Assess Cubs 07' FA Class at Mid-Point

[RynoRules]

81 games in (that was quick) and how do you like them now?:

 

DeRosa: .286 .363 .452

 

Soriano: .305 .353 .542

 

Floyd: .295 .364 .404

 

Ward: .319 .448 .404

 

Lily: 7-4 3.84 (ERA) 1.08 (WHIP)

 

Marquis: 6-4 3.31 1.21

 

Not bad at all, IMO. DeRosa has been a great addition. Floyd would be too if his slugging would improve.

[Omar]

DeRosa, Lilly & Marquis have all done better than we all expected.

 

Ward has done his job. What we expected of him. Great addition to the bench.

 

Expected a little more power from Floyd. He's still put up good numbers.

 

Soriano... expected a little better of him. his OPS+ is hovering around his last season's.

 

Didnt Ramirez file for free agency? :lol: He's also hovering around his numbers.

[Tracer Bullet]

81 games in (that was quick) and how do you like them now?:

 

DeRosa: .286 .363 .452

 

Soriano: .305 .353 .542

 

Floyd: .295 .364 .404

 

Ward: .319 .448 .404

 

Lily: 7-4 3.84 (ERA) 1.08 (WHIP)

 

Marquis: 6-4 3.31 1.21

 

Not bad at all, IMO. DeRosa has been a great addition. Floyd would be too if his slugging would improve.

 

DeRosa's been better than expected. The only thing I have against that signing is he doesn't really fill a need on this team. We have guys like Theriot, Fontenot (Cedeno?) would could play 2nd and possibly give us the same OBP. His power has been the real pleasant surprise, esp given the lack of power we've had from Lee and Barrett. If he can keep that up, he will battle Lilly for best performance by a FA.

 

Until the last month or so, Soriano's a disappointment - we're not paying him for a sub- .900 OPS (even if barely sub-.900). But his June was fantastic and maybe by September, his dismal April will be forgotten. It'd be nice if he could play CF or RF (and I'd like him hitting elsewhere in the order, but there's no need to debate that here again).

 

Floyd's been fine. But one of the common complaints about Murton was his relative lack of power for a corner OF and it's not like Floyd is ripping XBH's (he has fewer than 10 at the halfway point). I appreciate the OBP, but I still think Murton matches/beats those numbers if given the everyday job (he did last year), so Floyd's a waste of $, imo.

 

Ward's been a solid backup. Can't really play anywhere other than 1B and I guess I was thinking we'd get at least a little pop from him, but he's been an effective PH, which is nice.

 

Lilly's been great.

 

Marquis - meh. His inability to go 6+ on a consistent basis isn't really helping this team. If he can match his sub 3.50 ERA and 1.20-ish WHIP all year, I'll be thrilled (and shocked). I think the June version is closer to what we'll get than the April/May version.

 

Overall, a bad offseason. What we really needed coming out of last year was a SS, CF, and RF, and some rotation help. Hendry signed a good SP and a bad one hoping for a turnaround. But he also signed 2 LFs, and a 2B (and a backup 1B, which is fine). So we've blocked a cheap source of production in LF (Murton), a good possibility for cheap production at 2B (Theriot or Fontenot) been forced to play Pie when he doesn't look ready at all, and put Floyd or JJ in RF. Most days, we have 4 spots in the order that are giving at or lower than .300 OBP (Izturis, Pie, C, and P). If JJ is in RF, it's 5 spots. Pagan's been a pleasant surprise so far, but his history doesn't make one hopeful that it will continue.

 

What a horrible way to construct a team.

[RynoRules]

 

Didnt Ramirez file for free agency? :lol: He's also hovering around his numbers.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Ramirez kid. That was a good signing. Wish he'd hustle more though.

 

:wink:

[don_kessinger_was_good]

This year's FA signings were terrific other than the $$ given to some of these guys, but that's the market, I guess. The one exception is that the extension for Henry Blanco was ill-advised, and now the Cubs are stuck with that contract. Going more than one year for a 35 yo backup catcher-->not smart.

