ESPN Article calls Cubs Mediocre

[ctcf]

Pretty much. A page 2 article creates the "mediocre" team. The Cubs have 3 starters: Aram, Derosa, and Soriano.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/070301&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab5pos1

[David]

ARam mediocre? Riiiigggghtttt..

[goonys evil twin]

He makes some very valid arguments. Except this one:

 

Second base: Mark DeRosa, Cubs (3 years, $13 million)

Why this was a bad contract: Umm, let's see, the Cubs are overly right-handed and needed a lefty bat to hit right-handed pitching, so let's sign a guy who … can't hit right-handed pitching. Oh, and he's a 31-year-old utility guy coming off a career year in Texas (a good hitting park). And you wonder why it's been 99 years?

 

 

 

Among NL teams, the Cubs were 16th in OPS against LHP last year, 9th against RHP. The Cubs need to find guys who can hit LHP. They are not as desperate for guys who can hit against RHP (although I wouldn't mind some). There's no reason to throw out the LH/RH argument in a discussion about just how risky the Cubs spending was this offseason.

[goonys evil twin]

ARam mediocre? Riiiigggghtttt..

 

I think he was looking for the highest paid guy out there who would have a relatively poor production/salary ratio. Aramis is a very good hitter. But he's not elite, and he's got some downside risk. The Cubs absolutely had to keep him though.

[Andy]

ARam mediocre? Riiiigggghtttt..

Yeah, that's flat-out ridiculous. He doesn't have the highest OBP, but he's so good in SLG as to cancel it out to an extent.

[RichHillIsABeast]

Soriano in LF? Some quality research went into this article.

[goonys evil twin]

Soriano in LF? Some quality research went into this article.

 

He's not constructing the Cubs lineup. He's putting together a very highly paid team that won't be great. Soriano in LF makes perfect sense for such an endeavor.

[oldstyle81]

um its ESPN

[RichHillIsABeast]

Soriano in LF? Some quality research went into this article.

 

He's not constructing the Cubs lineup. He's putting together a very highly paid team that won't be great. Soriano in LF makes perfect sense for such an endeavor.

 

Well let's just move Todd Walker to SS and Carlos Lee to CF while we're at it.

[goonys evil twin]

Soriano in LF? Some quality research went into this article.

 

He's not constructing the Cubs lineup. He's putting together a very highly paid team that won't be great. Soriano in LF makes perfect sense for such an endeavor.

 

Well let's just move Todd Walker to SS and Carlos Lee to CF while we're at it.

 

Are you kidding me? Soriano played LF last year. Those guys have no business at SS or CF. That's an asinine comparison. Soriano in left is completely legit.

 

 

I really don't get the complaints about this article's main point. It's an extremely expensive ballclub that would probably not be that good.

[Magnetic Curses]

ARam mediocre? Riiiigggghtttt..

 

I think he was looking for the highest paid guy out there who would have a relatively poor production/salary ratio. Aramis is a very good hitter. But he's not elite, and he's got some downside risk. The Cubs absolutely had to keep him though.

 

i think he's more than elite at his position, though. 3 years in a row with a 900 ops is pretty impressive.

[goonys evil twin]

ARam mediocre? Riiiigggghtttt..

 

I think he was looking for the highest paid guy out there who would have a relatively poor production/salary ratio. Aramis is a very good hitter. But he's not elite, and he's got some downside risk. The Cubs absolutely had to keep him though.

 

i think he's more than elite at his position, though. 3 years in a row with a 900 ops is pretty impressive.

 

Yes, of all guys on that list, I think he'll probably be the closest to most productive for his position. But again, it was about listing a roster of very expensive players who signed contracts this past offseason. He's not calling Ramirez mediocre, he's making a mediocre team that costs a lot of money.

[radarluv1]

ARam mediocre? Riiiigggghtttt..

 

I think he was looking for the highest paid guy out there who would have a relatively poor production/salary ratio. Aramis is a very good hitter. But he's not elite, and he's got some downside risk. The Cubs absolutely had to keep him though.

 

i think he's more than elite at his position, though. 3 years in a row with a 900 ops is pretty impressive.

 

but, but, he didnt carry the team with lee injured!!!1!

[TruffleShuffle]

I didn't know frostwyrm was David Schoenfeld.

[tkenm356]

Hmmmm...

