Re: Cubs upset with Theriot?

[Sammy Sofa]

The chance to truly sell high on Theriot has long passed.

[davell]

Theriot will lose his arbitration hearing. 2.6 is fine for him for THIS year, but considering his salary will be going up from there, trading him is the right thing for us to do, just as Tim has said. He's more valuable right now than he will be at any other point, so the issue is basically this: Do we think that between Blanco, Barney, and Castro, we can make up what we're losing with Theriot right now? I don't want to rush Castro, but it's not inconceivable that he could outperform Theriot in 2010 either. I guess it's going to hinge on where we think he's at come spring training. Barney probably needs more seasoning as well, but longterm I think he will basically become Theriot as it is. Does Blanco's glove make up for Theriot's bat? Especially if he puts up a .625-.650ish OPS? No idea, but Rob or someone else can do the math and see if it works out, numbers-wise.......

 

What can we get for him is the next question and my guess is not a lot. Is he worth some other teams version of Chris Carpenter and Kyler Burke? If we could get 2 guys in that range of prospects from someone, I'd go ahead and make it happen and go with Blanco or preferrably Castro......

 

It's hard to quantify Blanco's defense at SS. He only got 90 innings there last year and hadn't played in the majors since 2006. And even at that, he only has 66 total games at SS in the majors.

 

That said, I don't see it as particularly likely that his glove can cover the gap in their offensive abilities.

 

I didn't even think about him not having a big enough sample size to truly get any sort of real indication. Do we think Blanco could be close to a gold glove caliber SS, given what we've seen from him in the field? If that answer is yes, then does it make it close enough value-wise to pull the trigger and deal Theriot?

 

And I agree with Mojo, by the way. Our chance to deal him at his highest point has already passed anyway, so this question is basically just to learn how much defense COULD matter, in an instance like this.......

 

As for B2B: I said it's conceivable that Castro COULD outperform Theriot in 2010. I also said that we have to evaluate him during spring training to see where he's at. I don't want to rush him, but if he looks like he's ready, then we may as well see what he's got. I'll have to trust Hendry, Lou, and Jaramillo to make the right decision on him, which is all any of us can do. If he's NOT ready, Blanco becomes our best option and that's why I asked whether or not the glovework of him can compare to what we're missing from Theriot's bat, in this case.

[Guest]

First you say you don't want to rush Castro (or Barney) and then you're willing to turn over the starting SS job on a contending team to him.

 

The Cubs aren't a contending team. They are a high salary team that is mediocre.

 

There are more questions on this year's team than any team since 2006. Lilly won't be back until May and may never be the pitcher he was in the first two years. Big Z has a lot of wear. Dempster needs to bounce back. Will Wells be as good as he was in first 10 starts? How may starts will Carlos Silva have?

 

Lee is getting old, Aramis's shoulder is still a concern. Soriano has shown he can stay in a slump with the best of them.

 

On and on. For the Cubs to contend this year everything will have to go right for them and they will still need some help.

[Backtobanks]

First you say you don't want to rush Castro (or Barney) and then you're willing to turn over the starting SS job on a contending team to him.

 

The Cubs aren't a contending team. They are a high salary team that is mediocre.

 

There are more questions on this year's team than any team since 2006. Lilly won't be back until May and may never be the pitcher he was in the first two years. Big Z has a lot of wear. Dempster needs to bounce back. Will Wells be as good as he was in first 10 starts? How may starts will Carlos Silva have?

 

Lee is getting old, Aramis's shoulder is still a concern. Soriano has shown he can stay in a slump with the best of them.

 

On and on. For the Cubs to contend this year everything will have to go right for them and they will still need some help.

 

I guess you can look at the dark side of everything:

1. There's no reason to think that Lilly won't be the same pitcher he was for the last 2 years.

2. Zambrano has a lot of wear as opposed to Carpenter and Penny on the Cards?

3. Dempster has been pretty consistent with the exception of his time with the broken toe.

4. Can Wells repeat his success? Can Wainwright and Franklin repeat theirs?

5. Silva won't get many starts unless he earns them.

6. Lee had one of his best seasons ever and showed no signs of aging last year.

7. Ramirez came back and eventually returned to his old self.

8. Soriano was playing on one leg for quite awhile.

 

I've said all along that the Cubs will probably be co-favorites with the Cards for the NL Central. The only teams that don't have many questions going into spring training are the Yankees and the Red Sox.

[Rob]

Theriot will lose his arbitration hearing. 2.6 is fine for him for THIS year, but considering his salary will be going up from there, trading him is the right thing for us to do, just as Tim has said. He's more valuable right now than he will be at any other point, so the issue is basically this: Do we think that between Blanco, Barney, and Castro, we can make up what we're losing with Theriot right now? I don't want to rush Castro, but it's not inconceivable that he could outperform Theriot in 2010 either. I guess it's going to hinge on where we think he's at come spring training. Barney probably needs more seasoning as well, but longterm I think he will basically become Theriot as it is. Does Blanco's glove make up for Theriot's bat? Especially if he puts up a .625-.650ish OPS? No idea, but Rob or someone else can do the math and see if it works out, numbers-wise.......

 

What can we get for him is the next question and my guess is not a lot. Is he worth some other teams version of Chris Carpenter and Kyler Burke? If we could get 2 guys in that range of prospects from someone, I'd go ahead and make it happen and go with Blanco or preferrably Castro......

 

It's hard to quantify Blanco's defense at SS. He only got 90 innings there last year and hadn't played in the majors since 2006. And even at that, he only has 66 total games at SS in the majors.

 

That said, I don't see it as particularly likely that his glove can cover the gap in their offensive abilities.

 

I didn't even think about him not having a big enough sample size to truly get any sort of real indication. Do we think Blanco could be close to a gold glove caliber SS, given what we've seen from him in the field? If that answer is yes, then does it make it close enough value-wise to pull the trigger and deal Theriot?

 

I'll have to make this quick and dirty, but it's a good approximation.

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

[davell]

Nah, not with what you just posted. :mrgreen: So, my opinion now is unless we deem Castro ready right from the start of the year, we may as well ride Theriot's averageness out for one more year......

[Guest]

Theriot will lose his arbitration hearing. 2.6 is fine for him for THIS year, but considering his salary will be going up from there, trading him is the right thing for us to do, just as Tim has said. He's more valuable right now than he will be at any other point, so the issue is basically this: Do we think that between Blanco, Barney, and Castro, we can make up what we're losing with Theriot right now? I don't want to rush Castro, but it's not inconceivable that he could outperform Theriot in 2010 either. I guess it's going to hinge on where we think he's at come spring training. Barney probably needs more seasoning as well, but longterm I think he will basically become Theriot as it is. Does Blanco's glove make up for Theriot's bat? Especially if he puts up a .625-.650ish OPS? No idea, but Rob or someone else can do the math and see if it works out, numbers-wise.......

 

What can we get for him is the next question and my guess is not a lot. Is he worth some other teams version of Chris Carpenter and Kyler Burke? If we could get 2 guys in that range of prospects from someone, I'd go ahead and make it happen and go with Blanco or preferrably Castro......

 

It's hard to quantify Blanco's defense at SS. He only got 90 innings there last year and hadn't played in the majors since 2006. And even at that, he only has 66 total games at SS in the majors.

 

That said, I don't see it as particularly likely that his glove can cover the gap in their offensive abilities.

 

I didn't even think about him not having a big enough sample size to truly get any sort of real indication. Do we think Blanco could be close to a gold glove caliber SS, given what we've seen from him in the field? If that answer is yes, then does it make it close enough value-wise to pull the trigger and deal Theriot?

 

I'll have to make this quick and dirty, but it's a good approximation.

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

This isn't quite true.

 

Blanco plus whomever the Cubs received in return for Theriot would have to combine to provide those 20 runs. Let's say that the Cubs were able to move Theriot for a quality reliever that could save 10 additional runs over some of the guys currently slated for the back end of the pen. I think Blanco could be 10 runs better than Theriot on defense.

[dew1679666265]

First you say you don't want to rush Castro (or Barney) and then you're willing to turn over the starting SS job on a contending team to him.

 

The Cubs aren't a contending team. They are a high salary team that is mediocre.

 

There are more questions on this year's team than any team since 2006. Lilly won't be back until May and may never be the pitcher he was in the first two years. Big Z has a lot of wear. Dempster needs to bounce back. Will Wells be as good as he was in first 10 starts? How may starts will Carlos Silva have?

 

Lee is getting old, Aramis's shoulder is still a concern. Soriano has shown he can stay in a slump with the best of them.

 

On and on. For the Cubs to contend this year everything will have to go right for them and they will still need some help.

 

So a team that won 84 games last year with Soriano contributing next to nothing and Ramirez hurt much of the year is very unlikely to contend this year? Lilly will miss a month yes, but otherwise this team isn't much worse than last year. If Soriano rebounds at all and Ramirez can stay (mostly) healthy, I don't see why we can't contend. Our bench should be much improved as well, which means if we do have an injury in the starting lineup, we won't have a black hole playing for 3 months like we did at third last year.

[Prizefight]

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

 

Very nice post :thumbsup:

[Electron Blue]

First you say you don't want to rush Castro (or Barney) and then you're willing to turn over the starting SS job on a contending team to him.

 

The Cubs aren't a contending team. They are a high salary team that is mediocre.

 

There are more questions on this year's team than any team since 2006. Lilly won't be back until May and may never be the pitcher he was in the first two years. Big Z has a lot of wear. Dempster needs to bounce back. Will Wells be as good as he was in first 10 starts? How may starts will Carlos Silva have?

 

Lee is getting old, Aramis's shoulder is still a concern. Soriano has shown he can stay in a slump with the best of them.

 

On and on. For the Cubs to contend this year everything will have to go right for them and they will still need some help.

 

So a team that won 84 games last year with Soriano contributing next to nothing and Ramirez hurt much of the year is very unlikely to contend this year? Lilly will miss a month yes, but otherwise this team isn't much worse than last year. If Soriano rebounds at all and Ramirez can stay (mostly) healthy, I don't see why we can't contend. Our bench should be much improved as well, which means if we do have an injury in the starting lineup, we won't have a black hole playing for 3 months like we did at third last year.

 

[Though it's harder to admit if your team isn't projected to be average or worse] there is a great deal of luck going into every season.

[dew1679666265]

First you say you don't want to rush Castro (or Barney) and then you're willing to turn over the starting SS job on a contending team to him.

 

The Cubs aren't a contending team. They are a high salary team that is mediocre.

 

There are more questions on this year's team than any team since 2006. Lilly won't be back until May and may never be the pitcher he was in the first two years. Big Z has a lot of wear. Dempster needs to bounce back. Will Wells be as good as he was in first 10 starts? How may starts will Carlos Silva have?

 

Lee is getting old, Aramis's shoulder is still a concern. Soriano has shown he can stay in a slump with the best of them.

 

On and on. For the Cubs to contend this year everything will have to go right for them and they will still need some help.

 

So a team that won 84 games last year with Soriano contributing next to nothing and Ramirez hurt much of the year is very unlikely to contend this year? Lilly will miss a month yes, but otherwise this team isn't much worse than last year. If Soriano rebounds at all and Ramirez can stay (mostly) healthy, I don't see why we can't contend. Our bench should be much improved as well, which means if we do have an injury in the starting lineup, we won't have a black hole playing for 3 months like we did at third last year.

 

[Though it's harder to admit if your team isn't projected to be average or worse] there is a great deal of luck going into every season.

 

Luck definitely plays a huge role in winning or losing. My point is, with neutral luck, this team can contend. With good luck, they could win 90+. With luck like last year, they'll win 84 or less again.

 

My issue is with the idea that without extraordinary luck, this team can't contend.

[treebird]

Theriot will lose his arbitration hearing. 2.6 is fine for him for THIS year, but considering his salary will be going up from there, trading him is the right thing for us to do, just as Tim has said. He's more valuable right now than he will be at any other point, so the issue is basically this: Do we think that between Blanco, Barney, and Castro, we can make up what we're losing with Theriot right now? I don't want to rush Castro, but it's not inconceivable that he could outperform Theriot in 2010 either. I guess it's going to hinge on where we think he's at come spring training. Barney probably needs more seasoning as well, but longterm I think he will basically become Theriot as it is. Does Blanco's glove make up for Theriot's bat? Especially if he puts up a .625-.650ish OPS? No idea, but Rob or someone else can do the math and see if it works out, numbers-wise.......

 

What can we get for him is the next question and my guess is not a lot. Is he worth some other teams version of Chris Carpenter and Kyler Burke? If we could get 2 guys in that range of prospects from someone, I'd go ahead and make it happen and go with Blanco or preferrably Castro......

 

It's hard to quantify Blanco's defense at SS. He only got 90 innings there last year and hadn't played in the majors since 2006. And even at that, he only has 66 total games at SS in the majors.

 

That said, I don't see it as particularly likely that his glove can cover the gap in their offensive abilities.

 

I didn't even think about him not having a big enough sample size to truly get any sort of real indication. Do we think Blanco could be close to a gold glove caliber SS, given what we've seen from him in the field? If that answer is yes, then does it make it close enough value-wise to pull the trigger and deal Theriot?

 

I'll have to make this quick and dirty, but it's a good approximation.

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

 

we're not going to cut theriot and give all his money to blanco, the idea would be to trade theriot for something valuable and play blanco at short in his absence. for the trade to be a good idea, we don't need blanco>theriot, we need blanco+new guy>theriot.

 

and i still don't think theriot is an average defensive shortstop, but that's another matter.

[Rob]

I'll have to make this quick and dirty, but it's a good approximation.

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

This isn't quite true.

 

Blanco plus whomever the Cubs received in return for Theriot would have to combine to provide those 20 runs. Let's say that the Cubs were able to move Theriot for a quality reliever that could save 10 additional runs over some of the guys currently slated for the back end of the pen. I think Blanco could be 10 runs better than Theriot on defense.

 

Absolutely a possibility. I was just referring to the situation at SS though, as there's no way to know what we'd receive back in a trade. It could be prospects or ML ready guys.

[NewUserName]

 

I guess you can look at the dark side of everything:

1. There's no reason to think that Lilly won't be the same pitcher he was for the last 2 years.

2. Zambrano has a lot of wear as opposed to Carpenter and Penny on the Cards?

3. Dempster has been pretty consistent with the exception of his time with the broken toe.

4. Can Wells repeat his success? Can Wainwright and Franklin repeat theirs?

5. Silva won't get many starts unless he earns them.

6. Lee had one of his best seasons ever and showed no signs of aging last year.

7. Ramirez came back and eventually returned to his old self.

8. Soriano was playing on one leg for quite awhile.

 

I've said all along that the Cubs will probably be co-favorites with the Cards for the NL Central. The only teams that don't have many questions going into spring training are the Yankees and the Red Sox.

 

Are you Jim Hendry? This seems very similar to the logic that I imagine goes through his head.

[Guest]

I'll have to make this quick and dirty, but it's a good approximation.

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

This isn't quite true.

 

Blanco plus whomever the Cubs received in return for Theriot would have to combine to provide those 20 runs. Let's say that the Cubs were able to move Theriot for a quality reliever that could save 10 additional runs over some of the guys currently slated for the back end of the pen. I think Blanco could be 10 runs better than Theriot on defense.

 

Absolutely a possibility. I was just referring to the situation at SS though, as there's no way to know what we'd receive back in a trade. It could be prospects or ML ready guys.

Well, if it's prospects we get back, then we'd have that extra $2.5M to spend on something useful, too.

[TruffleShuffle]

Well, if it's prospects we get back, then we'd have that extra $2.5M to spend on something useful, too.

 

or, since it's jim hendry spending the money, a mediocre middle reliever or utility infielder.

[Rob]

I'll have to make this quick and dirty, but it's a good approximation.

 

If they both perform like they did last season with the bat, the difference between them over 650 PA is about 20 runs. All metrics seem to be in agreement that we are unfairly disparaging Theriot's defense on this board, and most systems rank him as average to slightly above average. For the sake of argument, let's say he's dead average. (which is likely underselling him)

 

Andres Blanco would have to be +20 with the glove to provide equal value. In the last 5 years, there have been a grand total of three SS who have accomplished that feat... Orlando Cabrera in 2005, Adam Everett in 2006, and Omar Vizquel in 2007. Nobody has managed it the last two years.

 

Do you think Blanco would?

This isn't quite true.

 

Blanco plus whomever the Cubs received in return for Theriot would have to combine to provide those 20 runs. Let's say that the Cubs were able to move Theriot for a quality reliever that could save 10 additional runs over some of the guys currently slated for the back end of the pen. I think Blanco could be 10 runs better than Theriot on defense.

 

Absolutely a possibility. I was just referring to the situation at SS though, as there's no way to know what we'd receive back in a trade. It could be prospects or ML ready guys.

Well, if it's prospects we get back, then we'd have that extra $2.5M to spend on something useful, too.

 

I didn't think it needed to be said, but yes... the outcome of any potential trade of Ryan Theriot depends on what we get in return. I was just asked about comparing Theriot and Blanco.

[Guest]

gotcha.

[biittner77]

Is it inconceivable for Blanco to put up a .250/.325/.400 line? That would be about the same as Theriot with much better defense.

 

A lot of people expect better results from Soriano and Soto. If that's the case then will the dropoff from Theriot to Blanco offensively really be that big of a deal? Conversely, if Soriano and Soto are as bad as they were last year, does it really matter who plays SS for an 80 win team?

[Backtobanks]

Is it inconceivable for Blanco to put up a .250/.325/.400 line? That would be about the same as Theriot with much better defense.

 

A lot of people expect better results from Soriano and Soto. If that's the case then will the dropoff from Theriot to Blanco offensively really be that big of a deal? Conversely, if Soriano and Soto are as bad as they were last year, does it really matter who plays SS for an 80 win team?

 

It's not inconceivable, but it's unlikely. We won't know whether Soriano or Soto are as bad as last year until at least midseason, so meanwhile you have to go with Theriot.

[dew1679666265]

Is it inconceivable for Blanco to put up a .250/.325/.400 line? That would be about the same as Theriot with much better defense.

 

A lot of people expect better results from Soriano and Soto. If that's the case then will the dropoff from Theriot to Blanco offensively really be that big of a deal? Conversely, if Soriano and Soto are as bad as they were last year, does it really matter who plays SS for an 80 win team?

 

Blanco's career minor league stats:

 

.256/.318/.326/.644

 

A .725 OPS would be pretty impressive for him.

[biittner77]

Is it inconceivable for Blanco to put up a .250/.325/.400 line? That would be about the same as Theriot with much better defense.

 

A lot of people expect better results from Soriano and Soto. If that's the case then will the dropoff from Theriot to Blanco offensively really be that big of a deal? Conversely, if Soriano and Soto are as bad as they were last year, does it really matter who plays SS for an 80 win team?

 

It's not inconceivable, but it's unlikely. We won't know whether Soriano or Soto are as bad as last year until at least midseason, so meanwhile you have to go with Theriot.

 

We should know a lot sooner than that. I'll conceed the point that keeping Theriot around until say June is safer than trading him now. However, that means probably paying him at least $3 million/ 3.4 after he wins his arby case.

 

Last year at Iowa Blanco put up a .304/.353/.474 line in 258 PAs. That's not a full season but it's a large enough sample to be worth noting. 2010 will be his age 26 season. He is young enough to perhaps perform better than his career .650 ops.

 

Theriot is 30. His line of .288/ .343/ .369 last year wasn't exactly legendary. He doubled his career total number of HRs and still only managed to slug .369.

 

Is Theriot a better hitter than Blanco this year? Probably. However, he is not that much better. Not so much better that he'll be worth what they'll have to pay him.

 

Then there's the matter of what to do if Castro is ready. Will Theriot graciously help Castro adjust or will he go all Larry Bowa and be a jackass?

[dew1679666265]

I have no problem with trading Theriot and would probably prefer it if we got a real good deal in return. That said, it'd truly have to be a case of selling high for me to be interested. If we can't make a clear improvement to the team, I see no benefit in trading him.

[TruffleShuffle]

Last year at Iowa Blanco put up a .304/.353/.474 line in 258 PAs. That's not a full season but it's a large enough sample to be worth noting. 2010 will be his age 26 season. He is young enough to perhaps perform better than his career .650 ops.

 

he was a little lucky on balls in play, but his line drive rate is up the last couple of years. it seems he's able to square the ball up and hit it with a little more authority than he did earlier in his minor league career. still, i don't think you give blanco the job hoping he puts up a .250/.350/.425 line (plus there is no way he walks enough for that to happen). i think you hope for something like .260/.310/.375 and very good defense. that would be good enough to not be a black hole.

[TruffleShuffle]

fwiw, i looked up some projections for blanco and this is what they have:

 

pecota: .267/.320/.377/.697

bill james: .256/.301/.349/.650

CHONE: .265/.314/.368/.683

Marcel: .268/.333/.410/.743

 

Averaging those, you get .264/.317/.376/.693.

 

Theriot's projections:

pecota: .284/.356/.370/.726

bill james: .284/.352/.357/.709

CHONE: .280/.350/.367/.717

Marcel: .281/.348/.363/.712

 

Averaging those, you get .282/.352/.364/.716.

 

i guess it comes down to a couple of things. one, with theriot you are fairly certain that you're getting a line like the ones you see above - he's been a regular player for a couple of years now and you know what you're going to get. blanco might be able to hit at that line above, but he's been a pretty weak hitter for much of his major league career and is largely unproven against major league pitchers. the other question is, how much better is blanco's defense than theriot's? the metrics seem to suggest they're pretty close in terms of ability, but the scouting reports on blanco's defense have always been very positive, and he looked really strong with the cubs last year.

 

i dunno, blanco's recent development gives me some optimism. you can also look at omar vizquel's first eight years as a professional player, if you want more reason to feel optimistic. vizquel basically could not hit for beans until he reached his mid 20s, but then he became a very useful player. he always had a pretty good eye and the ability to make contact, but did not hit the ball with any authority. that said, blanco doesn't have as good an eye as vizquel had as a minor leaguer, and there is also the example of rey ordonez, who made contact and drew a few walks but was a God-awful hitter. but he never flashed the power that blanco showed with iowa last year.

 

when it all comes down to it, i'm not convinced that theriot will be that much better than blanco this year. theriot has tended to wear down during the second half of the season, and we have castro coming along, so maybe the most prudent thing to do is keep theriot around through midyear and then shop him around. but if blanco is hitting the ball with authority in spring training and castro looks like he's not far from the majors, i'd look seriously into dealing theriot away.