When are the Cubs going to get a third baseman?

[Eric Clipperton]

Also remember Blalock got moved from 3B for a reason. He is completely terrible. I think Soriano to 2B would downgrade our D less than picking up Hank Blalock.

[NCCubFan]

Dear NSBB,

 

If the Cubs thought Jake Fox could handle himself at 3b they would have brought him up already. He's only played a handful of games at 3b and is a atrocious defender by all accounts. He's not going to be playing 3b for the Cubs anytime soon.

 

-EJ

We need to amend the guidelines and make suggesting Fox at 3B a bannable offense. :D

[Little Slide Rooter]

Dear NSBB,

 

If the Cubs thought Jake Fox could handle himself at 3b they would have brought him up already. He's only played a handful of games at 3b and is a atrocious defender by all accounts. He's not going to be playing 3b for the Cubs anytime soon.

 

-EJ

We need to amend the guidelines and make suggesting Fox at 3B a bannable offense. :D

 

Juggling the 3 headed monster at 3rd should be a fireable offense.

[biittner77]

While we're tossing around bad ideas, instead of moving Soriano to 2nd where we know he'll be terrible, how about moving him to 3rd? He'd still be terrible (probably) but at a less important position defensively. If the Brewers could suffer through a season of Ryan Braun's "defense" at 3rd can't the Cubs stomach 2 months of Soriano at 3rd? He's a former SS and certainly has the arm.

 

This would then open up LF for the mythical Hoffpauir/ Fox platoon. The defense would be bad but the offense might make up for it.

[Little Slide Rooter]

While were putting everyone well out of postion, just f it and sign Jim Edmonds for 3rd. Maybe try the Big Hurt at 2nd while were at it. Surely hed sign with us just to spite the White Sox.

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Rangers would listen to offers for Hank Blalock and ask for relief help in return

 

Heilman+Hart and/or Stevens?

[fromthestretch]

Also remember Blalock got moved from 3B for a reason. He is completely terrible. I think Soriano to 2B would downgrade our D less than picking up Hank Blalock.

 

I believe injuries had more to do with his move than his defensive abilities.

[apete6]

The Rangers would listen to offers for Hank Blalock and ask for relief help in return

 

Heilman+Hart and/or Stevens?

 

Does Blalock have a chance at Type A after the season? More importantly, would he make too much in arbitration for us to consider offering it to him?

 

I think he would be a good stopgap at 3B, especially during interleague play, and then he would be a formidable bat off the bench and starting at 3B or 1B once a week. Eventually, Hoff's playing time could dwindle, but he could also get ABs in RF when Bradley inevitably gets hurt again.

[Post Count Padder]

The Rangers would listen to offers for Hank Blalock and ask for relief help in return

 

Heilman+Hart and/or Stevens?

Do we have the bullpen depth to do that?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Adam Eaton-S-Orioles May. 22 - 3:19 pm et

 

Orioles released RHP Adam Eaton.

 

Eaton has been terrible by any standard, with an 8.56 ERA. With few natural options to replace him and a staff in dire need of pitching, Eaton's release speaks volumes about how much he can help a big-league team at this point. No word yet on who will get his next start. Matt Albers will take his roster spot, but he's been relieving for Triple-A Norfolk.

 

No, Im not suggesting that we sign Adam Eaton. Im just suggesting how much the Orioles need pitching. I would gladly trade Heilman for Mora or Huff, maybe even Wiggington, but Id rather send someone like Kevin Hart for Wigg.

[SouthSideRyan]

Nobody's going to trade anything for Aaron Heilman.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Nobody's going to trade anything for Aaron Heilman.

 

When someones desperate for starting pitching, they will. It makes so much sense it makes my head hurt that nothings happeneing. The Cubs and Orioles love making pointless trades with eachother. So why not make on that wil ACTUALLY help both teams. Id trade Heilman+Fox for Huff. Wells+Fox for Mora. Kevin Hart, JR Mathes, or Mitch Atkins+another prospect for Wiggignton. Hell, Heilman+Atkinsm Hart or Mathes if they want for any of the 3. 2 teams with a good relationship that could and should help eachother fill their needs by trading un needed players. why isnt this happening?

[dew1679666265]

Nobody's going to trade anything for Aaron Heilman.

 

When someones desperate for starting pitching, they will. It makes so much sense it makes my head hurt that nothings happeneing. The Cubs and Orioles love making pointless trades with eachother. So why not make on that wil ACTUALLY help both teams. Id trade Heilman+Fox for Huff. Wells+Fox for Mora. Kevin Hart, JR Mathes, or Mitch Atkins+another prospect for Wiggignton. Hell, Heilman+Atkinsm Hart or Mathes if they want for any of the 3. 2 teams with a good relationship that could and should help eachother fill their needs by trading un needed players. why isnt this happening?

 

Heilman is 30, only signed through this year and not an outstanding pitcher. A rebuilding team has little to no use for him.