[weis21]

Jim Hendry hopes that alot of people are assessing the FA's right now as well, rather than a few weeks ago. It's easier to look past short comings during a streak like the cubs are on. But in all honesty, I tried not to judge these guys coming in and base my opinion on what I saw on the field. I was a bit leary with a few guys (marquis especially) but I have been pretty impressed. DeRosa has been great with the bat and just as good with the glove. Soriano will pick up the power in the second half probably (his arm is outstanding), Ward is solid, Lilly has been solid as expected, and if we can get Marquis' numbers again the second half i'm ecstatic. Floyd has been OK as well and if Murton doesn't show enough to get promoted after Jacque is gone, I think DeRo will do a fine job in RF. Assuming of course no trade for an OF bat is made. I do agree with the other poster, blanco was a dumb move.

 

Grade so far: B+

[YearofDaCubs]

GRCubsFan,

 

DeRosa does fill a need. Everyone knew ARam will miss some time this year and you can't get much better at backup 3B than DeRosa. His numbers are also very solid. He was a very good FA acquisition.

[killthegoat06]

This offseason was definitely one of our better ones.

[killthegoat06]

Does anyone have a link to the list of cubs '08 free agents?

[JeffH]

Does anyone have a link to the list of cubs '08 free agents?

 

The following players are set to be free agents after the season:

 

Cliff Floyd (mutual option)

Cesar Izturis (club option)

Daryle Ward (club option)

Carlos Zambrano

Scott Eyre (player option)

Kerry Wood

Wade Miller

[NCCubFan]

Does anyone have a link to the list of cubs '08 free agents?

 

The following players are set to be free agents after the season:

 

Cliff Floyd (mutual option)

Cesar Izturis (club option)

Daryle Ward (club option)

Carlos Zambrano

Scott Eyre (player option)

Kerry Wood

Wade Miller

:x

[killthegoat06]

Does anyone have a link to the list of cubs '08 free agents?

 

The following players are set to be free agents after the season:

 

Cliff Floyd (mutual option)

Cesar Izturis (club option)

Daryle Ward (club option)

Carlos Zambrano

Scott Eyre (player option)

Kerry Wood

Wade Miller

 

The only players I don't want to lose are Floyd (unless we get someone better), Ward, and Z.

[CubColtPacer]

Ok, going in most people said that the Cubs needed a big bat, a second baseman, a possible shortstop (only possible because very few were on the market), and starting pitching. Not many people really wanted a good center fielder because nobody wanted to block Pie for too long, and several people wanted Pie to start in the majors from the beginning of they year. Here are the candidates-I'm going to put board favorites (who the majority of the board wanted, not necessarily everybody) in italics and Hendry signings in bold:

 

Big Bat:

Alfonso Soriano-.305/.353/.542-8 years, 136 million

Carlos Lee-.296/.349/.522-6 years, 100 million

J.D. Drew-.257/.371/.392-5 years, 70 million

 

Remember also that Soriano was signed as a RF originally.

 

Second Baseman:

Mark DeRosa-.286/.363/.452-3 years, 13 million

Ray Durham-.253/.321/.405-2 years, 14 million

Marcus Giles-.252/.325/.346-1 year, 3.2 million

Adam Kennedy-.212/.283/.256-3 years, 10 million

Ronnie Belliard-.290/.329/.381-minor league deal

Todd Walker-.271/.288/.292-minor league deal

 

Also note that Durham and Kennedy (and Walker) were all type A free agents, while DeRosa was a type B because he was listed as an OF.

 

Shortstop:

Julio Lugo-.189/.260/.281-4 years, 36 million

Alex Gonzalez-.253/.301/.456-3 years, 14 million

Royce Clayton-.231/.281/.327-1 year, 1.5 million

 

Not a lot of options there-I'm glad the team avoided the Lugo disaster though.

