When are the Cubs going to get a third baseman?

[17 Seconds]

If that's your criteria, then odds are we'd get that from what we have now over the next month until Ramirez comes back. If you want some guy who looks the part of the third baseman too, who is it? Even mediocre 3B at the MLB level aren't given away, look at the discussion about Kouzmanoff from last week.

 

Kouzmanoff is better than the type of guys I'm talking about.

 

Then please, say who you're talking about. Who should they get to fill this one month void until Ramirez is back?

 

I'm not a GM. I have no idea who is available. I'm talking simly aout a backup 3B. Something that we should have had in the organization before the season started in the first place. Koskie would have been fine. If Freel can somehow get hot and give us like .285/.350/.360, even that would be fine.

 

I'm simpl talking about a guy who can play the piosition and not be a complete black hole in the lineup like Blanco is

[Little Slide Rooter]

I completely forgot about Koskie. How huge could he have been?

[dew1679666265]

If that's your criteria, then odds are we'd get that from what we have now over the next month until Ramirez comes back. If you want some guy who looks the part of the third baseman too, who is it? Even mediocre 3B at the MLB level aren't given away, look at the discussion about Kouzmanoff from last week.

 

Kouzmanoff is better than the type of guys I'm talking about.

 

And he'll likely cost far too much in prospects for the value he'll bring the team.

[17 Seconds]

If that's your criteria, then odds are we'd get that from what we have now over the next month until Ramirez comes back. If you want some guy who looks the part of the third baseman too, who is it? Even mediocre 3B at the MLB level aren't given away, look at the discussion about Kouzmanoff from last week.

 

Kouzmanoff is better than the type of guys I'm talking about.

 

And he'll likely cost far too much in prospects for the value he'll bring the team.

 

i know

[Little Slide Rooter]

If that's your criteria, then odds are we'd get that from what we have now over the next month until Ramirez comes back. If you want some guy who looks the part of the third baseman too, who is it? Even mediocre 3B at the MLB level aren't given away, look at the discussion about Kouzmanoff from last week.

 

Kouzmanoff is better than the type of guys I'm talking about.

 

And he'll likely cost far too much in prospects for the value he'll bring the team.

 

i know

 

Which brings us full circle to the fact that as soon as they realised how much time Ramirez woud miss, they should have signed Ray Durham. The way things stand now, Miles will be back probably Wednesday and he'll take over 2nd, Font stays at thrid and thats just the way it will be when Ramirez comes back. When the trade deadling comes along, depending on where we are and what we need, Hendry will do something, whether its a Harden or Aramis type awesome trade or a Traschle/Monroe type trade for the sake of making a trade.

[Derwood]

I love the assumption that since Hendry hasn't made a move, that he's not trying. Utter nonsense.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I love the assumption that since Hendry hasn't made a move, that he's not trying. Utter nonsense.

 

Either hes not tryig or hes aiming too high. I refuse to believe that if he was really trying to get a stop gap, he couldnt get someone like Aurilia or Betemit or sign Durham. Maybe he tried to low ball for Branyan, Huff, BLalock or someone, and the teams arent bitingm but we all know how good Hendry can be when it comes to trading, and if he were really trying, he would have had something by now. Its been long enough since the need was made obvious.

Edited June 7, 2009 by Little Slide Rooter

[ArthurVandalay]

I love the assumption that since Hendry hasn't made a move, that he's not trying. Utter nonsense.

 

We haven't had a third baseman for going on five weeks now, and the Cubs brass have said time and time again that Fontenot is their boy at third.

I think it's a pretty logical conclusion for one to make. Utterly.

[Derwood]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

And let's stop with Durham. The man has played ZERO games at third in his career. Adding him is simply putting, what, the 7th or 8th second baseman on the 40-man roster? This team already has about 4 too many of those....

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

And let's stop with Durham. The man has played ZERO games at third in his career. Adding him is simply putting, what, the 7th or 8th second baseman on the 40-man roster? This team already has about 4 too many of those....

