Derrek Lee has a .976 OPS

[Sammy Sofa]

he's got 101 rbi's in 485 ab's currently...last time he had 100+ rbi's in a season was 2005, with 107, and that took him 594 ab's.

 

Because he had the equivalent of garden gnomes and troll dolls hitting ahead of him for most of that season.

[DiamondMind]

Because he had the equivalent of garden gnomes and troll dolls hitting ahead of him for most of that season.

 

we didn't have aaron miles in 2005

[jersey cubs fan]

Because he had the equivalent of garden gnomes and troll dolls hitting ahead of him for most of that season.

 

we didn't have aaron miles in 2005

 

Lee doesn't have Miles batting 1 or 2 everyday.

 

In 2005 they were 14th and 12th in the NL in terms of OBP from the 1 and 2 spots (.299 and .314). This year they are 12th and 4th, at .327 and .350. It not great, but it's much much better.

[imb]

Because he had the equivalent of garden gnomes and troll dolls hitting ahead of him for most of that season.

 

we didn't have aaron miles in 2005

 

Lee doesn't have Miles batting 1 or 2 everyday.

 

In 2005 they were 14th and 12th in the NL in terms of OBP from the 1 and 2 spots (.299 and .314). This year they are 12th and 4th, at .327 and .350. It not great, but it's much much better.

 

i think he was joking that aaron miles is a garden gnome.

[chuckywang]

WIthout the wrist injury, Derrek Lee is a borderline HOFer.

[inari]

WIthout the wrist injury, Derrek Lee is a borderline HOFer.

 

His 2006 was a wash, but he had a pretty awesome 2007 and it's not like 2008 was abysmal. I think he'd maybe be a borderline borderline HoFer without the injury.

[Cubbie Swagger]

There has been a massive change in his swing from 2008 to 2009. He's finally returned to his old uppercut that he had in the past... and as others have said, it's a sign that his wrist is fully healed. I think with a wrist injury... it affects a hitter's power long after the injury itself is healed. It makes the hitter a little hesitant to let it go entirely.

[17 Seconds]

his road OPS is just .882 so he's really not that great a player after all, it appears

 

Why can't you just let it go? it was kind of cute at first, now it's just really obnoxious and unnecessary. That's what, like the 6th time you've used that joke? It's run it's course.

[Soonernation]

While Derrek has exceeded even my expectations, I would like to point out that I was one of approximately two people on this board who was still saying Derrek wasn't done all during that terrible start.

 

Congratulations.

 

I was not one of the two.

 

Me neither

[Soonernation]

Just for fun...

 

Jeff Stevens (26) AAA, 57.2 IP, 2.03 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 61 K

 

John Gaub (24) AA-AAA, 60 IP, 2.25 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 80 K

 

Chris Archer (20) A, 109 IP, 2.81 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 119 K

 

Stevens has already been called up to the Bigs and was pretty impressive during his time with the team in July. Less so in his infrequent appearances since. Although it's too soon to tell with Archer, I think there's a strong likelihood that Stevens and Gaub are fairly frequent contributors to the Cubs' pen over the next three or four years.

 

Considering DeRosa just turned 35 and has a career OPS+ of 97 (which, he has matched this year, by the way) I'd say, viewed in hindsight and in a vacuum, the DeRosa trade will probably look pretty good.

 

Problem is, it's just not the kind of trade teams that a team that thinks it's gunning for a title generally makes in the off-season.

 

 

Problem is they replaced DeRosa with Miles, and he's one of the worst baseball players i have ever seen

[inari]

They really didn't.

[Rob]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

[17 Seconds]

I think it's fair to say Miles was somewhat of a replacement for DeRosa. They even signed him within hours of when they traded DeRosa.

[Little Slide Rooter]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

[SouthSideRyan]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

Miles was never signed to be a starter, DeRosa was.

[Little Slide Rooter]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

Miles was never signed to be a starter, DeRosa was.

