Gordon Wittenmeyer: Don't trade Jacque

[JeffH]

I wouldn't just dump Jones. But if someone took his salary, which I think is $6 million in 2008, and the money saved could be used toward A-Rod or Furcal, I'd take a chance on Pie in CF with no back-up plan.

 

This is a good position. Don't eat salary to move Jacque, but, if someone will take him and his salary for nothing - giddyup.

 

$5 salary, plus $1.33333333333333333333333333333333333333 signing bonus.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm not going to argue about Pie. Too many Pie supporters are as gung-ho as cult fanatics and there's nothing you can say. Pie's defense was good but it wasn't as good as advertised. People said his arm was better than Jeff Francouer's, but we know how many assists Francouer racked up in a short time, and how many Pie has, and it's not because nobody's running. He doesn't have the howitzer people have boasted about. He could succeed but he also could not. In any event I'm not going to respond to the ten posts of sputtering outrage this post will generate so we'll have to agree to disagree. Pie is good defensively, but people have exaggerated. That's all I'm saying. Somehow this will get distorted into "He's Adam Dunn out there" I fear.

 

I don't think Jones is great. I just don't think you give away a .735 OPS good defensive center fielder for less than nothing.

 

First of all, your ridiculous generalizations about people who simply want to see Pie actually get a sustained and consistent shot at being a fulltime player and CFer with the Cubs, something he was nowhere near getting this past season, are insipid. Pull yourself down off the cross for "daring to insult Pie." But I suppose this is just "sputtering outrage," right?

 

Secondly, few people are simply wanting to trade Jacque simply to trade him. The idea is that now you're likely to get something since he did pick up his season, relatively speaking, in the second half and he has only 1 year left on his deal. It would be worth exploring what Hendry could get for him in deal, whether on his own or packaged correctly and the team that wants him picks up the rest of his deal. The Cubs don't "need" to trade Jacque, but they shouldn't completely ignore the idea, too. The Cubs really shouldn't ignore the idea of trading anyone if the right deal presented itself.

[squally1313]

Not sure if this has been pointed out...but this article made it onto FJM. Might want to check it out...

[Banedon]

Not sure if this has been pointed out...but this article made it onto FJM. Might want to check it out...

 

LOL...assistant GM Dirk Nowitzki...awesome.

[bhogg]

If the Cubs can somehow get a quality RFer and SS, I'd say put Pie in CF and leave him there. If he hits .200 that's fine.

 

When I say "quality" I mean a proven star-type player. If Pie can somehow be the lineup's weakest link, that should be just fine.

[CUBZ99]

I'm not going to argue about Pie. Too many Pie supporters are as gung-ho as cult fanatics and there's nothing you can say.

 

Where are these supporters you speak of? I have yet to read anybody I would consider being a gung-ho cult fanatic? Most of the Pie hype comes from BA and the organization. I'm not a BA gung-ho cult fanatic by any means, but when they say Pie is a real talent and rank him fairly high in their publication constantly, that at least tells me that there might be some potential.

 

 

 

Pie's defense was good but it wasn't as good as advertised. People said his arm was better than Jeff Francouer's, but we know how many assists Francouer racked up in a short time, and how many Pie has, and it's not because nobody's running. He doesn't have the howitzer people have boasted about. He could succeed but he also could not.

 

You are really hitting rock bottom to complain about Pie's defense. If you watched Pie play this summer you would have definitely seen that he does in fact have an above average arm. I'm not going to devalue him simply because he may not have the best arm in MLB.

 

Pie made some catches that Jone would never have gotten to and had Pie been playing CF there were many balls that he would have gotten to.

 

In any event I'm not going to respond to the ten posts of sputtering outrage this post will generate so we'll have to agree to disagree. Pie is good defensively, but people have exaggerated. That's all I'm saying. Somehow this will get distorted into "He's Adam Dunn out there" I fear.

 

I don't think Jones is great. I just don't think you give away a .735 OPS good defensive center fielder for less than nothing.

 

You keep leaving out the fact that Pie is only 22 and most likely has the best chance to improve next year. Jones is not a terrible option next year, if Pie can't hit enough to play CF.

[cheapseats]

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/

 

Currently the third article on the page.

[JGalt73]

http://www.firejoemorgan.com/

 

Currently the third article on the page.

 

That was a dead-on line by line reply to the article. Nice stuff.