Cubs Trade Rob Bowen and Jerry Blevins for Jason Kendall

[RynoRules]

I'm not all that interested in wading through 38+ pages of posts, so I'll just ask: does anyone know how much money the A's kicked in and how much the Cubs will be on the hook for?

 

Cubs are on the hook for $900k.

[C.C.]

I'm not all that interested in wading through 38+ pages of posts, so I'll just ask: does anyone know how much money the A's kicked in and how much the Cubs will be on the hook for?

 

Cubs are on the hook for $900k.

 

Really? That's it? Hmmm...Makes the trade much better to stomach.

[bukie]

Here's how I'm looking at it today:

 

Worst-case scenario: Cubs are no worse offensively at catcher, Kendall relegated to backup role to Soto after not performing. Essentially the same as they were last night, minus a minor-league middle reliever.

 

Best-case scenario: Perry figures out what was wrong with Kendall's swing, he starts hitting line-drives again, gets on base at a .380 clip in the 7 spot in the lineup, and significantly improves the team's OBP.

[C.C.]

Here's how I'm looking at it today:

 

Worst-case scenario: Cubs are no worse offensively at catcher, Kendall relegated to backup role to Soto after not performing. Essentially the same as they were last night, minus a minor-league middle reliever.

 

Best-case scenario: Perry figures out what was wrong with Kendall's swing, he starts hitting line-drives again, gets on base at a .380 clip in the 7 spot in the lineup, and significantly improves the team's OBP.

 

Plus, I wonder how many times have made the playoffs with a rookie catcher?

[Banedon]

I haven't seen this anywhere else, but Baseball Musings implys that Soto was sent down to make room for Kendall.

 

The commenter below is right, Hill is not a good catcher. The Cubs sent down Soto, who has good minor league numbers batting wise. At age 24, I don't know why they don't give him more of a chance.

[Soul]

I don't see how this could be a bad deal. It's got to be nigh impossible to be worse than Bowen:

 

.065 .167 .092

 

OPS+ -29

 

Haha. There's no way in hell Kendall will not outperform that.

 

Of course, I've never heard of Blevin so I don't know what we really gave up there. But just speaking of the catcher swap, this literally can not be bad for us. 900K is chump change for the Cubs.

[ctcf]

This very well could be Hendry trying to do SOMETHING at the catcher position without spending any real money so he can throw all he has at some other position where there are far better players available (OF?).

 

Thats just my thoughts on it though.

[Keener98]

Michael Barret is hitting .345 with 6 RBI's in July.

[OleMissCub]

He's only thrown out 15 of 74 base stealers????

 

That's like a drunk Mike Piazza. That's awful!

[brinoch]

I haven't seen this anywhere else, but Baseball Musings implys that Soto was sent down to make room for Kendall.

 

The commenter below is right, Hill is not a good catcher. The Cubs sent down Soto, who has good minor league numbers batting wise. At age 24, I don't know why they don't give him more of a chance.

 

I saw that this morning. I hope that's not the case. I tend to doubt that it's already occurred since you'd wait until Kendall had actually arrived at the ballpark. It wouldn't surprise me, in any event.

 

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

[Soul]

I haven't seen this anywhere else, but Baseball Musings implys that Soto was sent down to make room for Kendall.

 

The commenter below is right, Hill is not a good catcher. The Cubs sent down Soto, who has good minor league numbers batting wise. At age 24, I don't know why they don't give him more of a chance.

 

I saw that this morning. I hope that's not the case. I tend to doubt that it's already occurred since you'd wait until Kendall had actually arrived at the ballpark. It wouldn't surprise me, in any event.

 

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

 

They better DFA Hill. Otherwise I may have to become upset.

[TheDude]

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

 

Wouldn't you rather have Soto playing everyday in the minors, in anticipation of fighting for the starter's spot next year?

 

Folks always seem to hate having the younger kids on the roster sitting on the bench. Soto would get sparse PT behind Kendall.

[Have a seat, Neifi]

I'd feel better about this trade if we would've called Soto up about 1-2 weeks earlier and at least given him a chance to show what we can do at the ML level first. If he was ever going to get a shot, you'd think it would be on a team with Hill and Bowen as the catching tandem. Frustrating that we seem to prefer going for the first available washed-up veteran to actually finding out whether our younger players are up to the task.

 

Slightly reminiscent of the Murton saga to me. If Matt's not going to play with Floyd (hurt) and Derosa as our available RFs, he never will.

 

That said, a pretty low risk move I guess. At worst he's just as bad as our current catchers, and at best he gives us an OBP in the .300s which, sadly, would mark a significant improvement. And we're not paying much at all. I guess that's something.

[Guest]

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

 

Wouldn't you rather have Soto playing everyday in the minors, in anticipation of fighting for the starter's spot next year?

 

No.

[hankp101]

I agree with you Neifi. It makes me wonder if wasn't a brief showcase for another trade. What is the Reds catching situation like? Might he be a chip they would be interested in for Griffey?

[brinoch]

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

 

Wouldn't you rather have Soto playing everyday in the minors, in anticipation of fighting for the starter's spot next year?

 

Folks always seem to hate having the younger kids on the roster sitting on the bench. Soto would get sparse PT behind Kendall.

 

Not necessarily. Kendall should get plenty of regular days off -- more than Barrett did, because he's old for a catcher. Blanco is probably going to be back soon. In the mean time, we need to field the best team possible.

 

In general, you are correct, you should let the kids play in AAA rather than rot on the bench, but Soto is a huge upgrade over Hill, and a further two weeks with reasonably regular playing time until Blanco comes back won't hurt Soto's development. I also think that Soto's probably learned all there is to learn in AAA since he's repeating the league.

[Keener98]

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

 

Wouldn't you rather have Soto playing everyday in the minors, in anticipation of fighting for the starter's spot next year?

 

Folks always seem to hate having the younger kids on the roster sitting on the bench. Soto would get sparse PT behind Kendall.

 

Not necessarily. Kendall should get plenty of regular days off -- more than Barrett did, because he's old for a catcher. Blanco is probably going to be back soon. In the mean time, we need to field the best team possible.

 

In general, you are correct, you should let the kids play in AAA rather than rot on the bench, but Soto is a huge upgrade over Hill, and a further two weeks with reasonably regular playing time until Blanco comes back won't hurt Soto's development. I also think that Soto's probably learned all there is to learn in AAA since he's repeating the league.

 

Im not so sure about that. Blanco had another setback in his rehab, and it had nothing to do with his neck this time. Now he is feeling pain in the shoulder area, so predicting when hes back is hard to do right now.

[Soriano12]

Looking at Kendalls stats....I have never seen his OBP tied so closely to his AVG as this season. That is not good.

[Springfield_CUBBY]

I haven't seen this anywhere else, but Baseball Musings implys that Soto was sent down to make room for Kendall.

 

The commenter below is right, Hill is not a good catcher. The Cubs sent down Soto, who has good minor league numbers batting wise. At age 24, I don't know why they don't give him more of a chance.

 

I saw that this morning. I hope that's not the case. I tend to doubt that it's already occurred since you'd wait until Kendall had actually arrived at the ballpark. It wouldn't surprise me, in any event.

 

Keeping Soto and DFAing Hill is the right move, and therefore the one that Hendry is unlikely to make.

 

They better DFA Hill. Otherwise I may have to become upset.

 

The Trib seems to think Soto is heading back down:

The Cubs will make a corresponding roster move Tuesday, likely sending Soto back to Triple-A Iowa. They called up right-hander Billy Petrick before Monday night's victory to join the bullpen, giving Piniella the 12-man staff he craves.

 

Hill, who homered Monday, is expected to remain as the backup to Kendall, at least until Henry Blanco returns from his rehab stint in the minors.

 

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/cs-070716cubsside,1,1459326.story?coll=cs-home-headlines

[Soriano12]

How come the Cubs don't realize that Koyie Hill is compete and utter crap

:?:

[A New Era]

How come the Cubs don't realize that Koyie Hill is compete and utter crap

:?:

 

He gets a grace period for that HR yesterday. :wink:

[jyoung55]

How come the Cubs don't realize that Koyie Hill is compete and utter crap

:?:

 

Something to consider here is that if you DFA and lose Hill then you are short another catcher. Then what happens if a combination of the following happen Blanco can't come back or does and can't make a go of it, Soto gets hurt, Kendall get hurt? Soto going down is the safer option that ensures we keep 4 catchers available, in theory, to be called up to the majors.

[Bruce Miles]

How come the Cubs don't realize that Koyie Hill is compete and utter crap

:?:

 

Cubs pitchers would beg to differ.

[Derwood]

piniella's track record so far is to play whoever is hitting, so i have no fear that if kendall fails to deliver, he'll be benched in favor of soto/blanco (see theriot/fontenot over izturis, pagan over jones, etc.)

[Banedon]

How come the Cubs don't realize that Koyie Hill is compete and utter crap

:?:

 

Cubs pitchers would beg to differ.

 

You think Soto is going down?