 

Starting Pitching

Jason Marquis-3.31 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 133 ERA+ (3 years, 21 million)

Ted Lilly-3.84 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 115 ERA+ (4 years, 40 million)

Barry Zito-4.61 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 93 ERA+ (7 years, 126 million)

Daisuke Matsuzaka-3.80 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 117 ERA+ (6 years, 52 million, plus 51 million posting fee)

Jason Schmidt-6.31 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, 69 ERA+ (3 years, 47 million)

Gil Meche-3.26 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 143 ERA+ (5 years, 55 million)

Miguel Batista-4.63 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 93 ERA+ (3 years, 25 million)

Adam Eaton-5.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 77 ERA+ (3 years, 24.5 million)

Kei Igawa-6.91 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 61 ERA+ (5 years, 20 million, plus 26 million posting fee)

Mark Mulder-hasn't pitched yet this year (2 years, 13 million)

Tomo Ohka-5.79 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 78 ERA+ (1 year, 1.5 million)

Vincente Padilla-6.69 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 68 ERA+ (3 years, 33.75 million)

Jeff Suppan-4.90 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 87 ERA+ (4 years, 42 million)

Jeff Weaver-6.75 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 62 ERA+ (1 year, 8.325 million)

Kip Wells-6.30 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 67 ERA+ (1 year, 4 million)

Greg Maddux-3.66 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 110 ERA+ (1 year, 10 million)

Woody Williams-5.47 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 79 ERA+ (2 years, 12.5 million)

Randy Wolf-4.33 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 101 ERA+ (1 year, 8 million)-note on Wolf-he turned down multiple 3 year deals to go home.

And one trade target discussed quite a bit:

Jake Westbrook-6.10 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 71 ERA+

 

Well, there were tons of horrible contracts handed out to pitchers as you can see.

 

Bench

Daryle Ward-.319/.448/.404 (1 year, 1.05 million)

Craig Wilson-.172/.304/.259 (1 year, 2 million)

Henry Blanco-.194/.231/.250 (2 years, 5.25 million)

Cliff Floyd-.295/.364/.404 (1 year, 3 million)

Trot Nixon-.244/.341/.329 (1 year, 3 million)

Jose Cruz Jr.-.256/.336/.396 (1 year, 650K)

 

The bench is a mixed bag. Ward has been a success, and Blanco has been a flop. Signing Wilson or Nixon wouldn't have helped at all, and the Floyd signing is still up in the air.

 

I think Hendry did a very good job this year of avoiding the awful contracts. I remember plenty of people saying how smart the Red Sox were to sign Drew and Lugo for the same money as Soriano and DeRosa like the Cubs did-I think you can realize how bad this team would be now if that had been reversed. Same if the Cubs had gone with Schmidt, Padilla, or Westbrook.

[Mephistopheles]

marquis sucks and hendrys a dumbass

[CUBZ99]

Ok, going in most people said that the Cubs needed a big bat, a second baseman, a possible shortstop (only possible because very few were on the market), and starting pitching. Not many people really wanted a good center fielder because nobody wanted to block Pie for too long, and several people wanted Pie to start in the majors from the beginning of they year. Here are the candidates-I'm going to put board favorites (who the majority of the board wanted, not necessarily everybody) in italics and Hendry signings in bold:

 

Big Bat:

Alfonso Soriano-.305/.353/.542-8 years, 136 million

Carlos Lee-.296/.349/.522-6 years, 100 million

J.D. Drew-.257/.371/.392-5 years, 70 million

 

Remember also that Soriano was signed as a RF originally.

 

Second Baseman:

Mark DeRosa-.286/.363/.452-3 years, 13 million

Ray Durham-.253/.321/.405-2 years, 14 million

Marcus Giles-.252/.325/.346-1 year, 3.2 million

Adam Kennedy-.212/.283/.256-3 years, 10 million

Ronnie Belliard-.290/.329/.381-minor league deal

Todd Walker-.271/.288/.292-minor league deal

 

Also note that Durham and Kennedy (and Walker) were all type A free agents, while DeRosa was a type B because he was listed as an OF.

 

Shortstop:

Julio Lugo-.189/.260/.281-4 years, 36 million

Alex Gonzalez-.253/.301/.456-3 years, 14 million

Royce Clayton-.231/.281/.327-1 year, 1.5 million

 

Not a lot of options there-I'm glad the team avoided the Lugo disaster though.

