3/12ST Cubs (Z!) @ Giants (Morris) 3:05CT CSN Chicago

[Guest]

Lineups

 

 

2) is there any chance of Theriot beating out DeRosa for starting 2B?

I hope not.

 

Theriot strikes me as a guy that could be exposed as an everyday player. I think the ebst fit for him is his current role. DeRosa would be a very expensive utility man.

Are you going on gut feel? Or off minor league track record?

 

Personally, DeRosa strikes me as being equally likely of being exposed.

Edited March 12, 2007 by Tim

[Roast]

Lineups

 

Cubs

Soriano, CF

Theriot, 2B

Lee, 1B

Ramirez, 3B

Jones, RF

Floyd, LF

Blanco, C

Izturis, SS

Zambrano, P

 

Giants

Roberts, CF

Vizquel, SS

Bonds, LF

Feliz, 3B

Aurilia, 1B

Molina, C

Winn, RF

Frandsen, 2B

Morris, P

Bruce, a couple questions...

 

1) is Barrett fighting a minor injury? I haven't seen much of him lately

2) is there any chance of Theriot beating out DeRosa for starting 2B?

 

I think I remember Bruce saying that Theriot will be a utility man, no questions asked, and the SS/2b spots are already definite. I may be immagining things though..

[craig]

Theriot strikes me as a guy that could be exposed as an everyday player. I think the ebst fit for him is his current role. DeRosa would be a very expensive utility man.

Are you going on gut feel? Or off minor league track record?

 

Personally, DeRosa strikes me as being equally likely of being exposed.

 

I'm with Tim, I think both are similarly vulnerable to the "exposure" factor.

 

And I don't care about the contracts. If anything, that DeRosa has more experience playing everywhere (including RF for possible Jacque platoon) makes him a better utility candidate, if in fact they were interchangeable at 2B.

 

I'm not sure how to grade them defensively. Part of me thinks Theriot could be better, but I'm not confident.

 

I think Theriot has a chance to be significantly better in terms of OBP. DeRosa K's a lot, which doesn't favor his batting average.

 

I think Derosa has a chance to be significantly better in terms of OPS and slugging. He hit teens HR's last year and lots of doubles, IsoP. Theriot has always been a strictly singles guy, other than his tiny sample with the Cubs.

 

To some degree, I think DeRosa might be exposed by regular playing time as much or more than Theriot. DeRosa has had strong lefty-righty splits. So I'm guessing that his past playing time has been stacked to his strength, versus LHP. If he's facing RHP day after day, that could really hurt.

 

Theriot also has R/L splits, I think, but I don't think as extreme. And since he has negligible power either way, less likely to be as severe.

[Bruno7481]

Lineups

 

 

2) is there any chance of Theriot beating out DeRosa for starting 2B?

 

I hope not.

 

Theriot strikes me as a guy that could be exposed as an everyday player. I think the ebst fit for him is his current role. DeRosa would be a very expensive utility man.

 

I'm not saying that your wrong about him being an expensive utility man, but I really have a problem with this way of thinking. If the better player doesn't play, it hurts the team. I don't know if its the case this time, but playing a player because he makes more is not smart.

 

I understand, but at the same time I still feel DeRosa is probably the better player. If it turns out he is not, then RT should be playing.

[Bruno7481]

Lineups

 

 

2) is there any chance of Theriot beating out DeRosa for starting 2B?

I hope not.

 

Theriot strikes me as a guy that could be exposed as an everyday player. I think the ebst fit for him is his current role. DeRosa would be a very expensive utility man.

Are you going on gut feel? Or off minor league track record?

 

Personally, DeRosa strikes me as being equally likely of being exposed.

 

More minor league track record than gut-feel. I like Theriot and think he can play an important role on this team.

 

But his minor league numbers don't really jump at you either. I'm trying not to base too much of this on his major league performance last year. It was great, but still a very small sample size.

 

I have concerns about DeRosa as well, but I think DeRosa 2006, or something close to it, is better than what Theriot could do as a full timer.

[Bruno7481]

Theriot strikes me as a guy that could be exposed as an everyday player. I think the ebst fit for him is his current role. DeRosa would be a very expensive utility man.

Are you going on gut feel? Or off minor league track record?

 

Personally, DeRosa strikes me as being equally likely of being exposed.

 

I'm with Tim, I think both are similarly vulnerable to the "exposure" factor.

