Hendry NOT looking to rebuild Cubs

[jersey cubs fan]

I really don't get it. Wells may be on his way to about his 8th really crappy start of the season. He's a fly ball pitcher who kind of keeps it in the ballpark, doesn't strike out a ton of guy and is really hittable. I just don't get it. I'm probably unfair to the guy but I just have very little faith in him. He's more than earned his keep so far in his career, but there isn't a whole heck of a lot I like about him going forward.

[Sammy Sofa]

I really don't get it. Wells may be on his way to about his 8th really crappy start of the season. He's a fly ball pitcher who kind of keeps it in the ballpark, doesn't strike out a ton of guy and is really hittable. I just don't get it. I'm probably unfair to the guy but I just have very little faith in him. He's more than earned his keep so far in his career, but there isn't a whole heck of a lot I like about him going forward.

 

Yeah, same here. He seems like he can be a serviceable back of the rotation guy and not much more.

[jersey cubs fan]

I really don't get it. Wells may be on his way to about his 8th really crappy start of the season. He's a fly ball pitcher who kind of keeps it in the ballpark, doesn't strike out a ton of guy and is really hittable. I just don't get it. I'm probably unfair to the guy but I just have very little faith in him. He's more than earned his keep so far in his career, but there isn't a whole heck of a lot I like about him going forward.

 

I should have kept it "well on his way".

[Sammy Sofa]

Case in point today. Wells is just too ridiculously hittable when he's off to amount to much or to sustain success that was initially seen from him in his first year.

[jersey cubs fan]

Am I wrong in assuming that a lot of the "better than his ERA" stats are banking on the fact that he doesn't give up many HR?

 

I've seen a few Zambrano games where he's murdered by dinks and dunks and bloopers, one Mets game in particular I was attending. That's a bad game where I think the numbers are a little unfair. But Wells, to my eye, gets hit hard when he gets hit. People aren't lucking into a bunch of seeing eye singles. And now he's given up 14 on the season and may have been lucky to pitch in a lot of pitcher friendly games at Wrigley (no idea of true).

[Sammy Sofa]

Wells certainly has his share of games where falls apart by just giving up a ton of singles.

[Rob]

Am I wrong in assuming that a lot of the "better than his ERA" stats are banking on the fact that he doesn't give up many HR?

 

I've seen a few Zambrano games where he's murdered by dinks and dunks and bloopers, one Mets game in particular I was attending. That's a bad game where I think the numbers are a little unfair. But Wells, to my eye, gets hit hard when he gets hit. People aren't lucking into a bunch of seeing eye singles. And now he's given up 14 on the season and may have been lucky to pitch in a lot of pitcher friendly games at Wrigley (no idea of true).

 

If you think his HR rate is flukey, then take a look at his xFIP, which is higher at 3.8 something (I checked it earlier and am too lazy to do it now), but actually had him ranked 26th or so among all starters.

[jersey cubs fan]

It's not just a matter of a flukey HR rate. I think the guy just gets hit hard far too frequently to have faith that his performance is actually better that what he has done. I find myself much more amazed at his really good starts than his really crappy ones.

[Rob]

Hey, I'm not exactly the #1 Randy Wells fan in the world. The numbers are saying he's been unlucky and he's as good a pitcher as all these other guys. My eyes say he doesn't have quite the same stuff they do.

 

The bottom line is that he's worth keeping around just to see how it plays out. If he pans out, great. If his peripherals erode, whatever, he's still serviceable at the back end of the rotation. There's no reason to go selling him unless we're selling high.

[jersey cubs fan]

I wonder if Cashner's really crappy relief work is going to increase his chances of moving back to the rotation.

[illiniguy]

Jim Hendry still having a job is laughable.

[Tyrant]

GREAT start from Wells today.

[Rob]

Obvious troll is obvious.

[sweetpeteman]

Hey, I'm not exactly the #1 Randy Wells fan in the world. The numbers are saying he's been unlucky and he's as good a pitcher as all these other guys. My eyes say he doesn't have quite the same stuff they do.

 

The bottom line is that he's worth keeping around just to see how it plays out. If he pans out, great. If his peripherals erode, whatever, he's still serviceable at the back end of the rotation. There's no reason to go selling him unless we're selling high.

 

 

Really I see him as a Matt Clement type guy. A guy who can go out and give you 7 innings, 0 ER, or a guy who will go 3 and give up 7, but usually ends up somewhere in the middle and hopefully with more towards the former.

 

 

Look at Wells' July to see how good he can be over multiple starts.

[Magnetic Curses]

Hey, I'm not exactly the #1 Randy Wells fan in the world. The numbers are saying he's been unlucky and he's as good a pitcher as all these other guys. My eyes say he doesn't have quite the same stuff they do.

 

The bottom line is that he's worth keeping around just to see how it plays out. If he pans out, great. If his peripherals erode, whatever, he's still serviceable at the back end of the rotation. There's no reason to go selling him unless we're selling high.

 

 

Really I see him as a Matt Clement type guy. A guy who can go out and give you 7 innings, 0 ER, or a guy who will go 3 and give up 7, but usually ends up somewhere in the middle and hopefully with more towards the former.

 

 

Look at Wells' July to see how good he can be over multiple starts.

 

matt clement had amazing stuff that he couldn't locate, though.

[Tracer Bullet]

Hey, I'm not exactly the #1 Randy Wells fan in the world. The numbers are saying he's been unlucky and he's as good a pitcher as all these other guys. My eyes say he doesn't have quite the same stuff they do.

 

The bottom line is that he's worth keeping around just to see how it plays out. If he pans out, great. If his peripherals erode, whatever, he's still serviceable at the back end of the rotation. There's no reason to go selling him unless we're selling high.