 

Starting Pitching

Jason Marquis-3.31 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 133 ERA+ (3 years, 21 million)

Ted Lilly-3.84 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 115 ERA+ (4 years, 40 million)

Barry Zito-4.61 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 93 ERA+ (7 years, 126 million)

Daisuke Matsuzaka-3.80 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 117 ERA+ (6 years, 52 million, plus 51 million posting fee)

Jason Schmidt-6.31 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, 69 ERA+ (3 years, 47 million)

Gil Meche-3.26 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 143 ERA+ (5 years, 55 million)

Miguel Batista-4.63 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 93 ERA+ (3 years, 25 million)

Adam Eaton-5.75 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 77 ERA+ (3 years, 24.5 million)

Kei Igawa-6.91 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 61 ERA+ (5 years, 20 million, plus 26 million posting fee)

Mark Mulder-hasn't pitched yet this year (2 years, 13 million)

Tomo Ohka-5.79 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 78 ERA+ (1 year, 1.5 million)

Vincente Padilla-6.69 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 68 ERA+ (3 years, 33.75 million)

Jeff Suppan-4.90 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 87 ERA+ (4 years, 42 million)

Jeff Weaver-6.75 ERA, 1.68 WHIP, 62 ERA+ (1 year, 8.325 million)

Kip Wells-6.30 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, 67 ERA+ (1 year, 4 million)

Greg Maddux-3.66 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 110 ERA+ (1 year, 10 million)

Woody Williams-5.47 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 79 ERA+ (2 years, 12.5 million)

Randy Wolf-4.33 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 101 ERA+ (1 year, 8 million)-note on Wolf-he turned down multiple 3 year deals to go home.

And one trade target discussed quite a bit:

Jake Westbrook-6.10 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 71 ERA+

 

Well, there were tons of horrible contracts handed out to pitchers as you can see.

 

Bench

Daryle Ward-.319/.448/.404 (1 year, 1.05 million)

Craig Wilson-.172/.304/.259 (1 year, 2 million)

Henry Blanco-.194/.231/.250 (2 years, 5.25 million)

Cliff Floyd-.295/.364/.404 (1 year, 3 million)

Trot Nixon-.244/.341/.329 (1 year, 3 million)

Jose Cruz Jr.-.256/.336/.396 (1 year, 650K)

 

The bench is a mixed bag. Ward has been a success, and Blanco has been a flop. Signing Wilson or Nixon wouldn't have helped at all, and the Floyd signing is still up in the air.

 

I think Hendry did a very good job this year of avoiding the awful contracts. I remember plenty of people saying how smart the Red Sox were to sign Drew and Lugo for the same money as Soriano and DeRosa like the Cubs did-I think you can realize how bad this team would be now if that had been reversed. Same if the Cubs had gone with Schmidt, Padilla, or Westbrook.

 

Thanks for taking the time to lay out the stats like that. So far, it looks like Hendry did a good job at sifting through the FA. Most of them have really performed well for the Cubs halfway through the year.

[jersey cubs fan]

You want us to look at the 07's free agents asses at the mid-point?

[TheDude]

DeRosa's been better than expected. The only thing I have against that signing is he doesn't really fill a need on this team. We have guys like Theriot, Fontenot (Cedeno?) would could play 2nd and possibly give us the same OBP. His power has been the real pleasant surprise, esp given the lack of power we've had from Lee and Barrett. If he can keep that up, he will battle Lilly for best performance by a FA.

 

I don't like this assessment that fringe prospects like Theriot or Fontenot make the DeRosa signing a bad one.

 

DeRosa is an extremely versatile player that gives the team an everyday super-sub with better than average production. Theriot is a bench player suited for middle infield roles. Theriot's role has been expanded this year because the team doesn't have a true quality everyday SS.

 

The expectations for these players are far different, as DeRosa was expected to produce around .800 OPS and Theriot around .700. Theriot was not going to put up an .800 OPS and 500 ABs.

 

I like Fontenot a lot, but would it have been reasonable to assume .800+ OPS from him daily in 2007? Maybe on a team rebuilding who could afford the risk, but not the Cubs.

 

Until the last month or so, Soriano's a disappointment - we're not paying him for a sub- .900 OPS (even if barely sub-.900). But his June was fantastic and maybe by September, his dismal April will be forgotten. It'd be nice if he could play CF or RF (and I'd like him hitting elsewhere in the order, but there's no need to debate that here again).

