Cubs should field offers for DLee

[Lefty]

In any competitive business, if you think you see what someone else doesn't, you are probably wrong. But there are those times where you are just convinced, act on it, are right, and it is just glorious (I'm a trader).

 

I thought Lee had a lousy year at First Base. While he won the Gold Glove, the new defensive metrics had him smack in the middle of First Basemen. I thought his speed was gone. Dan Fox' baserunning metrics at Baseball Prospectus had DLee as one of the poorer baserunners in the NL. His home/road splits were extreme. On the road he was probably close to the bottom for First Base productivity. I thought he lost a lot of his ability to go with the pitch away. How many called strike threes did he take on the outside corner?

 

If I am right, have the Cubs noticed it? Have other teams ? Have any of you? I don't know if Loney, mentioned on this board as a possibility, is any better. But do we have another problem in the lineup hitting us sooner than we thought?

[CuseCubFan69]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

[mul21]

I don't have enough info to address the rest of this, but it seemed to me that a lot of the time a Cub (especially Lee) struck out looking last year, the ball was on the outside edge of the plate and there were a lot of times when it looked like there was a huge outside corner (ie 4-6 inches off the black) that the Cubs pitchers weren't getting in the same game.

[Backtobanks]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

 

While I agree with most of what has been written by other posters, I'm convince that DLee will retire as a Cub, mostly because he is such a high-character guy.

[javy knows my name]

I can't ignore the rebound he made in the power department in the second half. 16 hrs for a pace of 39, IIRC. In the first half, he was sluggish from the wrist injury and he lost some confidence, IMO. My biggest problem is the dropoff at defense at first base, mainly with his range, and it's not that big a problem as long as he can continue to scoop throws in the dirt with the best of em.

I wouldn't take Loney straight up for D-Lee, but I'd trade him and others for any package that included Loney + Kemp/Billingsley/Kershaw/etc. He is certainly not untouchable for me.

[CubinNY]

I would feel better about dealing Lee if the Cubs had:

 

A) another power bat

B) Someone capeable of playing 1st base who wasn't out of positon

C) higher team OBP

 

Lee is more important to the Cubs than he would be to most other teams for reasons A and C.

[CuseCubFan69]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

 

While I agree with most of what has been written by other posters, I'm convince that DLee will retire as a Cub, mostly because he is such a high-character guy.

 

All together possible and it seems like he is an outstanding person from what I've heard and read. But, it is a business and you can't fall in love with a player either and if you get a chance to improve the team, you have to do it. If you want a bunch of nice guys you will have another 100 years of not winning.

[javy knows my name]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

 

While I agree with most of what has been written by other posters, I'm convince that DLee will retire as a Cub, mostly because he is such a high-character guy.

 

All together possible and it seems like he is an outstanding person from what I've heard and read. But, it is a business and you can't fall in love with a player either and if you get a chance to improve the team, you have to do it. If you want a bunch of nice guys you will have another 100 years of not winning.

Agreed 100% but I can say with certainty that if we dealt Lee I would miss him more than any other Cub I can remember.

[CuseCubFan69]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

 

While I agree with most of what has been written by other posters, I'm convince that DLee will retire as a Cub, mostly because he is such a high-character guy.

 

All together possible and it seems like he is an outstanding person from what I've heard and read. But, it is a business and you can't fall in love with a player either and if you get a chance to improve the team, you have to do it. If you want a bunch of nice guys you will have another 100 years of not winning.

Agreed 100% but I can say with certainty that if we dealt Lee I would miss him more than any other Cub I can remember.

 

You just don't see anything coming out negative about him. ARam has the "hustle" thing (press + Fans) and the popular pitchers Wood and Prior have lost their luster due to injuries so yes, I can see a lot of people saying that about Lee.

[BigbadB]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

 

While I agree with most of what has been written by other posters, I'm convince that DLee will retire as a Cub, mostly because he is such a high-character guy.

 

All together possible and it seems like he is an outstanding person from what I've heard and read. But, it is a business and you can't fall in love with a player either and if you get a chance to improve the team, you have to do it. If you want a bunch of nice guys you will have another 100 years of not winning.

 

Actually, the team is already committed to being in love with that player the day they issue that NTC.

[SCCubbieFAN]

who do the Cubs have in house who can man 1B adequately if Lee is traded? De Rosa? could this be why we are seeing so much talk about acquiring Kaz because a trade involving Lee is being considered w/De Rosa shifting to 1B? just a thought.

