Cubs trade Gathright to Orioles for Ryan Freel

[E.J.]

Refresh my memory Freel can play just about every position right?

 

Yep. He's basically a crappier version of Mark DeRosa.

[Buford T Justice]

Refresh my memory Freel can play just about every position right?

 

Yep. He's basically a crappier version of Mark DeRosa.

 

Well that ship is sailed, is he a switch hitter? I always remembered he always did something to hurt us.

[JeffH]

So the next question is, what is Baltimore's motivation for making this trade? Didn't they have a glut of OF? They don't save any money.

 

They can send Gathright to the minor leagues.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Depending on the salary configuration, I dont mind picking up a player who could be of use to us if it only cost us Gathright. Now why anyone would want Gathright and Pie on the same team is beyong me. Maybe they can pick up Rajai Davis and Michael Bourn too.

[jersey cubs fan]

Refresh my memory Freel can play just about every position right?

 

Yep. He's basically a crappier version of Mark DeRosa.

 

Jack of all trades and master of none, right? He's not a good defender at any particular position. A moderate upgrade to Jose Macias.

[E.J.]

Refresh my memory Freel can play just about every position right?

 

Yep. He's basically a crappier version of Mark DeRosa.

 

Jack of all trades and master of none, right? He's not a good defender at any particular position. A moderate upgrade to Jose Macias.

 

Damn you for bringing up the Gremlin. I had forgotten about him.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Freel is better than Miles and Scales, and is a better defender at 3B than Fontenot. If you can get him for nothing, why not?

 

His last two seasons have both been worse than Miles. Given that he is older, and only marginally better for their careers, I'm not so sure he's even an upgrade to Miles.

 

Freel had a down 2007 where he had an unlucky BABIP, but aside from that he's been better than Miles' career numbers every year of his career. He's a better hitter with a better approach. His defense seems to be aging though, so maybe he's down to Miles' level at 2B.

[jersey cubs fan]

Freel had a down 2007 where he had an unlucky BABIP, but aside from that he's been better than Miles' career numbers every year of his career.

 

How was he better in 2008?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Freel had a down 2007 where he had an unlucky BABIP, but aside from that he's been better than Miles' career numbers every year of his career.

 

How was he better in 2008?

 

His AVG, OBP, OPS, OPS+, wOBA, WPA, and most any other metric you can come up with were better than Miles' career numbers.

[jersey cubs fan]

Freel had a down 2007 where he had an unlucky BABIP, but aside from that he's been better than Miles' career numbers every year of his career.

 

How was he better in 2008?

 

His AVG, OBP, OPS, OPS+, wOBA, WPA, and most any other metric you can come up with were better than Miles' career numbers.

 

Oh, better than his career, okay. But Miles was better in 2008, he was also better in 2007. Freel is hardly an upgrade to Miles. He's a very similar player who could easily be worse, again.

[Little Slide Rooter]

These past 2 weeks must have been one hell of an emotional roller coaster for poor Bobby Scales.

[jersey cubs fan]

I guess this definitely means there has to be another move to make room for Wells, which I assume is going to be Bobby Scales.

 

 

Could they possibly dump Fox?

[UMFan83]

Miles is still the only backup at SS.

[Keener98]

Meh doesnt cost us anything, and I like Freels career .360 OBP. Who knows maybe we can catch lightning in a bottle with him. Is Freel considered a good base runner?

[moorecg]

I think Freel is solid on the basebaths....I remember really liking him a few years back with Cincy...really, when giving up only Joey Gathright, there is no downside...if somehow we could get some of that STL pixey dust to rub off on him next time he's down here he could be a really valuable player.

[cubsfan26]

As long as the Orioles are eating salary, I like this trade. I think Ryan Freel helps us as a team overall then Joey Gathright will help us as a team overall in 09.

[Laura]

As long as Freel's invisible friend is included in the trade, I'm cool with it.

[Andy]

Freel had a down 2007 where he had an unlucky BABIP, but aside from that he's been better than Miles' career numbers every year of his career.

 

How was he better in 2008?

 

His AVG, OBP, OPS, OPS+, wOBA, WPA, and most any other metric you can come up with were better than Miles' career numbers.

 

Oh, better than his career, okay. But Miles was better in 2008, he was also better in 2007. Freel is hardly an upgrade to Miles. He's a very similar player who could easily be worse, again.

Pixie-dust Aaron Miles shouldn't count. Normal Freel >> Normal Miles.

 

I've been asking since the Gathright signing why we didn't just keep Pie if we wanted a speed-only guy on the bench. Pie was better on defense than Gathright anyway. So instead we trade for a guy who is a worse DeRosa.

 

Sure seems like Hendry regrets a lot of his off-season already.

[Illini Iceman]

The only way you can criticize this deal is if you would rather have Scales than Freel, because that's what it comes down to. If they don't make this deal Gaithright either accepts the AAA assignment or gets released and there is no point in having him in AAA because if the Cubs really need a CF at some point they could just promote Fuld and get as much production.

 

Overall I think this team with Freel is better than this team with Gaithright so it seems like an OK move. Freel is still on the DL so Scales probably gets to stick around for a little while longer until Freel is ready to go.

[SouthSideRyan]

Miles is still the only backup at SS.

 

Most teams only have 1 backup SS.

 

The problem is we have none. Aaron Miles is not a major league SS.

[Butterscup1679666578]

As long as Freel's invisible friend is included in the trade, I'm cool with it.

 

Farney!

[rocket]

I like this trade, Freel's decline be damned. I always liked him.

 

He's our 25th man who can play a lot of positions and can work a count. I think he'll be fine here.

[manbearcub]

I like this trade, Freel's decline be damned. I always liked him.

 

He's our 25th man who can play a lot of positions and can work a count. I think he'll be fine here.

yeah, but how many 25th men do we need?

[Moises a loo]

I like this trade, Freel's decline be damned. I always liked him.

 

He's our 25th man who can play a lot of positions and can work a count. I think he'll be fine here.

Thank you. If he's healthy (which he hasn't been for 2 years), he'll be on a mission. I spent most of 2005 fantasizing about trading Wood and Prior for Dunn and Freel. Seriously.

[craig]

..

Jack of all trades and master of none, right? He's not a good defender at any particular position. A moderate upgrade to Jose Macias.

 

Freel: career OBP = .354

Macias: career OBP = .298

 

That's the difference.

 

If you think that difference is meaningful, and that Freel's career OBP has any relevance to what he might possibly do from here out, then you'll be interested.

 

If you don't think a 56-point superiority in OBP is meaningful, or you don't think his career OBP has any relevance to what he'll do now and that he'll probably produce Macias-type OBP's now, then the Macias analogy is apt.

 

I, of course, am too dumb to know. But I do think that 56-points of OBP is meaningful. If freel can be a competitive on-base guy, .330 or better, then he's a useful pickup. If not, then not.