 

Is Gonzalez not selling high?

[Rob]

Hey, I'm not exactly the #1 Randy Wells fan in the world. The numbers are saying he's been unlucky and he's as good a pitcher as all these other guys. My eyes say he doesn't have quite the same stuff they do.

 

The bottom line is that he's worth keeping around just to see how it plays out. If he pans out, great. If his peripherals erode, whatever, he's still serviceable at the back end of the rotation. There's no reason to go selling him unless we're selling high.

 

Is Gonzalez not selling high?

It depends on the rest of the package. I'd certainly be willing to put Wells in an Adrian Gonzalez trade though, just not as a throw-in.

[dew1679666265]

Hey, I'm not exactly the #1 Randy Wells fan in the world. The numbers are saying he's been unlucky and he's as good a pitcher as all these other guys. My eyes say he doesn't have quite the same stuff they do.

 

The bottom line is that he's worth keeping around just to see how it plays out. If he pans out, great. If his peripherals erode, whatever, he's still serviceable at the back end of the rotation. There's no reason to go selling him unless we're selling high.

 

Is Gonzalez not selling high?

It depends on the rest of the package. I'd certainly be willing to put Wells in an Adrian Gonzalez trade though, just not as a throw-in.

 

My thought on a hypothetical Wells/Gonzo trade is centering it around Wells and Vitters (or Colvin if they like him and don't like Vitters). The real question would be how much more we would have to add. I wouldn't want to add a whole lot, but I have a feeling we would if the Padres lean more toward scouting than sabermetrics.

[Fro]

Our pitching is just bad. Dempster did about what you expect based on his career numbers but he's a #3 guy, not an ace. He's not going to repeat his 2008 season again. Silva started off hot but tanked hard and has ended up being average.

 

Wells has been below-average. Z's a head case and might be done. Gorzelanny probably just had his career year.

[SouthSideRyan]

Of course, the Cubs pitching is above average

[weis21]

ssshhhhh....don't be a jerk and infiltrate stats.

[davell]

So, what are we thinking Hendry THINKS we need? A lefty power hitter at 1B seems fairly predictable and I suspect we'll wind up with Dunn or Pena, possibly AGON, if he's actually made available(I doubt it personally).

 

But, what else? You think Hendry goes on the look out for a speedy leadoff hitter again? Unfortunately, I do. Maybe some semblance of a Figgins for Fukudone swap with some money coming back to us near the end of the deal? I could see it happening anyway, not that I'd like it.

 

Does Hendry think we need an ace or at least a front of the rotation type starter? I sure hope so. I don't see Cliff Lee in our sites or in our price range, so he's out, in my opinion. But, how about Greinke? 2/27 isn't bad for his talent level. But, would we want him over a Matt Garza? He'll be hitting his 2nd year of arbitration, probably making somewhere around 6 mill or so and doesn't have the issues Greinke possibly could either.......Not sure what Tampa would be wanting for him, but since they're supposedly going to be cutting payroll, he's rumored to be on the block. Doing the math, by signing Dunn(backloaded a tad, as usual), trading for Garza, and Hendry going after Figgins and getting him(saves us money next year actually) we'd be looking right at 130 mill, with no other moves. Other than the nontendering of Hill, Baker, and Guzman.

 

A lineup of this:

 

2B FIGGINS

SS CASTRO

3B RAMIREZ

1B DUNN

CF BYRD

RF COLVIN

LF SORIANO

C SOTO

 

with a rotation of this

 

GARZA

DEMPSTER

ZAMBRANO

SILVA/WELLS

GORZELANNY

 

You'd have Chrinos or Castillo as your BU C, DeWitt as your BU 3B, Barney as your BU 2B/SS, with probably Snyder as one of the BU OF'ers and in need of another still.

 

Your pen would have Marmol, Marshall, Cashner(who I'm convinced won't be given another shot at starting) Grabow, Samardzija, Russell, loser of Wells/Silva, plus one or maybe more of the plethora of arms potentially ready that have already made appearances in the majors, or possibly one of David Cales, Jay Jackson, or Chris Carpenter.......Of course, to get Garza, I could see us giving up Cashner and one of Jay Jackson or Carpenter possibly. If that's the case, maybe we go out and sign one of the closers out of this year's FA class, you can't find a job closing.......

 

Anyway, we save around 15 mill off this year's payroll, add a bigtime power guy in Dunn and a potential bigtime SP in Garza. Don't like the Figgins move, but it saves us some cash THIS season and at least he'd be able to play multiple positions.......It's the best I can think of anyway, to where we are lowering the payroll down somewhat anyway.

[CubColtPacer]

I believe Hendry wants to:

 

sign a power left-handed first baseman

trade Fukudome

trade Z if possible (although this is cooling down)

 

I don't believe he wants to replace DeWitt. He wanted him for a long time and I think he wants him to be at second for the next couple of years. The only way DeWitt would likely be replaced IMO is if he completely tanks over the last month.

 

The rest of the starting position players seem pretty set in stone unless Ramirez were to opt out.

 

I think he'll focus next on bench and bullpen. A second base/3rd base backup, a 4th OF (which might be Fukudome if he cannot find a deal but probably not), and 1-2 bullpen arms (specifically a right-handed setup man). Baker and Hill probably get released for cheaper players.

 

If he has anything left he'll go after another starter and it will probably be an average one. This might be a high priced starter that gets swapped with Fukudome.

 

Those aren't all moves I'd make (specifically trading Fukudome but some other lesser things as well) but that's IMO most likely Hendry's course.

[SouthSideRyan]

I have no interest in trading for Garza, it'll cost too much for too small an improvement. Greinke in Chicago would scare the crap out of me.

[17 Seconds]

yeah i don't see how garza is a "big time SP"