

 

Last year, Ward got 130 AB in 98 games. I assume he had a few 2-AB games following double switch type deal. I don't know where to get the pinch-hitting stats. But basically, that looks to me like he was basically a straight pinch hitter. If he started 8 games and got 35 AB in those 8, that would leave 95 AB for the remaining 90 games. So, pinch hit about 90 games, a couple of times stay in on a double-switch and get a second AB.

 

Either way, it looks like he started less than ten games.

 

I don't think Ward is going to provide any threat to Murton's playing time. Unless murton is really dying versus RHP.

 

Floyd or Jones, different story.

[goonys evil twin]

...Ward is basically a LF or 1B option. You can rest assured he will get starts this year, and unless Lee misses 50 games, some of those starts will come in LF.....

 

Last year, Ward got 130 AB in 98 games. I assume he had a few 2-AB games following double switch type deal. I don't know where to get the pinch-hitting stats. But basically, that looks to me like he was basically a straight pinch hitter. If he started 8 games and got 35 AB in those 8, that would leave 95 AB for the remaining 90 games. So, pinch hit about 90 games, a couple of times stay in on a double-switch and get a second AB.

 

Either way, it looks like he started less than ten games.

 

I don't think Ward is going to provide any threat to Murton's playing time. Unless murton is really dying versus RHP.

 

Floyd or Jones, different story.

 

He had 62 AB as a pinch hitter.

[frostwyrm]

...Ward is basically a LF or 1B option. You can rest assured he will get starts this year, and unless Lee misses 50 games, some of those starts will come in LF.....

 

Last year, Ward got 130 AB in 98 games. I assume he had a few 2-AB games following double switch type deal. I don't know where to get the pinch-hitting stats. But basically, that looks to me like he was basically a straight pinch hitter. If he started 8 games and got 35 AB in those 8, that would leave 95 AB for the remaining 90 games. So, pinch hit about 90 games, a couple of times stay in on a double-switch and get a second AB.

 

Either way, it looks like he started less than ten games.

 

I don't think Ward is going to provide any threat to Murton's playing time. Unless murton is really dying versus RHP.

 

Floyd or Jones, different story.

 

Ward started 6 games at 1B, 2 in LF, 9 in RF. 17 starts total.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=3841&context=fielding

[craig]

Thanks guys. So, I was wrong. 17 starts, 62 pinch hitting appearances. More starts than I figured.

 

We'll see. I guess I still see Ward as primarily a pinch hitter, with an occassional situational spot start or injury-based need starts. If Murton is hitting .720-OPS vs RHP, I'd guess Ward could get some starts. If Murton has a bad ankle, or jams his thumb or whatever, Ward could get some starts.

 

But I don't really get the sense that if Murton is healthy and producing vs RHP, that Ward is likely to take many if any starts from him.

 

Jones or Floyd, different story. But I don't think Murton needs to worry much about Daryle Ward.

[goonys evil twin]

Thanks guys. So, I was wrong. 17 starts, 62 pinch hitting appearances. More starts than I figured.

 

We'll see. I guess I still see Ward as primarily a pinch hitter, with an occassional situational spot start or injury-based need starts. If Murton is hitting .720-OPS vs RHP, I'd guess Ward could get some starts. If Murton has a bad ankle, or jams his thumb or whatever, Ward could get some starts.

 

But I don't really get the sense that if Murton is healthy and producing vs RHP, that Ward is likely to take many if any starts from him.

 

Jones or Floyd, different story. But I don't think Murton needs to worry much about Daryle Ward.

 

There's no need to worry about him individually. The point is though, that if Murton also platoons with Floyd, he's going to lose a significant portion of PA to him, and then another handful from Ward. It's going to be a small part of the total, but Ward will get some of that time.

[BigbadB]

Thanks guys. So, I was wrong. 17 starts, 62 pinch hitting appearances. More starts than I figured.

 

We'll see. I guess I still see Ward as primarily a pinch hitter, with an occassional situational spot start or injury-based need starts. If Murton is hitting .720-OPS vs RHP, I'd guess Ward could get some starts. If Murton has a bad ankle, or jams his thumb or whatever, Ward could get some starts.

 

But I don't really get the sense that if Murton is healthy and producing vs RHP, that Ward is likely to take many if any starts from him.