 

Again, yeah, at this time we might not have the prospects to get someone like Blalock, Huff, or even Branyan, although we probably do, wed just have to give up too much for a guy wed only need for another month. However, with someon like Aurilia or Betemit, I doubt the Giants would ask much for Aurilia, and Betemit would be pretty much for nothing.

 

As for Durham, Font would stay at 3rd and Durham would take 2nd. Yeah, we have a lot of 2nd baseman, but Id trade the lot of em for a new Gator Aid machine so Z could use the old one as a bunching bag.

[Butterscup1679666578]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

And let's stop with Durham. The man has played ZERO games at third in his career. Adding him is simply putting, what, the 7th or 8th second baseman on the 40-man roster? This team already has about 4 too many of those....

 

well, even if you go with Durham at 2nd and Font at 3rd, it gets rid of the Scales/Blanco nonsense.

 

Still not ideal, but also an improvement offensively.

[Derwood]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

And let's stop with Durham. The man has played ZERO games at third in his career. Adding him is simply putting, what, the 7th or 8th second baseman on the 40-man roster? This team already has about 4 too many of those....

 

well, even if you go with Durham at 2nd and Font at 3rd, it gets rid of the Scales/Blanco nonsense.

 

Still not ideal, but also an improvement offensively.

 

But people's gripe with Fontenot is that he sucks defensively at 3rd. Adding Durham doesn't help that situation at all. You put Durham at 2nd last night and Fontenot still gives up runs

[Little Slide Rooter]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

And let's stop with Durham. The man has played ZERO games at third in his career. Adding him is simply putting, what, the 7th or 8th second baseman on the 40-man roster? This team already has about 4 too many of those....

 

well, even if you go with Durham at 2nd and Font at 3rd, it gets rid of the Scales/Blanco nonsense.

 

Still not ideal, but also an improvement offensively.

 

But people's gripe with Fontenot is that he sucks defensively at 3rd. Adding Durham doesn't help that situation at all. You put Durham at 2nd last night and Fontenot still gives up runs

 

Fontenot has actually been acceptable defensively. Yeah, that was an awful throw last night, but if we had nay kind of offense, it may never have made it to the 11th inning. Offense is the problem at hand.

[dew1679666265]

I love the assumption that since Hendry hasn't made a move, that he's not trying. Utter nonsense.

 

Either hes not tryig or hes aiming too high. I refuse to believe that if he was really trying to get a stop gap, he couldnt get someone like Aurilia or Betemit or sign Durham. Maybe he tried to low ball for Branyan, Huff, BLalock or someone, and the teams arent bitingm but we all know how good Hendry can be when it comes to trading, and if he were really trying, he would have had something by now. Its been long enough since the need was made obvious.

 

What if teams just aren't selling quite yet? Teams like the Mariners and Orioles may just want to keep their players you mentioned and perhaps the Rangers have no real desire to part with Blalock. I don't know either way, but the two options you laid out are not the only two options possible.

 

As for Aurilia and Betemit, yeah, they're probably available for a price, but neither are very good. I would be against giving anything for Aurilia (or even signing him) and I'd be interested in Betemit only if he's super cheap (i.e. Kevin Hart or some other minor league filler).

 

Making a trade for the simple fact of making a trade rarely turns out well.

[dew1679666265]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

And let's stop with Durham. The man has played ZERO games at third in his career. Adding him is simply putting, what, the 7th or 8th second baseman on the 40-man roster? This team already has about 4 too many of those....

 

well, even if you go with Durham at 2nd and Font at 3rd, it gets rid of the Scales/Blanco nonsense.

 

Still not ideal, but also an improvement offensively.

 

But people's gripe with Fontenot is that he sucks defensively at 3rd. Adding Durham doesn't help that situation at all. You put Durham at 2nd last night and Fontenot still gives up runs

 

One argument in favor, though, is that if we can't (or won't) get one of the third basemen that have been mentioned then playing Fontenot at third regularly will hopefully get him better there and Durham will add some offense. If Aramis does return around the All-Star break, though, it's probably not worth signing Durham at this point.

[Joe_Cub]

whenever aramis ramirez returns

[illiniguy]

Josh Vitters is a very good prospect FWIW.

