Kap says Cubs are talking to Aurilia's agent

[jersey cubs fan]

Yeah I can't see Aurilia really wanting to come to the Cubs, unless he really wants to win. Because he just isn't gonna get alot of AB's backing up 1b and 3rd. Playing 1b, 3rd and pinch hitting he will be lucky to get 130-150 AB's, which is about 250-300 less then he usually gets. So the Cubs have interest, but I doubt they want to pay him much, and I doubt he gets much AB's. So just because the Cubs have interest, doesn't mean Aurilia will want to come here in this role.

 

He's a 37-year old extremely limited defensive player that can't come close to producing the numbers necessary at the positions he's stuck at, 3B and 1B. Teams just aren't throwing money to garbage guys like Aurillia this year. The demand for major league names to fill spots just isn't that high. Why pay a veteran $800,000 to take up at bats that a $400,000 kid who might have a future can do it? In normal times the kid is the better option, in uncertain economic times when tickets haven't even gone on sale yet it's even more of an obvious option.

 

The problem is that we don't have a "kid" that can back up 1B and 3B and hit off the bench.

 

The bolded statement was a general thought about what teams around the league are looking to do in tough economic times.

[Derwood]

going further, a bench of Bako/Aurilia/Miles/Gathright/Johnson instead of Blanco/Fontenot/Cedeno/Pie/Johnson is pretty miserable

Really? Those groups look about equally blah to me.

 

Nobody's seriously going to miss having bats like Blanco Cedeno and Pie available off the bench, right?

 

The collective defensive value of those two groups seems roughly equal to me too. Miles to Cedeno is a mild downgrade. The rest is a wash.

 

you can call them a wash, but the new bench is older and more expensive than last year's, and isn't better.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Aurilia would be a fine bench guy to backup a couple infield positions, maybe even a shrewd one depending on the cost and how well you allocate his playing time, but not on the same bench that includes Aaron Miles, because neither of them should be playing shortstop ever.

 

I also don't think Aurilia gets anything of substance, money-wise.

[davearm2]

going further, a bench of Bako/Aurilia/Miles/Gathright/Johnson instead of Blanco/Fontenot/Cedeno/Pie/Johnson is pretty miserable

Really? Those groups look about equally blah to me.

 

Nobody's seriously going to miss having bats like Blanco Cedeno and Pie available off the bench, right?

 

The collective defensive value of those two groups seems roughly equal to me too. Miles to Cedeno is a mild downgrade. The rest is a wash.

 

you can call them a wash, but the new bench is older and more expensive than last year's, and isn't better.

More expensive? Not by much, if at all. Blanco would be the highest paid of all those names.

 

Older? Who cares. Only Miles is committed for more than this year.