Fox to 2B next year?

[erik316wttn]

During the game tonight, the ESPN announcers said that the Cubs are looking at having Jake Fox play 2nd in the Arizona Fall League and see what becomes of it. If he's not horrible, maybe he'll start there next year.

 

It sure would be nice to find a place for his bat.

[OleMissCub]

I guess that could work. Just see how it goes in Arizona. I'm all for trying to see how he handles it. Might need to lose some weight though.

[A-Cal]

so you're saying we could have our very own Dan Uggla!?!?!?

 

=P~

[Sosa21MVP]

My initial reaction is disbelief but hey, no harm in letting him audition for that role in the fall league and see what happens. I mean if it DOES work out it would be extremely nice to have a hitter of that caliber at 2B.

 

I agree with OMC he would need to lose some weight to make this work.

[E.J.]

Can you imagine Riot at SS and Fox at 2b? That's one horrendous middle infield.

[Little Slide Rooter]

All I know is hes a bat we need to get in the lineup whenever we can, and if that makes Milton Bradley a really expensive 4th outfielder, then so be it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Fox's bat isn't that good.

[Flames24Rulz]

It's worth a shot, at least.

[Keener98]

Fox's bat isn't that good.

 

Hes hitting a HR every 10 at bats or so, considering hes not getting consistent at bats thats pretty impressive.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Fox's bat isn't that good.

 

Hes better than Bradley, and cant be much worse defensively. I cant see him making it as a middle infielder, as hes simply not built for it. I cant see him leaping over a guy trying to break up double play. In a perfect world, we could trade Bradley to someone willing to take on a decent chunk of his salary, and use that money to get a 2B or SS.

[rawaction]

Fox's bat isn't that good.

 

Hes hitting a HR every 10 at bats or so, considering hes not getting consistent at bats thats pretty impressive.

 

 

Or, he's hitting a HR ever 10 at bats or so, considering he's not getting consistent at bats, he hasn't had a chance to get exposed full time or have prolonged slumps.

 

There's no way he hits a HR every 10 ABs playing everyday. Oh yeah and him playing 2B would be absolutely disasterous. The Cubs are better off letting him catch and play 3B in instructs and have a similar role he's had this year, except with actually starting him at C if Soto misses a month again or throwing him in right away at 3B when Aramis gets hurt again.

[Sammy Sofa]

This is a terrible idea.

[biittner77]

This is a terrible idea.

 

It's not even that, it's a joke.

 

So the team that wouldn't consider signing Adam Dunn to play terrible OF defense thinks they can get away with Fox's horrific defense at 2nd base?

[Sammy Sofa]

This is a terrible idea.

 

It's not even that, it's a joke.

 

So the team that wouldn't consider signing Adam Dunn to play terrible OF defense thinks they can get away with Fox's horrific defense at 2nd base?

 

It really is mind boggling how some people are assuming that Fox continuing anything even remotely close to his current offensive protection while playing a totally new position is somehow likely.

[UMFan83]

Fox's bat isn't that good.

 

Hes hitting a HR every 10 at bats or so, considering hes not getting consistent at bats thats pretty impressive.

 

 

Or, he's hitting a HR ever 10 at bats or so, considering he's not getting consistent at bats, he hasn't had a chance to get exposed full time or have prolonged slumps.

 

There's no way he hits a HR every 10 ABs playing everyday. Oh yeah and him playing 2B would be absolutely disasterous. The Cubs are better off letting him catch and play 3B in instructs and have a similar role he's had this year, except with actually starting him at C if Soto misses a month again or throwing him in right away at 3B when Aramis gets hurt again.

 

I'm curious, do you think Fox is legit, or do you think he will become exposed with consistent ABs (by exposed I mean he'll have numbers that don't deserve to be in a corner OF position). Sometimes I think Jake Fox has to be another Mike Fontenot, but at the same time he has the numbers to back this up. He was destroying AAA, got a promotion and is destroying here. He probably won't be a 1.000 OPS guy or even .900, but I think he's pretty legit. The only think that scares me is his plate discipline. He does get into good counts a lot but I think he only has 6 BBs since being called up.

[dew1679666265]

I'm curious, do you think Fox is legit, or do you think he will become exposed with consistent ABs (by exposed I mean he'll have numbers that don't deserve to be in a corner OF position). Sometimes I think Jake Fox has to be another Mike Fontenot, but at the same time he has the numbers to back this up. He was destroying AAA, got a promotion and is destroying here. He probably won't be a 1.000 OPS guy or even .900, but I think he's pretty legit. The only think that scares me is his plate discipline. He does get into good counts a lot but I think he only has 6 BBs since being called up.

 

Fox has 7 walks and 16 Ks in 121 PAs this season. He's been ahead in the count (1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-1, 3-1) 25 times in 121 PAs.

 

Fontenot never had quite the astronomical offensive numbers Fox did in the minors, but in Fontenot's final season in AAA (2007) he OPSd .905 in 231 PAs.

 

Fox may well be legit, but I wouldn't use 121 PAs in the majors to determine whether he can or cannot hit major league pitching. I also wouldn't think about converting him to second base after 121 ML PAs.

[erik316wttn]

This is a terrible idea.

 

How is it a terrible idea to just try it out in meaningless games after the season? If it doesn't work, he'll probably just come off the bench again next year or be part of a trade package. This isn't set in stone.

[SweetZombieJesus]

Hes better than Bradley, and cant be much worse defensively

 

Is this the fresh topic to replace the stale "Hoff needs to replace Lee" we heard in april and may?

[Sammy Sofa]

This is a terrible idea.

 

How is it a terrible idea to just try it out in meaningless games after the season? If it doesn't work, he'll probably just come off the bench again next year or be part of a trade package. This isn't set in stone.

 

Because he in no way a middle infielder. That ship sailed a long time ago when he was Li'l Fox. If they want to be trade bait play him where you can best minimize his defensive shortcomings. Learning an entirely new positon and having to lose a bunch of weight to do so also has a good chance of being a pretty big speedbump in him maintaining his offensive success, too. All around this is a terrible, terrible, exceptionally stupid idea and would be a complete waste of time.

Edited August 4, 2009 by Sammy Sofa

[Guest]

This is a terrible idea.

 

How is it a terrible idea to just try it out in meaningless games after the season? If it doesn't work, he'll probably just come off the bench again next year or be part of a trade package. This isn't set in stone.

Because it is taking development time away from a position he could learn. The cost is low, but the opportunity cost is high.

[erik316wttn]

This is a terrible idea.

 

How is it a terrible idea to just try it out in meaningless games after the season? If it doesn't work, he'll probably just come off the bench again next year or be part of a trade package. This isn't set in stone.

 

Because he in no way a middle infielder.

 

So if that's the case, then we find out in the Arizona Fall League and reassess. No harm done.

 

I just don't see the downside here in trying him in exhibition games after the regular season is over.

[erik316wttn]

This is a terrible idea.

 

How is it a terrible idea to just try it out in meaningless games after the season? If it doesn't work, he'll probably just come off the bench again next year or be part of a trade package. This isn't set in stone.

Because it is taking development time away from a position he could learn. The cost is low, but the opportunity cost is high.

 

But the only place he really could play every day is 2B. All the other positions on the field are filled. Either he'd have to come off the bench or we trade him. I just don't see any other position he could learn that could be of use to us right now. He won't catch. He won't be in the OF next year barring injury. Corner infield is set, and Theriot isn't going anywhere. Where else is there?

[Sammy Sofa]

This is a terrible idea.

 

How is it a terrible idea to just try it out in meaningless games after the season? If it doesn't work, he'll probably just come off the bench again next year or be part of a trade package. This isn't set in stone.

 

Because he in no way a middle infielder.

 

So if that's the case, then we find out in the Arizona Fall League and reassess. No harm done.

 

I just don't see the downside here in trying him in exhibition games after the regular season is over.

 

Plenty of harm done. There's essentially zero upside because there's next to no chance of it paying off into him actually becoming a serviceable middle infielder. It's much smarter to play him at the positions then that he can at least passably or almost passably play. Let him play what he knows and focus on keeping up the offensive output.

[treebird]

just hear me out guys what if jake fox can pitch i mean who knows right

[Tyrant]

He'd make Skip Schumaker look like Dustin Pedroia.