You are correct, you're not paying Soriano anything. Besides that, the team is paying Soriano for a ~.900 OPS. That is what his projection should be, and its a high projection given career numbers.

 

Floyd's been fine. But one of the common complaints about Murton was his relative lack of power for a corner OF and it's not like Floyd is ripping XBH's (he has fewer than 10 at the halfway point). I appreciate the OBP, but I still think Murton matches/beats those numbers if given the everyday job (he did last year), so Floyd's a waste of $, imo.

I agree with you here. I liked the idea of a Murton/Floyd platoon maximizing both players' splits. Individually, as everyday players, the team is lucky to get .800 OPS from either player.

 

Marquis - meh. His inability to go 6+ on a consistent basis isn't really helping this team. If he can match his sub 3.50 ERA and 1.20-ish WHIP all year, I'll be thrilled (and shocked). I think the June version is closer to what we'll get than the April/May version.

Marquis has been very good considering his role as the 4th starter. You're just nit-picking at this point.

 

Overall, a bad offseason. What we really needed coming out of last year was a SS, CF, and RF, and some rotation help. Hendry signed a good SP and a bad one hoping for a turnaround. But he also signed 2 LFs, and a 2B (and a backup 1B, which is fine). So we've blocked a cheap source of production in LF (Murton), a good possibility for cheap production at 2B (Theriot or Fontenot) been forced to play Pie when he doesn't look ready at all, and put Floyd or JJ in RF. Most days, we have 4 spots in the order that are giving at or lower than .300 OBP (Izturis, Pie, C, and P). If JJ is in RF, it's 5 spots. Pagan's been a pleasant surprise so far, but his history doesn't make one hopeful that it will continue.

 

What a horrible way to construct a team.

It's amazing that you can look at the production of the offseason acquisitions and have the gumption to use 'horrible' and 'bad' as the primary descriptors.

 

Nearly every offseason acquisition has played to or above expectations. At worst it was an average offseason. It's true that some below average players leftover from the Dusty era are still hanging around, and its unfortunate those players weren't moved in the offseason, but I'd hardly call this team horribly constructed.

 

It has a couple holes, like every other team in baseball. The fact that it isn't perfect doesn't equate to horrible.

[JeffH]

What's even more amazing is one of Hendry's missed targets this offseason:

 

Gil Meche-3.26 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 143 ERA+ (5 years, 55 million)

[wvcbxl]

The following players are set to be free agents after the season:

...

Cesar Izturis (club option)

....

 

Don't even think about it, Jimbo. :club:

[Marco4]

What's even more amazing is one of Hendry's missed targets this offseason:

 

Gil Meche-3.26 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 143 ERA+ (5 years, 55 million)

 

You're not wrong. I get more and more surprised by this as time goes on.

[Soriano12]

marquis sucks and hendrys a dumbass

 

You are lost....I think you want to be here

 

cubs.com

[Danny82]

81 games in (that was quick) and how do you like them now?:

 

DeRosa: .286 .363 .452

 

Soriano: .305 .353 .542

 

Floyd: .295 .364 .404

 

Ward: .319 .448 .404

 

Lily: 7-4 3.84 (ERA) 1.08 (WHIP)

 

Marquis: 6-4 3.31 1.21

 

Not bad at all, IMO. DeRosa has been a great addition. Floyd would be too if his slugging would improve.

 

DeRosa's been better than expected. The only thing I have against that signing is he doesn't really fill a need on this team. We have guys like Theriot, Fontenot (Cedeno?) would could play 2nd and possibly give us the same OBP.

I completely disagree. His patience has been a great addition to this team and something that the team sorely needed. I think he is in the top 10 in the NL in pitches per at bat. I think it's unlikely that those other three to have a .360 OBP over the course of an entire season and there would be a drop off offensively if any of the three were plugged in for DeRosa. In short, I'm not sure DeRosa is appreciated enough around here. He does what everyone has been bemoaning the Cubs batters to do for years now...be extremely patient at the plate.

[NCCubFan]

You want us to look at the 07's free agents asses at the mid-point?

:lol:

[Danny82]

Overall, a bad offseason.

 

Come on.

[Roast]

You want us to look at the 07's free agents asses at the mid-point?

:lol: