Real suggestions to solve the expected OF hole

[TruffleShuffle]

This is not a thread to discuss milton bradley. given the recent developments, one would have to assume that the cubs are going to trade him on the offseason, they'll be getting very little in return, and they'll have to eat most of his salary.

 

there have already been a couple of suggestions in the other thread, and i'll carry them over here. it's important to realize that, if the cubs are paying most of milton's salary next year, they'll have about $122.5M in salary obligations to 9 players, plus another guy they're paying to go away.

 

 

 

bobby abreu maybe? his fielding blows but he's been easily worth the $5M the angels are paying him. it seemed like the market settled and he was the last one standing; there may be another situation where everyone is all set and the cubs end up with bobby abreu or reggie sanders type.

 

as for trades, maybe cody ross? he's due for an arbitration raise, similar to josh willingham last year, and the marlins didn't get all that much for willingham because they needed to dump salary. ross isn't great but he'd be a plus fielder in right and could probably be had without giving up a ton.

 

what about luke scott? he could come cheap and he has a .902 OPS against RHP the last 3 seasons. Maybe a platoon with Johnson? Doesn't sound exciting, but it should get pretty solid production

 

(note that johnson is a FA after this season and would have to be resigned; he was paid $3M in 2009)

 

 

try and steal my boy Seth Smith from the Rox. They have way too many good outfielders as is and he'll likely just be a backup next year.

 

307 AB's, .303/.387/.531, .918 OPS, 133 OPS+

[Derwood]

Might be worth moving Fukudome back to RF and searching for a CF.

[USSoccer]

Slide Fukudome to RF, play Pie...oh wait.

 

Make Jake Fox play RF in winter ball?

 

Or, you could pull someone off the scrap heap and try and trade for Stephen Drew, bypassing the RF issue by improving SS. Slide Theriot over to 2B, Font goes back to a backup role, and we're better and not much more expensive.

[OleMissCub]

More on the Rox:

 

They have a serious, serious logjam currently happening in their OF with Brad Hawpe, Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Seth Smith, Eric Young Jr. AND Ryan Spillboroughs all vying for playing time.

 

I think the Rox are pretty high on keeping Gonzalez and Fowler, but I bet they'd likely part with Smith OR even Brad Hawpe. Hawpe has a contract though that is a bit scary. (2010: $7.5 million, 2011: $10 million club option w/$500,000 buyout).

 

I say that they'd likely part with Hawpe because an OF of Smith, Fowler, and Gonzalez is young, strong, fast, and cheap. And the Rockies front office is notoriously cheap.

[Gingerballs Lives]

I am intrigued by Seth Smith.

[OleMissCub]

I am intrigued by Seth Smith.

 

Well, as Rob pointed out in the other thread, his splits are pretty bad. So the Rox would probably be better just moving Hawpe and having Gonzalez play RF and Smith play LF next year.

[TruffleShuffle]

More on the Rox:

 

They have a serious, serious logjam currently happening in their OF with Brad Hawpe, Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler, Seth Smith, Eric Young Jr. AND Ryan Spillboroughs all vying for playing time.

 

I think the Rox are pretty high on keeping Gonzalez and Fowler, but I bet they'd likely part with Smith OR even Brad Hawpe. Hawpe has a contract though that is a bit scary. (2010: $7.5 million, 2011: $10 million club option w/$500,000 buyout).

 

I say that they'd likely part with Hawpe because an OF of Smith, Fowler, and Gonzalez is young, strong, fast, and cheap. And the Rockies front office is notoriously cheap.

 

hawpe is one of the few rockies players who doesn't have gigantic home/road splits - .287/.379/.503/.882 home and .280/.375/.487/.862 road for his career.

 

the rocks aren't in bad shape salary-wise next season; they'll probably let atkins walk rather than offer him arbitration, street will get an arby raise, so will de la rosa, and clint barmes is arby 2. but they should be able to keep hawpe a relatively team-friendly $7.5M next year. smith is interesting but his home/road splits are monstrous this year. i'm not totally sold on him and spilborghs being more than 4th OF, but they're worth looking into. i think you're right about fowler, he's got a good future and can cover a ton of ground in coors. gonzalez is also certainly someone that they regard as a fixture in their outfield of the future.

 

still, i like your thinking on this. if the cubs are in the trade market, they need to be looking at teams with an OF surplus and low/mid payroll teams. the rockies fit both those criteria.

[17 Seconds]

hawpe would be dreamy

[Grit amp Heart]

Sometimes the best move is not making a move. This is one of those times.

[17 Seconds]

Sometimes the best move is not making a move. This is one of those times.

 

wait, what? you mean keep bradley, or go with an in house option for rf? because that sounds terrible.

[TruffleShuffle]

Sometimes the best move is not making a move. This is one of those times.

 

:?:

[Tim M]

As I mentioned in another thread I'm betting Hendry looks to Tampa. I think they move Upton in the off-season and Hendry makes a serious play for him.

[treebird]

Sometimes the best move is not making a move. This is one of those times.

 

i think the other teams will get mad at us if we refuse to field a full team of nine and forfeit all 162

[TruffleShuffle]

Slide Fukudome to RF, play Pie...oh wait.

 

Make Jake Fox play RF in winter ball?

 

Or, you could pull someone off the scrap heap and try and trade for Stephen Drew, bypassing the RF issue by improving SS. Slide Theriot over to 2B, Font goes back to a backup role, and we're better and not much more expensive.

