RUMOR: Cubs interested in Willits

[BigbadB]

Wow. I just looked at Florida's roster. Luis Gonzalez? Uggh. Are they moving Willingham to 3b?

 

Cody Ross and Willingham would have made for a nice platoon in LF. Instead, Gonzalez will suck against RH and LH pitching. Guess Florida just wanted a veteran name to throw into the line up. Stupid.

[Post Count Padder]

Wouldn't mind Willits if we don't give up much. Unlike most gritty speed guys, Willits can actually take a walk.

[craig]

Willits is a plausible target. He doesn't have the power or the role with Anaheim to be real expensive. With Torii, Matthews, and Figgins around, it's not like they have a big role for him in CF. With zero power, it's not like they are going to be counting on him for a lot of LF or RF. He's a bench guy for them with no projected future to start, and with a glaring hole in his toolbox. So I assume that he is expendable. For somebody who might have a chance to play a larger role for them.

 

Obviously we aren't going to trade Pie or Gallagher for a cat like that.

 

But I could imagine him being available for one of our expendables.

 

I could also see us having interest. Pie has been awful versus LHP, and last year vs ml pitchers in general. Willits could provide a nice platoon with Pie, and some anti-awful insurance in case Pie totally flops this year.

 

One possibility, in the event that pie did hit pretty well this year vs RHP, would be to actually platoon Pie/Willits at #2 spot. Keep the speed at top (which Lou wants, regardless of board opinion), and park SS at #8.

[Post Count Padder]

Willits is a plausible target. He doesn't have the power or the role with Anaheim to be real expensive. With Torii, Matthews, and Figgins around, it's not like they have a big role for him in CF. With zero power, it's not like they are going to be counting on him for a lot of LF or RF. He's a bench guy for them with no projected future to start, and with a glaring hole in his toolbox. So I assume that he is expendable. For somebody who might have a chance to play a larger role for them.

 

Obviously we aren't going to trade Pie or Gallagher for a cat like that.

 

But I could imagine him being available for one of our expendables.

 

I could also see us having interest. Pie has been awful versus LHP, and last year vs ml pitchers in general. Willits could provide a nice platoon with Pie, and some anti-awful insurance in case Pie totally flops this year.

 

One possibility, in the event that pie did hit pretty well this year vs RHP, would be to actually platoon Pie/Willits at #2 spot. Keep the speed at top (which Lou wants, regardless of board opinion), and park SS at #8.

I heard somewhere the Angels were interested in Marquis.

[Ryno12]

Maybe we can teach Willits to play SS...

[shnsajax]

Outside of MLB experience how is Willits really any different from Fuld?

[Ryno12]

Outside of MLB experience how is Willits really any different from Fuld?

 

He's a switch hitter dude...lol

[OleMissCub]

Outside of MLB experience how is Willits really any different from Fuld?

 

He's a switch hitter dude...lol

 

Yay! Good to see someone using one of my gifs! :-)

 

I need to make more Ernie ones.

[craig]

Not sure what the laughs are about that. It's logical.

 

Pie is the intended starter, but he splits very badly vs LHP. He needs somebody to platoon with him. Fuld is a lefty, and while his splits are less extreme than Pie's, he's still not a guy you want to put on the team in order to be used primarily vs LHP. Having two lefties platoon with each other, that would be a first in the history of the game, I think. Plus, Fuld has not shown success above AA/AFL even against RHP.

 

Willits would be a much preferable platoon for Pie, given his splits vs LHP.

 

Versus RHP, Pie obviously is the favorite. Willits could conceivably be in the competition with Fuld and Patterson as first option in the event that Pie were to play himself back to Iowa.

[Clem Fandango]

This would be excellent if we don't give up too much for him. Something tells me we will though if this goes through, but oh well

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Marquis + lower level prospect for Willis sounds good to me. I'm not sure if the Angels bite, but that's the starting point in my opinion.

[UK1679666180]

I think it would be a solid move to go after Willits, he'd be a nice hitter at the top of the order. I assume if this is true that talks broke down for Byrd and have shifted to Willits.

[hankp101]

I hope that the signing of Cintron, coupled with this rumor, doesn't mean we are considering adding in Cedeno in order to get them to eat Marquis' contract.

[SweetZombieJesus]

*post containing whine about hendry sucking and demand the cubs rather trade for Juan Rivera and move Fukudome to CF*

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm not a very big fan of Willits. His age in his minor league time plus his BABIP in the major leagues don't fill me with optimism. Marquis is worth more than a buy high on a slap hitter like Willits.

[Balsa]

I'll admit, I too have got a bad case of Willitis.

Didn't Angel Pagan have that last year?