 

They might be interested in the Harts, Atkins and Wells of the world, but I can't imagine much interest in Heilman.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Nobody's going to trade anything for Aaron Heilman.

 

When someones desperate for starting pitching, they will. It makes so much sense it makes my head hurt that nothings happeneing. The Cubs and Orioles love making pointless trades with eachother. So why not make on that wil ACTUALLY help both teams. Id trade Heilman+Fox for Huff. Wells+Fox for Mora. Kevin Hart, JR Mathes, or Mitch Atkins+another prospect for Wiggignton. Hell, Heilman+Atkinsm Hart or Mathes if they want for any of the 3. 2 teams with a good relationship that could and should help eachother fill their needs by trading un needed players. why isnt this happening?

 

Heilman is 30, only signed through this year and not an outstanding pitcher. A rebuilding team has little to no use for him.

 

They might be interested in the Harts, Atkins and Wells of the world, but I can't imagine much interest in Heilman.

 

Mora, Huff, and Wigginton are all free agents after this year. Id gladly send them 2 of Heilman, Hart, Atkins, or Wells for Huff or Mora or 1 of them, preferably not Wells for Wigginton.

[SouthSideRyan]

Look, none of these AAAA pitchers are worth anything until they put up a lights out year at AAA or an above average year out of the pen in the majors. Think of the returns for Jae Kuk Ryu, Jon Leicester, Jermaine Van Buren, and on and on. Look at the crap we got for Wuertz this year, who was a hell of a lot more valuable than any of our AAA swingmen or Heilman for that matter.

[Little Slide Rooter]

You you dont think that Baltimore, a team in constant rebuilding mode whose desperate for pitching would trade a 37 year old in the last year of his contract for a couple of AAAA pitchers, because I think they just might.

[dew1679666265]

Look, none of these AAAA pitchers are worth anything until they put up a lights out year at AAA or an above average year out of the pen in the majors. Think of the returns for Jae Kuk Ryu, Jon Leicester, Jermaine Van Buren, and on and on. Look at the crap we got for Wuertz this year, who was a hell of a lot more valuable than any of our AAA swingmen or Heilman for that matter.

 

If Wells continues to pitch well in the majors, someone might consider him as part of a deal. Maybe.

 

I can agree Atkins/Hart likely won't garner much of any interest at all.

Edited May 22, 2009 by dew

[CubColtPacer]

You you dont think that Baltimore, a team in constant rebuilding mode whose desperate for pitching would trade a 37 year old in the last year of his contract for a couple of AAAA pitchers, because I think they just might.

 

You might be able to get Mora, but probably only later in the season. Baltimore understandably wants to play him and see if they can get a better return at the deadline.

 

They're probably considering getting compensation for Huff after the season, so any traded pieces would have to be worth more than that. I doubt the Cubs will want to give anywhere near that much.

 

As for Wigginton, he's signed through 2010, and the Orioles manager loves him. I doubt he's going anywhere for a while.

 

And the reason none of these trades are happening? Because the Orioles don't need any more AAAA pitchers. They already have too many of them as it is. Plus, they don't care about winning this year. So if they're going to make a trade involving one of those guys, it's going to be for prospects, not major league ready guys with low ceilings.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Well then heres to being stuck with garbage until at least september unless Lou actually goes through with his bizzaro Soriano plan.

[TruffleShuffle]

While we're tossing around bad ideas, instead of moving Soriano to 2nd where we know he'll be terrible, how about moving him to 3rd? He'd still be terrible (probably) but at a less important position defensively. If the Brewers could suffer through a season of Ryan Braun's "defense" at 3rd can't the Cubs stomach 2 months of Soriano at 3rd? He's a former SS and certainly has the arm.

 

This would then open up LF for the mythical Hoffpauir/ Fox platoon. The defense would be bad but the offense might make up for it.

 

depends what you mean by "suffer through." yes braun is a great hitter so he was a net positive, but most estimates suggest that he was about 25 runs worse than the average 3B - pretty much an unmitigated disaster since he played only 113 games. BP assessed his offense at 37 runs above average that season, so his net was +12 runs - decent, but certainly not what one expects from a bat like braun.

 

the problem with moving soriano to 2B and hoffpauir to LF is that you're replacing a 2B who's close to average and a LF who's above average with two bad fielders; i'd guess that the cubs lose about 30 runs in the field. is hoffpauir 30 runs better than fontenot over the course of a full season? i tend to doubt it, unless may fontenot is the real fontenot.

[Prior4CyYoung]

Hasn't Blalock played games at 2b too seems like he would be the perfect fit for us although the Rangers are playing well right now which kinda Sox and hurts our chances of trading for him.

 

He's played 4 games at second base with one start. A total of 12 innings there.

 

Hmm for some reason I thought I remembered him being eligible at 2b in my fantasy league a few years back maybe that is all it took to become 2b eligible.