 

i don't see the d'backs having another reasonable option at SS - i'm no expert on their system, but their backup is augie ojeda, who sucks and is old, and their highest-rated SS coming into this season (by BA) didn't hit much at low A this year. so with that information, and drew being a solid young player, i assume they'd demand castro in a deal along with one or two other good prospects.

[USSoccer]

Slide Fukudome to RF, play Pie...oh wait.

 

Make Jake Fox play RF in winter ball?

 

Or, you could pull someone off the scrap heap and try and trade for Stephen Drew, bypassing the RF issue by improving SS. Slide Theriot over to 2B, Font goes back to a backup role, and we're better and not much more expensive.

 

i don't see the d'backs having another reasonable option at SS - i'm no expert on their system, but their backup is augie ojeda, who sucks and is old, and their highest-rated SS coming into this season (by BA) didn't hit much at low A this year. so with that information, and drew being a solid young player, i assume they'd demand castro in a deal along with one or two other good prospects.

 

Would you really have qualms about dealing Castro as a centerpiece in a Drew deal?

[SouthSideRyan]

As I mentioned in another thread I'm betting Hendry looks to Tampa. I think they move Upton in the off-season and Hendry makes a serious play for him.

 

This is absolutely the right decision. Of course, I think there were rumblings of unrest with Upton in Tampa, so I'm sure Hendry won't even bother looking.

[OleMissCub]

still, i like your thinking on this. if the cubs are in the trade market, they need to be looking at teams with an OF surplus and low/mid payroll teams. the rockies fit both those criteria.

 

I really do think the Rox would part with Hawpe. Would we be willing to pick up most of that contract?

 

and as a sidebar, because it doesn't really matter, but Hawpe was teammates with Riot and Font at Tiger High

[Grit amp Heart]

Sometimes the best move is not making a move. This is one of those times.

 

wait, what? you mean keep bradley, or go with an in house option for rf? because that sounds terrible.

 

I'd keep Bradley.

[TruffleShuffle]

Slide Fukudome to RF, play Pie...oh wait.

 

Make Jake Fox play RF in winter ball?

 

Or, you could pull someone off the scrap heap and try and trade for Stephen Drew, bypassing the RF issue by improving SS. Slide Theriot over to 2B, Font goes back to a backup role, and we're better and not much more expensive.

 

i don't see the d'backs having another reasonable option at SS - i'm no expert on their system, but their backup is augie ojeda, who sucks and is old, and their highest-rated SS coming into this season (by BA) didn't hit much at low A this year. so with that information, and drew being a solid young player, i assume they'd demand castro in a deal along with one or two other good prospects.

 

Would you really have qualms about dealing Castro as a centerpiece in a Drew deal?

 

probably not, although i like castro quite a bit. it seemed like in some other threads people were assuming we could take a dump in a box and give it to the mets for jose reyes; i guess i was just saying that to get stephen drew we'd probably have to deal castro and maybe something like carpenter and guyer.

[Tim M]

As I mentioned in another thread I'm betting Hendry looks to Tampa. I think they move Upton in the off-season and Hendry makes a serious play for him.

 

This is absolutely the right decision. Of course, I think there were rumblings of unrest with Upton in Tampa, so I'm sure Hendry won't even bother looking.

 

Yea, his effort has been questioned by a number of people and he hasn't had a good year. I still think he's a guy that's going to be a very solid player, we saw glimpses of it in the post-season last year. But after the Bradley experience I guess it wouldn't be a surprise to see the Cubs shy away from guys with perceived character issues. That and BJ is one of those dreaded right-handers.

 

.

[TruffleShuffle]

Sometimes the best move is not making a move. This is one of those times.

 

wait, what? you mean keep bradley, or go with an in house option for rf? because that sounds terrible.

 

I'd keep Bradley.

 

ok that's not what we're doing in this thread though.

[Grit amp Heart]

Not trading Milton Bradley is a real solution to solving the expected hole. Unless a stud wants to play for us cheap, we're not going to be able team making the move. We might have a team that hurts people's feeling less often, but we won't be in a better position to due well next season. Besides 2010 is the Cubs swan song. We'll be fairly pedestrian for 2011-12 and probably 13.

[TruffleShuffle]

Not trading Milton Bradley is a real solution to solving the expected hole. Unless a stud wants to play for us cheap, we're not going to be able team making the move. We might have a team that hurts people's feeling less often, but we won't be in a better position to due well next season. Besides 2010 is the Cubs swan song. We'll be fairly pedestrian for 2011-12 and probably 13.

 

right but we already have a thread where people are arguing about whether we should keep milton and his bad attitude or deal him away, so when i started this thread i specifically said to assume that he would be dealt and therefore we have a hole in the OF. i'm trying to make this an intelligent baseball thread rather than the clusterf*** that the other thread has become.

[Grit amp Heart]

Thanks for thinking I'm a coherent intelligent person.

[JoseHernandez18]

Good thread.

 

It looks like the rockies would be the ideal team to acquire someone from. Hawpe would make a third cajun too. That would mean out right releasing milton.

 

Tampa would be one of the few teams that might take milton if we footed a lot of the bill. Could we get Upton? if so that is absolutely the move. The other guy they would probably part with is Burrell but, Soriano, Fuk, and Burrell would be a nightmare defensively.

 

Outside possibility is trade Bradley for Eric Byrnes ($11 mil next season) which i'm not so sure of and he's EXTREMELY right handed.