[CubColtPacer]

Trading Lee would almost certainly makes us a better team next year because the Cubs could upgrade majorly at another position and then plug Ward in at first base. It would have to be somebody young and productive though because the Cubs would then have to go free agent shopping for a first baseman after the season, and the good ones don't come very cheap. I'd also be very sad to lose Lee, but I understand that sometimes you have to make the hard decisions if you want to get better. People like Lee don't usually get traded though because of perception. If the Cubs didn't make the playoffs next year, even if they put a better product on the field, fans are going to point to the Lee move as the reason why. Perception wise, it's hard to win from the deal and easy to lose from it.

[Lefty]

who do the Cubs have in house who can man 1B adequately if Lee is traded? De Rosa? could this be why we are seeing so much talk about acquiring Kaz because a trade involving Lee is being considered w/De Rosa shifting to 1B? just a thought.

 

God help us if the right side of our infield is Matsui and DeRosa.

[SCCubbieFAN]

who do the Cubs have in house who can man 1B adequately if Lee is traded? De Rosa? could this be why we are seeing so much talk about acquiring Kaz because a trade involving Lee is being considered w/De Rosa shifting to 1B? just a thought.

 

God help us if the right side of our infield is Matsui and DeRosa.

 

 

true, but it could also be Infante & De Rosa. :roll:

[Sammy Sofa]

Where does Lee and his family live in the offseason? It's out west, right?

[Guest]

Where does Lee and his family live in the offseason? It's out west, right?

 

He's a Cali boy. Don't know if he still lives in Sacramento though.

[Derwood]

NTC

[nilodnayr]

IMo, no player should be untouchable when it comes to a trade. If there is any chance to improve your team, you do it. Granted, the NTC puts a kink into it but that can still be solved as well depending on where the player is going. I don't know why the Yanks wouldn't want Lee as well.

 

While I agree with most of what has been written by other posters, I'm convince that DLee will retire as a Cub, mostly because he is such a high-character guy.

 

All together possible and it seems like he is an outstanding person from what I've heard and read. But, it is a business and you can't fall in love with a player either and if you get a chance to improve the team, you have to do it. If you want a bunch of nice guys you will have another 100 years of not winning.

Agreed 100% but I can say with certainty that if we dealt Lee I would miss him more than any other Cub I can remember.

 

You just don't see anything coming out negative about him. ARam has the "hustle" thing (press + Fans) and the popular pitchers Wood and Prior have lost their luster due to injuries so yes, I can see a lot of people saying that about Lee.

 

Except for that one incident, you know, throwing haymakers at Chris Young.

[Outshined_One]

NTC

 

Can be waived.

[GoCubsGo1679625768]

It might make sense to sell "high" onl Lee in the next few years. I believe he still makes his home out west? Maybe he would want to be closer to home considering his daughters condition.

 

That said, with the recent FA signings, his contract at 13 million is actually a very good deal. Despite his decline in power #'s.

[Derwood]

NTC

 

Can be waived.

 

sure, but i'm having bad flashbacks to the million threads about trading Kerry Wood. it always boiled down to NTC

[jersey cubs fan]

NTC

 

Can be waived.

 

For a fee, which, for a guy like Lee, making $13m per through 2010, will probably mean something like a 2 year extension, or player option, added on, at about $15-17m each year. It then makes him less valuable to the team acquiring him.

 

It's one thing to trade a guy with a NTC when he wants out, but I don't think that's the case with Lee. Usually it takes a very long time to trade a guy with a NTC.

[Sammy Sofa]

Where does Lee and his family live in the offseason? It's out west, right?

 

He's a Cali boy. Don't know if he still lives in Sacramento though.

 

So given his daughter's unfortunate medical condition and likely a general desire to be around the family more back "home," it likely wouldn't be too difficult to trade him to a west coast team.

[javy knows my name]

Where does Lee and his family live in the offseason? It's out west, right?

 

He's a Cali boy. Don't know if he still lives in Sacramento though.

 

So given his daughter's unfortunate medical condition and likely a general desire to be around the family more back "home," it likely wouldn't be too difficult to trade him to a west coast team.

I would just hate to shop him and then end up keeping him. It would suck to ask him to waive that no-trade clause, too

[Guest]

Where does Lee and his family live in the offseason? It's out west, right?

 

He's a Cali boy. Don't know if he still lives in Sacramento though.

 

 

I know he does a lot of charity work out here but not sure if he lives here.