[Little Slide Rooter]

According to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Padres "have shown a willingness to move" third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Wittenmyer adds that "the Cubs acknowledge a potential fit, although they say they think [Mike] Fontenot, in particular, can adequately fill the interim need at third [while Aramis Ramirez is injured]." The article has the flavor of a trade rumor, but Wittenmyer does not say the Cubs actually inquired on Kouzmanoff.

 

While Kouz wouldnt be my ideal target, Id take him. What I dont like about this comment is the Fontenot adequately filling 3rd part. Be it true or not, were still relying on the 3 headed monster at second. Im willing to give Font time to pull it together, but Id just assume not have to rely on at least 1 of Scales, Freel, and Miles in our everyday lineup. I know that every team has a guy like that in their lineup, but we have to rely on a lineup with a solid, no easy out 1-8 since we dont have that one superstar like a Pujols or a Braun.

[dew1679666265]

According to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Padres "have shown a willingness to move" third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Wittenmyer adds that "the Cubs acknowledge a potential fit, although they say they think [Mike] Fontenot, in particular, can adequately fill the interim need at third [while Aramis Ramirez is injured]." The article has the flavor of a trade rumor, but Wittenmyer does not say the Cubs actually inquired on Kouzmanoff.

 

While Kouz wouldnt be my ideal target, Id take him. What I dont like about this comment is the Fontenot adequately filling 3rd part. Be it true or not, were still relying on the 3 headed monster at second. Im willing to give Font time to pull it together, but Id just assume not have to rely on at least 1 of Scales, Freel, and Miles in our everyday lineup. I know that every team has a guy like that in their lineup, but we have to rely on a lineup with a solid, no easy out 1-8 since we dont have that one superstar like a Pujols or a Braun.

 

What is it exactly that you like about Kouzmanoff? He's currently got a .651 OPS and is getting on base at a .285 clip. Fontenot's .667 OPS is actually better this year than Kouzmanoff's. Kouz is doing better than Fontenot this month, but Fontenot did better in April.

 

Kouzmanoff might be an upgrade over Aaron Miles and perhaps Bobby Scales, but not by much in either case. I don't think it's worth giving up trading chips for a very minimal upgrade over Miles and Scales. And given the Padres' reluctance to come out and put Kouz on the block, I doubt he'd come really cheap.

[manbearcub]

According to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Padres "have shown a willingness to move" third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Wittenmyer adds that "the Cubs acknowledge a potential fit, although they say they think [Mike] Fontenot, in particular, can adequately fill the interim need at third [while Aramis Ramirez is injured]." The article has the flavor of a trade rumor, but Wittenmyer does not say the Cubs actually inquired on Kouzmanoff.

 

While Kouz wouldnt be my ideal target, Id take him. What I dont like about this comment is the Fontenot adequately filling 3rd part. Be it true or not, were still relying on the 3 headed monster at second. Im willing to give Font time to pull it together, but Id just assume not have to rely on at least 1 of Scales, Freel, and Miles in our everyday lineup. I know that every team has a guy like that in their lineup, but we have to rely on a lineup with a solid, no easy out 1-8 since we dont have that one superstar like a Pujols or a Braun.

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=54112

[Little Slide Rooter]

According to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Padres "have shown a willingness to move" third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Wittenmyer adds that "the Cubs acknowledge a potential fit, although they say they think [Mike] Fontenot, in particular, can adequately fill the interim need at third [while Aramis Ramirez is injured]." The article has the flavor of a trade rumor, but Wittenmyer does not say the Cubs actually inquired on Kouzmanoff.

 

While Kouz wouldnt be my ideal target, Id take him. What I dont like about this comment is the Fontenot adequately filling 3rd part. Be it true or not, were still relying on the 3 headed monster at second. Im willing to give Font time to pull it together, but Id just assume not have to rely on at least 1 of Scales, Freel, and Miles in our everyday lineup. I know that every team has a guy like that in their lineup, but we have to rely on a lineup with a solid, no easy out 1-8 since we dont have that one superstar like a Pujols or a Braun.

 

What is it exactly that you like about Kouzmanoff? He's currently got a .651 OPS and is getting on base at a .285 clip. Fontenot's .667 OPS is actually better this year than Kouzmanoff's. Kouz is doing better than Fontenot this month, but Fontenot did better in April.

 

Kouzmanoff might be an upgrade over Aaron Miles and perhaps Bobby Scales, but not by much in either case. I don't think it's worth giving up trading chips for a very minimal upgrade over Miles and Scales. And given the Padres' reluctance to come out and put Kouz on the block, I doubt he'd come really cheap.

 

Sometimes, you just hit those stretches when you think that anyones going to be the answer to the problem, be it rational or not. I simply cant look at Miles or Scales for too many more games and stay positive about this mess, especially considering that Arams July/August return is no guarantee. The lack of production from Bradley, Fontenot, and Soto is the real issue, but its not relaistic to consider benching them, so the best you can do is get someone at 2nd or 3rd who can at least potentially produce and pick up some slack, and Kouz just seems like the type of hitter who could produce at Wrigley.