[Rob]

Willits is a supercharged version of Fuld. He's likely to be a little less valuable than Pie, but on the off chance that Pie completely tanks, I wouldn't mind having him around.

 

The problem would be Lou wanting to play him too much, I would think.

[rawaction]

I'm not a very big fan of Willits. His age in his minor league time plus his BABIP in the major leagues don't fill me with optimism. Marquis is worth more than a buy high on a slap hitter like Willits.

 

Yeah, I agree. I wouldn't trade very much for Willits, and probably not Marquis, who is likely to be the best of the 3-headed monster that includes Lieber and Dempster.

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm not a very big fan of Willits. His age in his minor league time plus his BABIP in the major leagues don't fill me with optimism. Marquis is worth more than a buy high on a slap hitter like Willits.

 

his babip in his last two minor league seasons was .359 and .375. maybe it's that he's been ridiculously lucky for 3 straight years now, but it's more likely that he's like an ichiro and can put up a consistently high babip due to his speed and hitting lefthanded.

[17 Seconds]

I'm not a very big fan of Willits. His age in his minor league time plus his BABIP in the major leagues don't fill me with optimism. Marquis is worth more than a buy high on a slap hitter like Willits.

 

Yeah, I agree. I wouldn't trade very much for Willits, and probably not Marquis, who is likely to be the best of the 3-headed monster that includes Lieber and Dempster.

 

Not to mention tha Angels would certainly ask for more than Marquis in return for Willits. If we are trying so hard to dump this guy and his salary, why do people think other teams would be so willing to take on that salary AND give up a decent player (to have Marquis to pitch in the AL, no less)?

 

I can't imagine us getting anything of value for Jason Marquis unless we eat a big chunk of his salary, in which case I'd rather just keep him.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I'm not a very big fan of Willits. His age in his minor league time plus his BABIP in the major leagues don't fill me with optimism. Marquis is worth more than a buy high on a slap hitter like Willits.

 

his babip in his last two minor league seasons was .359 and .375. maybe it's that he's been ridiculously lucky for 3 straight years now, but it's more likely that he's like an ichiro and can put up a consistently high babip due to his speed and hitting lefthanded.

 

He's got less than a full season's worth of playing time in his MLB career, spreading it out over September 2006 and in most of last season doesn't prove to me that he's got the rare ability to sustain an insanely high BABIP.

[BDWeav71]

The problem would be Lou wanting to play him too much, I would think.

 

 

Completely agree.

[Elrhino]

We need a platoon for Pie, just so we can blame Lou for irratic playing time when he's hitting below .310 OBP to help us sleep better at night.

[badnews]

Ugh. This topic has officially raised my blood pressure.

 

A few months I made a topic, back when bashing Fuld mercilessly was in high style, about how Fuld and Willits basically had the same minor league career, except Willits hit in more hitter-friendly parks in the minors, Willits struck out more and hit for less power than Fuld, and Willits had a better base stealing record, including the caveat that Fuld has improved his basestealing in recent years.

 

The response? "Nobody cares about Reggie Willits anyway."

 

Unfortunately now I can't seem to dig up that topic.

 

And now the same people who were crapping on Fuld are going wild for Willits? Make it stop. My ticker can't take this.

 

Some points need to be made:

 

- Willits strikes out too much for a guy with so little power.

 

- Look at Willits' post ASB numbers. We'd probably be getting that with fewer walks I imagine.PASS

 

- Willits is a foolish choice to buy high on. It'd be like trading a bunch to get Brady Clark after his 2005 season.

 

- To whoever said the Marlins moving Willingham was a bad idea: It isn't. He's the worst defensive outfielder in baseball by an enormous margin, he's simply awful out there.

 

- The fact that Willits had a high BABIP while hitting in Salt Lake should not impress anyone.

 

- Cody Ross, to me, falls in the Ryan Spilbourghs category. They're both guys who look attractive because they have "center field" stamped on their resume but, Spilbourghs in particular, is not much better in CF than I would expect Murton to be. I like Ross better as a CF than Spilbourghs but neither is ideal.

[TruffleShuffle]

I'm not a very big fan of Willits. His age in his minor league time plus his BABIP in the major leagues don't fill me with optimism. Marquis is worth more than a buy high on a slap hitter like Willits.

 

his babip in his last two minor league seasons was .359 and .375. maybe it's that he's been ridiculously lucky for 3 straight years now, but it's more likely that he's like an ichiro and can put up a consistently high babip due to his speed and hitting lefthanded.

 

He's got less than a full season's worth of playing time in his MLB career, spreading it out over September 2006 and in most of last season doesn't prove to me that he's got the rare ability to sustain an insanely high BABIP.

 

so you are ignoring the fact that his babip in the minors was just as good as it has been in the majors?