 

Not a starter, but a RH platoon partner for Fontenot.

[Soonernation]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

Miles was never signed to be a starter, DeRosa was.

 

Not a starter, but a RH platoon partner for Fontenot.

 

 

Miles couldn't be a platoon partner on a jr high team

[CubbieBum]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

In seasons with at least 100 AB's DeRosa was 4-for-6 in having an .700+ OPS before singing with the Cubs. Miles, using the same criteria, was 1-for-5. Also DeRosa always drew a decent amount of walks per at-bat while Miles never did.

 

There is a big difference between the two. Miles you knew he was below average and just hoped he could play up to being an average player. DeRosa was an average player that you hoped could play up to being good.

[Sammy Sofa]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

In seasons with at least 100 AB's DeRosa was 4-for-6 in having an .700+ OPS before singing with the Cubs. Miles, using the same criteria, was 1-for-5. Also DeRosa always drew a decent amount of walks per at-bat while Miles never did.

 

There is a big difference between the two. Miles you knew he was below average and just hoped he could play up to being an average player. DeRosa was an average player that you hoped could play up to being good.

 

And yet again, Miles was not signed to replace DeRosa on his own. DeRosa was signed to be a fulltime player. Miles was not. This isn't excusing the signing of Miles or justifying how bad he's been, but it's disengenuous to stack the two up as if the Cubs were expecting the two to have the same role.

[CubbieBum]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

In seasons with at least 100 AB's DeRosa was 4-for-6 in having an .700+ OPS before singing with the Cubs. Miles, using the same criteria, was 1-for-5. Also DeRosa always drew a decent amount of walks per at-bat while Miles never did.

 

There is a big difference between the two. Miles you knew he was below average and just hoped he could play up to being an average player. DeRosa was an average player that you hoped could play up to being good.

 

And yet again, Miles was not signed to replace DeRosa on his own. DeRosa was signed to be a fulltime player. Miles was not. This isn't excusing the signing of Miles or justifying how bad he's been, but it's disengenuous to stack the two up as if the Cubs were expecting the two to have the same role.

 

I know and I agree. I was using the statistics in response to the post saying the two players were similar before coming to the Cubs. They weren't.

[cbbryan]

I brought DLee up in my recent podcast. He's having a great year and if the injury has finally healed completely you have to believe he'll be very productive for at least 2 more seasons.

 

He's a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season.

[17 Seconds]

What is everybody obsession with assigning replacements?

 

There were a bunch of different roles filled by DeRosa. Fontenot took on some of the responsibilities, Miles took on others.

 

Prior to 2006, DeRosa was a career role player who was given an opportunity to start in Texas and made the most out of it. That earned im a big contract, that was ill advised at the time. It payed off, and it made Hendry look good.

 

Similarly, prior to 2008, Aaron Miles was a career role player who had a pretty good year last year after getting a lot of playoff time. Hendry thought he could try the same thing, with a smaller contract. We all know how that turned out.

 

In seasons with at least 100 AB's DeRosa was 4-for-6 in having an .700+ OPS before singing with the Cubs. Miles, using the same criteria, was 1-for-5. Also DeRosa always drew a decent amount of walks per at-bat while Miles never did.

 

There is a big difference between the two. Miles you knew he was below average and just hoped he could play up to being an average player. DeRosa was an average player that you hoped could play up to being good.

 

And yet again, Miles was not signed to replace DeRosa on his own. DeRosa was signed to be a fulltime player. Miles was not. This isn't excusing the signing of Miles or justifying how bad he's been, but it's disengenuous to stack the two up as if the Cubs were expecting the two to have the same role.

 

If DeRosa wasn't traded, would Miles have been signed? He may not have replaced DeRosa in the lineup, but I think it's pretty clear Hendry signed him to fill in many of the roles that DeRosa filled. Utility infielder, right side of a platoon with Fontenot, etc. Thw two moves were definitely related in the offseason. Hendry was going to get/keep one of the two, but not both.