[17 Seconds]

The Cubs don't have good prospects. It's very possible that other GM's are simply telling Jim to take a hike when he calls.

 

saying that he cubs don't have good enough prospects to find a backup 3B is pretty ridiculous. there is no team in mlb history that has had a farm system poor enough to not be able to get a backup 3b

 

not to mention the thing about the cubs not having good prospects isn't even really true. out system has been performing pretty well this season. we have several pieces that are attractive

[Transmogrified Tiger]

But why give them up for a moderate upgrade that will last about 4-6 weeks until Ramirez is back? And like was mentioned, the difference at 3B for that time span isn't going to make or break the Cubs season, the performance from the rest of the underperforming offense will.

[17 Seconds]

But why give them up for a moderate upgrade that will last about 4-6 weeks until Ramirez is back? And like was mentioned, the difference at 3B for that time span isn't going to make or break the Cubs season, the performance from the rest of the underperforming offense will.

 

how do you know it won't make or break this season? all 4 runs yesterday were because we have a third baseman who can't really play third. a single game could cost us the playoffs.

 

it's not like we're talking about giving up key prspects or anything like that. there's no reason that he shouldn't be able to find some scrubby .740 ops guy who can play an adequate 3B, anything is better than what we have. fontenot isk illing us over there.

[dew1679666265]

But why give them up for a moderate upgrade that will last about 4-6 weeks until Ramirez is back? And like was mentioned, the difference at 3B for that time span isn't going to make or break the Cubs season, the performance from the rest of the underperforming offense will.

 

If Aramis comes back around the break, I agree with your main point. Assuming he's available, though, (which may be a stretch, I'm not sure) someone like Branyan would be worth giving a couple of prospects for, I'd think.

 

Not only could he improve the play at third, but after Aramis gets back he becomes a very good bat off the bench that can play every corner position.

 

Obviously price would be the key, but I'd be willing to make that move whereas a pure third baseman might not be worth it at this point.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Branyan is a career -7 defender at 3B who hasn't played there this year(he's been playing 1B at a -1.5 pace). Plus he's left handed, which is less of a bench priority with Hoffpauir on the bench.

[JonJayCutler]

Yeah forget what I said about being able to make do with Fontenot at 3B. Either try Fox and hope his bat makes up for the defensive mistakes or trade for someone. Even though Ramirez is scheduled to be back by the ASB there is no gaurantee he will be as effective as before.

[dew1679666265]

Branyan is a career -7 defender at 3B who hasn't played there this year(he's been playing 1B at a -1.5 pace). Plus he's left handed, which is less of a bench priority with Hoffpauir on the bench.

 

Branyan is worse defensively at third than Fontenot has been, but I don't think he'll be significantly worse. He played 35 games there last year so I doubt he's deteriorated much.

 

The key is, if he keeps up even in the neighborhood of his current hitting pace, he'll be a large upgrade offensively. Also keep in mind Aramis will likely need a few extra days off and we'd then have Branyan to fill those spots while Fontenot stays at second.

 

Hoff does make him a bit redundant in a bench role, though.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Branyan is a career -7 defender at 3B who hasn't played there this year(he's been playing 1B at a -1.5 pace). Plus he's left handed, which is less of a bench priority with Hoffpauir on the bench.

 

Branyan is worse defensively at third than Fontenot has been, but I don't think he'll be significantly worse. He played 35 games there last year so I doubt he's deteriorated much.

 

The key is, if he keeps up even in the neighborhood of his current hitting pace, he'll be a large upgrade offensively. Also keep in mind Aramis will likely need a few extra days off and we'd then have Branyan to fill those spots while Fontenot stays at second.

 

Hoff does make him a bit redundant in a bench role, though.

 

That will be fine until Ramirez comes back. Assuming we get Branyan, for now, hes at 3rd with Font at 2nd, with Reed, Hoff, Miles, Hill, and 1 of Blanco/Scales/Freel. Since We really should have more than 1 backup middle infielder, when Ramirez comes back, Hoff could be the odd man out, as Branyan would make him obsolete. The, we have a bench of Branyan, Reed, Miles, Hill, and 1 of F/S/B.