 

And I don't care about the contracts. If anything, that DeRosa has more experience playing everywhere (including RF for possible Jacque platoon) makes him a better utility candidate, if in fact they were interchangeable at 2B.

 

I'm not sure how to grade them defensively. Part of me thinks Theriot could be better, but I'm not confident.

 

I think Theriot has a chance to be significantly better in terms of OBP. DeRosa K's a lot, which doesn't favor his batting average.

 

I think Derosa has a chance to be significantly better in terms of OPS and slugging. He hit teens HR's last year and lots of doubles, IsoP. Theriot has always been a strictly singles guy, other than his tiny sample with the Cubs.

 

To some degree, I think DeRosa might be exposed by regular playing time as much or more than Theriot. DeRosa has had strong lefty-righty splits. So I'm guessing that his past playing time has been stacked to his strength, versus LHP. If he's facing RHP day after day, that could really hurt.

 

Theriot also has R/L splits, I think, but I don't think as extreme. And since he has negligible power either way, less likely to be as severe.

 

I think OBP is the only offensive category that Theriot could have an edge in. DeRosa's .SLG and .OPS should outweigh the OBP advantage though.

 

I could be wrong though... 8-)

[Bruce Miles]

Lineups

 

Cubs

Soriano, CF

Theriot, 2B

Lee, 1B

Ramirez, 3B

Jones, RF

Floyd, LF

Blanco, C

Izturis, SS

Zambrano, P

 

Giants

Roberts, CF

Vizquel, SS

Bonds, LF

Feliz, 3B

Aurilia, 1B

Molina, C

Winn, RF

Frandsen, 2B

Morris, P

Bruce, a couple questions...

 

1) is Barrett fighting a minor injury? I haven't seen much of him lately

2) is there any chance of Theriot beating out DeRosa for starting 2B?

 

Barrett appears to be OK. For $13 million, DeRosa isn't going to sit. Lou has said Theriot is his main backup infielder.

[Guest]

Are you going on gut feel? Or off minor league track record?

 

Personally, DeRosa strikes me as being equally likely of being exposed.

 

More minor league track record than gut-feel. I like Theriot and think he can play an important role on this team.

 

But his minor league numbers don't really jump at you either. I'm trying not to base too much of this on his major league performance last year. It was great, but still a very small sample size.

 

I have concerns about DeRosa as well, but I think DeRosa 2006, or something close to it, is better than what Theriot could do as a full timer.

Theriot has a couple of interesting factors at work in his minor league numbers. Primarily, the Cubs attempted to convert him into a switch hitter for a couple years and it simply didn't work out. He has done better since going back to hitting just right handed. His power spike in Wrigley last year was an anomaly, for certain. But he's a pretty good bet to walk nearly as much as he k's, hit for an okay average and put up a decent to good OBP.

 

If you look at DeRosa's track record up to 2006, I don't think you'll find much there to give you hope, either. DeRosa was a career .276/.346/.374 minor league hitter versus Theriot's .271/.355/.337. Ryan had a 260/264 BB/K ratio versus 205/289 for DeRosa. Ryan has significantly more speed than DeRosa (115 SB / 49 CS vs 45/38). DeRosa has some more pop in his bat, but that's his only real advantage from a track record perspective.

[MustangMike]

Lineups

 

 

2) is there any chance of Theriot beating out DeRosa for starting 2B?

 

I hope not.

 

Theriot strikes me as a guy that could be exposed as an everyday player. I think the ebst fit for him is his current role. DeRosa would be a very expensive utility man.

 

I'm not saying that your wrong about him being an expensive utility man, but I really have a problem with this way of thinking. If the better player doesn't play, it hurts the team. I don't know if its the case this time, but playing a player because he makes more is not smart.

 

I understand, but at the same time I still feel DeRosa is probably the better player. If it turns out he is not, then RT should be playing.

 

I'm fine with Derosa starting at long as Theriot gets some quality AB numbers, which I think he will do so. I just hate the idea of someone getting the job based on salary decisions.

[woodchip2153]

Just in case anybody was wondering, the webcast is up and working.

[TheDude]

Theriot as an every day player, at best, would likely be a poor-man's Adam Kennedy. That's probably good enough to stick around the big leagues every day, but he'll have to earn it.

