Bakos Back

[Little Slide Rooter]

Cubs, Bako Agree To Terms

By Tim Dierkes [January 30 at 1:30pm CST]

According to a press release, the Cubs agreed to terms with catcher Paul Bako for 2009. Bako, 36, played for the Cubs for 2003-04.

 

Operation worst bench ever is almost complete. Now if only there was a way to get ahold of Rey Ordonez/Ramon Martinez/Neifi Perez/Jose Macias

[MixmastaMiguel]

Bako = Blanco

Fontenot = Fontenot

Reed = Reed

Gathright = Pie

Hoffpauir > Ward

 

I don't see how our bench is any worse than last year. The only differences is that we have Miles instead of DeRosa which is the opposite of going from Edmonds to Bradley.

[cl smooth]

Bako = Blanco

Fontenot = Fontenot

Reed = Reed

Gathright = Pie

Hoffpauir > Ward

 

I don't see how our bench is any worse than last year. The only differences is that we have Miles instead of DeRosa which is the opposite of going from Edmonds to Bradley.

 

i would take blanco's ugly mug over bako any day of the week.

[jersey cubs fan]

Bako = Blanco

Fontenot = Fontenot

Reed = Reed

Gathright = Pie

Hoffpauir > Ward

 

I don't see how our bench is any worse than last year. The only differences is that we have Miles instead of DeRosa which is the opposite of going from Edmonds to Bradley.

Blanco has been significantly better than Bako

Fontenot won't be on the bench as much, and Miles is a downgrade. Gathwright doesn't replace Pie, he wasn't there last year. And Hoffpauier isn't going to make the team with only 1 infield backup. And we have no idea if Bradley will outproduce what Edmonds did last year.

[cubbinalltheway]

stupid hendry. he should've signed that .300/.380/.400 backup catcher. wait, what's that? they don't exist? every backup catcher sucks? that's why they're backups? gotcha.

 

it's pretty simple, people. the backup catcher is going to be light hitting, whether it's bako, blanco or anyone else.

[SouthSideRyan]

And Mike Fontenot won't be on the bench.

[jersey cubs fan]

stupid hendry. he should've signed that .300/.380/.400 backup catcher. wait, what's that? they don't exist? every backup catcher sucks? that's why they're backups? gotcha.

 

it's pretty simple, people. the backup catcher is going to be light hitting, whether it's bako, blanco or anyone else.

 

there are varying degrees of light hitting backup catchers. Bako is the worst of the worst. Blanco actually provided something with the bat.

[SouthSideRyan]

stupid hendry. he should've signed that .300/.380/.400 backup catcher. wait, what's that? they don't exist? every backup catcher sucks? that's why they're backups? gotcha.

 

it's pretty simple, people. the backup catcher is going to be light hitting, whether it's bako, blanco or anyone else.

 

there are varying degrees of light hitting backup catchers. Bako is the worst of the worst. Blanco actually provided something with the bat.

 

BALANCE

[cubbinalltheway]

stupid hendry. he should've signed that .300/.380/.400 backup catcher. wait, what's that? they don't exist? every backup catcher sucks? that's why they're backups? gotcha.

 

it's pretty simple, people. the backup catcher is going to be light hitting, whether it's bako, blanco or anyone else.

 

there are varying degrees of light hitting backup catchers. Bako is the worst of the worst. Blanco actually provided something with the bat.

he's definitely not, but if it makes you feel better to say that then power to you.

[Sammy Sofa]

stupid hendry. he should've signed that .300/.380/.400 backup catcher. wait, what's that? they don't exist? every backup catcher sucks? that's why they're backups? gotcha.

 

it's pretty simple, people. the backup catcher is going to be light hitting, whether it's bako, blanco or anyone else.

 

there are varying degrees of light hitting backup catchers. Bako is the worst of the worst. Blanco actually provided something with the bat.

he's definitely not, but if it makes you feel better to say that then power to you.

 

Not only is next to useless offensively, he's also very old. Nobody expects a backup catcher to be stellar and that they often tend to be veterans, but come on.

[jersey cubs fan]

stupid hendry. he should've signed that .300/.380/.400 backup catcher. wait, what's that? they don't exist? every backup catcher sucks? that's why they're backups? gotcha.

 

it's pretty simple, people. the backup catcher is going to be light hitting, whether it's bako, blanco or anyone else.

 

there are varying degrees of light hitting backup catchers. Bako is the worst of the worst. Blanco actually provided something with the bat.

he's definitely not, but if it makes you feel better to say that then power to you.

 

There may be somebody out there worse, but there's no doubt he's significantly worse than Blanco, which is the point. It's incredibly stupid to just accept any level of non-hitting from a backup catcher because they all fit the category of light hitting.

[jersey cubs fan]

OPS+ in 2008, Blanco had an 83, Bako had 62. That's a significant difference.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Bako = Blanco

Fontenot = Fontenot

Reed = Reed

Gathright = Pie

Hoffpauir > Ward

 

I don't see how our bench is any worse than last year. The only differences is that we have Miles instead of DeRosa which is the opposite of going from Edmonds to Bradley.