 

First base: Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers (2 years, $18.5 million)

Why this was a bad contract: This is a great test to see if your GM read "Moneyball" or "The Winner Within." Do you sign the creaky comeback veteran (who still missed 40 games in his "injury-free" season) or play the rookie (James Loney) who tore it up in the bigs after hitting .380 in Triple-A? The difference in your decision: about $9 million per season.

 

I didn't know that hitting .284/.342/.901 with 4HR and 18RBI in 48 games is "tearing it up".

 

How are these numbers David Shoenfield?

 

.328/.412/.934 with 3HR 16RBI and 13SB in 53 games?

 

He says Loney's numbers were "tearing it up" in the bigs and says they should've avoided Garciaparra, but make no mention of Theriot's performance in the DeRosa discussion? Ignorance. Yeah, Loney is a highly touted prospect, but he didn't "tear it up" in the bigs.

 

Also...

 

Factor in that he's coming off his 26-to-28 years, often the peak seasons for players, and his "old player" skills, and Ramirez is a risky bet to keep performing at this level in 2011.

 

Did he rewrite the book on a players prime years? Or am I the [expletive] who thought the ages of 28-32 are a players prime years for the last who knows how many years?

[Drew Doughty]

Hmmmm...

 

First base: Nomar Garciaparra, Dodgers (2 years, $18.5 million)

Why this was a bad contract: This is a great test to see if your GM read "Moneyball" or "The Winner Within." Do you sign the creaky comeback veteran (who still missed 40 games in his "injury-free" season) or play the rookie (James Loney) who tore it up in the bigs after hitting .380 in Triple-A? The difference in your decision: about $9 million per season.

 

I didn't know that hitting .284/.342/.901 with 4HR and 18RBI in 48 games is "tearing it up".

 

How are these numbers David Shoenfield?

 

.328/.412/.934 with 3HR 16RBI and 13SB in 53 games?

 

He says Loney's numbers were "tearing it up" in the bigs and says they should've avoided Garciaparra, but make no mention of Theriot's performance in the DeRosa discussion? Ignorance. Yeah, Loney is a highly touted prospect, but he didn't "tear it up" in the bigs.

 

Also...

 

Factor in that he's coming off his 26-to-28 years, often the peak seasons for players, and his "old player" skills, and Ramirez is a risky bet to keep performing at this level in 2011.

 

Did he rewrite the book on a players prime years? Or am I the [expletive] who thought the ages of 28-32 are a players prime years for the last who knows how many years?

 

26-30 is generally considered peak years as far as hitters go. For a guy like Aramis, it's not a stretch to say 26-28 since he's not exactly a physical specimen.

[goonys evil twin]

Did he rewrite the book on a players prime years? Or am I the [expletive] who thought the ages of 28-32 are a players prime years for the last who knows how many years?

 

25-29 is the wide range of peaks years, 27 is the average peak year. 28-32 is generally post peak.

[BDWeav71]

um its ESPN

 

 

Exactly.

 

Funny thing is, you probably have done more research on ESPN being idiots, than ESPN did for writing this article.

[Abe Frohman]

They hired Dusty to commentate on baseball, dudes.

[Butterscup1679666578]

You know my favorite part of the article? When he tries to say why it could be a good signing. Like this:

 

Why this signing may work out: He's healthier than Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

 

He's a complete moron. I'm not saying that he couldn't be right about some of these things, but he's not even trying to post a counter-argument. What a freaking goon.

[imb]

its a stupid page 2 article, dont expect those to have any real insight

[gflore34]

Just another example of the ESPN MO - go out of their way to take shots at the Cubs.

[Mizzou]

I call ESPN mediocre.

[Soul]

They may have arrived at the right conclusion, but for the wrong reasons.

 

There's a chance the Cubs hover around the .500 mark, but IMO it would fall more on that pitching staff than the position players. Maybe I'm wrong. But if Lilly & Marquis stay true to form that's not real encouraging. Throw in Hill -- if he doesn't break out like we obviously need him to, that leaves Zambrano and Prior.......and little else. Sure the bullpen looks to be improved, but a weak starting staff has got to cost games. I think that's the whole crux of the season, not the ARam & Soriano signings.

 

This article says nothing about the pitching, instead taking shots at two position players who will likely be pretty productive in any event.

[CoolHandLuke]

This article isn't even about the cubs. Its about the Free agent market and that trying to build a team purely on free agent signings is only going to give you a mediocre team that costs a lot.