[Guest]

Theriot as an every day player, at best, would likely be a poor-man's Adam Kennedy. That's probably good enough to stick around the big leagues every day, but he'll have to earn it.

Without looking up numbers, Theriot pretty much is David Eckstein.

[CubColtPacer]

Theriot as an every day player, at best, would likely be a poor-man's Adam Kennedy. That's probably good enough to stick around the big leagues every day, but he'll have to earn it.

 

I think he could be better than that-but if there are any ties right now about which one is more likely to flame out, the tiebreaker for the job has to go to DeRosa-not only for the contract, but for the simple fact that they promised him the job. You don't want to send a sign to other free agents that the team may go back on their word this early into a contract unless you are sure that the other player can do better, and Theriot and DeRosa seem to have an about equal chance of succeeding right now.

[TheDude]

Theriot as an every day player, at best, would likely be a poor-man's Adam Kennedy. That's probably good enough to stick around the big leagues every day, but he'll have to earn it.

Without looking up numbers, Theriot pretty much is David Eckstein.

 

Kennedy's career line: .280 .332 .398

 

If Theriot develops a little more pop with an every day chance, he could be there. I chose Kennedy as he is a 2B and seems to have a similar game.

[CubColtPacer]

Theriot as an every day player, at best, would likely be a poor-man's Adam Kennedy. That's probably good enough to stick around the big leagues every day, but he'll have to earn it.

Without looking up numbers, Theriot pretty much is David Eckstein.

 

Kennedy's career line: .280 .332 .398

 

If Theriot develops a little more pop with an every day chance, he could be there. I chose Kennedy as he is a 2B and seems to have a similar game.

 

I think he's saying that Theriot has a little more OBP in him than Kennedy does-.332 would be low for Theriot if he played well. He would be much closer to Eckstein (.351 OBP/.359 SLG) numbers wise as far as OBP/SLG breakdown.

[C.C.]

Theriot Double!

[RichHillIsABeast]

hahahaha

[wekse]

got into that one a bit...nice start.

[craig]

Obviously Derosa got signed to start, and he has the salary, so anything close to a tie goes to DeRosa. That's how the season starts. (Not so unlike Prior/Guzman; unless Prior grossly underperforms relative to Guzman, Prior gets that spot. But in that case, it appears quite possible that Prior will underperform relative to Guzman....)

 

But things change, pending performance.

 

To my mind Theriot hasn't played or shown anything in RF (I'd like a Jacque platoon...), he's been unimpressive defensively at SS, and he's looked scatter-armed from 3B. I know he's supposed to be super-utility guy, and I know the Cubs have been watching lots of infield in camp that I don't know about from a couple of ex game plays. But I'm cautious that he can actually play any position acceptably other than 2B. (I know, I know, he played a bunch of minor-league SS. But playing a position in the minors doesn't prove that you can play it at a major-league caliber in the majors...)

 

One of my questions with DeRosa is how his defense compares. Obviously he's shown more power.

 

If Theriot was to take that job away from DeRosa at some point, I think it would be much more likely if Lou viewed Theriot's defense as superior to DeRosa. I have no idea whether or not that's the case.

[98navigator]

We're back!

 

6-0 Cubs :D

[C.C.]

Shheez! Z scared the crap outta me with that fall!

[C.C.]

6-0 Cubs. Botom of the 1st with 1 out, man on first and Bonds up...

[Guest]

Theriot as an every day player, at best, would likely be a poor-man's Adam Kennedy. That's probably good enough to stick around the big leagues every day, but he'll have to earn it.

Without looking up numbers, Theriot pretty much is David Eckstein.

 

Kennedy's career line: .280 .332 .398

 

If Theriot develops a little more pop with an every day chance, he could be there. I chose Kennedy as he is a 2B and seems to have a similar game.

 

I think he's saying that Theriot has a little more OBP in him than Kennedy does-.332 would be low for Theriot if he played well. He would be much closer to Eckstein (.351 OBP/.359 SLG) numbers wise as far as OBP/SLG breakdown.

I chose Eckstein from a defensive pov, too. Theriot is probably about the same defender that Eckstein is - decent range, below average arm, capable of playing SS, but may not look pretty doing it.

[BCVM22]

Shheez! Z scared the crap outta me with that fall!

 

The man is unhinged like a barn door.

 

Who wants to tell him that to his face? :)

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Zambrano's triple was a thing of beauty!