 

Fontenot>Miles

Ward/Hoffpauir>Gathright

Reed/Edmonds>Reed

Blanco>Bako

??? ??? Cedeno

[cubbinalltheway]

OPS+ in 2008, Blanco had an 83, Bako had 62. That's a significant difference.

blanco had 120 at bats last year, with a 717 OPS.

 

through the same number of at bats last year, bako had a 774 OPS. bako isn't going to get 300 at bats this year, like he had last year.

[fromthestretch]

If you throw out Blanco's 2007 when he had that bad neck injury and only got 54 at-bats, he's been significantly better than Bako in their last three seasons. On top of that, Blanco is a better defensive catcher.

[SouthSideRyan]

OPS+ in 2008, Blanco had an 83, Bako had 62. That's a significant difference.

blanco had 120 at bats last year, with a 717 OPS.

 

through the same number of at bats last year, bako had a 774 OPS. bako isn't going to get 300 at bats this year, like he had last year.

 

If only there were ~120 AB seasons in Bako's past we could judge him on. Which would you prefer we go with, the 533 OPS or the 490? Nah, I'm sure he established a new level of mediocrity at the age of 36. Something just clicked.

[fromthestretch]

OPS+ in 2008, Blanco had an 83, Bako had 62. That's a significant difference.

blanco had 120 at bats last year, with a 717 OPS.

 

through the same number of at bats last year, bako had a 774 OPS. bako isn't going to get 300 at bats this year, like he had last year.

 

What kind of reasoning is that? It's not like he's guaranteed to post a .774 OPS in 120 at-bats again. Through his first 121 at-bats in 2007, he posted a .574 OPS. Through his first 120 at-bats in 2006, he posted a .553 OPS. Tell me which one is the outlier here.

[cubbinalltheway]

If you throw out Blanco's 2007 when he had that bad neck injury and only got 54 at-bats, he's been significantly better than Bako in their last three seasons. On top of that, Blanco is a better defensive catcher.

and blanco signed with a team that's going to give him a chance to play more. comparing bako to blanco is silly; he wasn't going to come back.

[jersey cubs fan]

If you throw out Blanco's 2007 when he had that bad neck injury and only got 54 at-bats, he's been significantly better than Bako in their last three seasons. On top of that, Blanco is a better defensive catcher.

and blanco signed with a team that's going to give him a chance to play more. comparing bako to blanco is silly; he wasn't going to come back.

 

How is it silly to compare a player signed to fill a position this year that was filled by a different player the year before?

[cubbinalltheway]

If you throw out Blanco's 2007 when he had that bad neck injury and only got 54 at-bats, he's been significantly better than Bako in their last three seasons. On top of that, Blanco is a better defensive catcher.

and blanco signed with a team that's going to give him a chance to play more. comparing bako to blanco is silly; he wasn't going to come back.

 

How is it silly to compare a player signed to fill a position this year that was filled by a different player the year before?

because it wasnt a matter of choosing blanco or bako?

[jersey cubs fan]

If you throw out Blanco's 2007 when he had that bad neck injury and only got 54 at-bats, he's been significantly better than Bako in their last three seasons. On top of that, Blanco is a better defensive catcher.

and blanco signed with a team that's going to give him a chance to play more. comparing bako to blanco is silly; he wasn't going to come back.

 

How is it silly to compare a player signed to fill a position this year that was filled by a different player the year before?

because it wasnt a matter of choosing blanco or bako?

 

Regardless of Blanco's purported reasoning for choosing SD (it was stated early in the offseason that the Cubs had no intention of bringing him back, add in the left handed thing and it stands to reason they were as big a part of it as he was), it's up to the GM to field the best team he can, and improve upon your team. The fact is he signed a bad backup catcher who is significantly worse than the guy they had last year. That's not good.

[fromthestretch]

If you throw out Blanco's 2007 when he had that bad neck injury and only got 54 at-bats, he's been significantly better than Bako in their last three seasons. On top of that, Blanco is a better defensive catcher.

and blanco signed with a team that's going to give him a chance to play more. comparing bako to blanco is silly; he wasn't going to come back.

 

How is it silly to compare a player signed to fill a position this year that was filled by a different player the year before?

because it wasnt a matter of choosing blanco or bako?

 

You're right. Blanco wasn't the only better option than Bako out there.

[YearofDaCubs]

In the grand scheme of things it really doesn't matter who the backup catcher is but why sign a very old catcher as backup when you can use Koyie Hill?

[cubbinalltheway]

Regardless of Blanco's purported reasoning for choosing SD (it was stated early in the offseason that the Cubs had no intention of bringing him back, add in the left handed thing and it stands to reason they were as big a part of it as he was), it's up to the GM to field the best team he can, and improve upon your team. The fact is he signed a bad backup catcher who is significantly worse than the guy they had last year. That's not good.

i dont disagree with what youre saying, but here's the thing. well, two things. one, do you really believe that bako's handedness factored in? he's the backup catcher. a guy who will play in 1-2 games a week, if that.

 

two, it's kinda tough to improve upon a 717 OPS from your backup catcher. i'd be curious to know if there were/are ANY backup catchers available that could top that this year.

[Tracer Bullet]

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