 

Jones or Floyd, different story. But I don't think Murton needs to worry much about Daryle Ward.

 

There's no need to worry about him individually. The point is though, that if Murton also platoons with Floyd, he's going to lose a significant portion of PA to him, and then another handful from Ward. It's going to be a small part of the total, but Ward will get some of that time.

 

Agreed. Basically, you have a glut of corner outfielders, not so much in CF. I used to be on the bandwagon for RH and LH balance throughout the line up, not so much anymore if the RH hitters in the line up can hit RH pitching well enough. However, I think Piniella will see Jones and Izturis as the only two lefty bats and look for ways to get Floyd and/or Ward lots of at bats against RH pitching.

 

If Jones doesn't get traded, it will take even more at bats away from Murton if it's determined Jones can't play CF well, and Pie gets called up. Actually, it would probably be tough to call up Pie if one of the current outfielders (assuming Floyd does get signed and Jones isn't traded) isn't traded or cut.

 

To me, the Cubs got their platoon/part time LF guy when they signed Ward. Knowing Pie is waiting in the wings and Jones could play some LF, Floyd doesn't make any sense. Go after a CFer and call it a day.

[TheDude]

Most likely scenario I see is Murton gets only about 50 ABs vs. RHP and we go into 2008 still not knowing if he's the LF of the future because we still won't know if he's capable of being effective vs. RHP over the course of a whole season.

 

There is nothing likely at all about that scenario. That's a pretty ridiculous outlook, IMO. 50 ABs? He had 319 vs. RH last year in 144 games, out of 455 ABs.

 

If he gets plattooned, he likely gets about 400 ABs, of which 300 come against RH pitching.

[abuck1220]

did the idea that hendry has "man love" for murton come from the same source that said hendry has "a thing" for hill? because i don't think either is true.

[goonys evil twin]

Most likely scenario I see is Murton gets only about 50 ABs vs. RHP and we go into 2008 still not knowing if he's the LF of the future because we still won't know if he's capable of being effective vs. RHP over the course of a whole season.

 

There is nothing likely at all about that scenario. That's a pretty ridiculous outlook, IMO. 50 ABs? He had 319 vs. RH last year in 144 games, out of 455 ABs.

 

If he gets plattooned, he likely gets about 400 ABs, of which 300 come against RH pitching.

 

I don't see 50 AB vs RHP as most likely either.

 

However, if Floyd plays well at all, I think it would be closer to the midpoint of 300 and 50.

 

Last year 28.9% of Cubs PA came against LHP. Assume the Cubs get 695 PA out of LF next year (10 more PA than they got from the 5 spot last year). 28.9% of 695 is 201. Floyd would get some of those, but Murton will get most, let's say 90%. That's 191. Now you got 494 PA against RHP remaining. If Murton were to get 300 PA against those guys, that would leave 204 TPA for Floyd. There's no way that he'd play that little if he was healthy and mildly productive. More likely than not, Floyd would be getting 300-350 TPA. And it's not beyond reason to expect him to get more than 50%, based on the dominant presence of RHP. Then, with Ward getting a handful of starts out there, and quite likely the occasional late game pinch hitting opportunity for Murton if a tough RH in on the mound, that's at least 10-15 PA for Ward.

 

Comparisons to last year are pointless, since there was no Cliff Floyd in the situation. Pagan and Bynum weren't a real threat to his playing time.

 

So, even if Murton manages 60% of TPA, odds are, he won't have more than 225 or so PA against RHP. If Floyd plays like he has over the past 5 years total, then Murton will be lucky to get 100.

[frostwyrm]

Most likely scenario I see is Murton gets only about 50 ABs vs. RHP and we go into 2008 still not knowing if he's the LF of the future because we still won't know if he's capable of being effective vs. RHP over the course of a whole season.

 

There is nothing likely at all about that scenario. That's a pretty ridiculous outlook, IMO. 50 ABs? He had 319 vs. RH last year in 144 games, out of 455 ABs.

 

If he gets plattooned, he likely gets about 400 ABs, of which 300 come against RH pitching.

 

How the hell is 2006 a valid indicator of how Murton will be used in 2007? We didn't have Floyd and Ward in 2006 and we fell out of contention very early, consequently there was no reason not to play Murton. If the Cubs tank in May again and Floyd gets dealt in a firesale then maybe 2006 will be relevant.