Loretta to Astros

[Cubzfan64]

I heard people clamoring for him all offseason, but frankly I never understood the fascination with a 35 year old, .700 OPS hitter with a horrible glove. What next? Steve Finley?

 

With all due respect - I watched him play many games in Boston last year and while he isn't a gold glove 2B, he's certainly well above average and absolutely NOT horrible.

 

I would have preferred Loretta for 1 year at what he signed for than DeRosa for 3 at what we signed him for.

[CubColtPacer]

Mark Derosa, in the best year of his career last year, didn't even meet Loretta's career OBP mark.

 

And Steve Finley put up a .900 OPS in 2000. Doesn't much change the fact that he's washed up now, though.

 

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/cubs_signed_derosa/

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/2007_zips_projections_boston_red_sox/

 

Again, we're paying Derosa more per year for three years when it's likely that Loretta will provide as much, if not more, value next year.

 

That would be a significant improvement on Loretta's numbers from the past two years-the projections have him bouncing back with 64 points better than his better year of the last 2 years (of course, his 2 years were only 1 point apart). While that's certainly possible when looking over his career numbers, having two straight years of the same numbers coupled with being 35 does not give all that much optimism for that high of a jump. He has the potential to get back to those numbers, but he has just as high of a potential at his age to continue to decline and to put up a truly subpar season even for a second baseman.

 

DeRosa I am not touching at all-he's had such little time as a regular that it is hard to project him (along with his swing change, which of course wouldn't be reflected in the projections anyway). He could be close to 800, and he could be a sub 700, or anywhere in between. My guess is that it will be around 750, but again, that could be a case of simply hedging bets (with his swing change, he should be better than the projections say he will be, but still not nearly as good as the career year of last year is my thinking).

[BigbadB]

Yeah, I've soured on Loretta a bit. I'm hoping DeRosa can match or do better than what Loretta provided over the last few years. If they hit DeRosa 2nd (which is what I'm guessing will happen), he has the potential to do some damage hitting between Soriano and Lee. I'm really hoping this supposed swing change will keep his numbers somewhat comparable to what he did last year. Heck, maybe he'll do even better?

[Guest]

Yeah, I've soured on Loretta a bit. I'm hoping DeRosa can match or do better than what Loretta provided over the last few years. If they hit DeRosa 2nd (which is what I'm guessing will happen), he has the potential to do some damage hitting between Soriano and Lee. I'm really hoping this supposed swing change will keep his numbers somewhat comparable to what he did last year. Heck, maybe he'll do even better?

 

his swing change didn't help him much in the second half of last year.