Winning Streak- anyone else besides me..

[Sammy Sofa]

At least he had that epic double play tonight.

[Cubfanintheknow]

Quade poked the bear.

[jersey cubs fan]

Speaking of streaks I hadn't noticed, I saw a crappy Marlon Byrd at bat last night and thought it had been a while since I saw him do something good. He's had a bad second half thanks to a truly awful August and September and now his overall numbers are quite pedestrian (though still good for a CF).

 

That's not necessarily to take anything away from him. He's already at his career high for PA, his next one will set a personal high. And he's 2 games away from his career high in games played. I think one thing the Cubs forgot in their whole 4 outfielder rotation thing when they sometimes struggled to get guys in, is that Marlon Byrd is not a 162 game player. He doesn't need to play everyday and he probably shouldn't.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yup, which is just another reason why the idea of trading Kosuke is a terrible one, and why Colvin will still get a ton of PA's even though he's not a starter.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yup, which is just another reason why the idea of trading Kosuke is a terrible one, and why Colvin will still get a ton of PA's even though he's not a starter.

 

Of the four, Kosuke has a pretty comfortable lead in OPS+ and OBP. He's 4th in games played and third in PA. All four of them have had bad months, but I think Kosuke is the only one who people think of as having been bad for an extended period of time.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yup, which is just another reason why the idea of trading Kosuke is a terrible one, and why Colvin will still get a ton of PA's even though he's not a starter.

 

Of the four, Kosuke has a pretty comfortable lead in OPS+ and OBP. He's 4th in games played and third in PA. All four of them have had bad months, but I think Kosuke is the only one who people think of as having been bad for an extended period of time.

 

Jersey, what do you think of the idea of the Cubs bringing Nady back for the bench next year? I don't know if he'd be willing to accept a deal like that with how he's come on late, but if he can be had for the right price I'd like to see him back.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yup, which is just another reason why the idea of trading Kosuke is a terrible one, and why Colvin will still get a ton of PA's even though he's not a starter.

 

Of the four, Kosuke has a pretty comfortable lead in OPS+ and OBP. He's 4th in games played and third in PA. All four of them have had bad months, but I think Kosuke is the only one who people think of as having been bad for an extended period of time.

 

Jersey, what do you think of the idea of the Cubs bringing Nady back for the bench next year? I don't know if he'd be willing to accept a deal like that with how he's come on late, but if he can be had for the right price I'd like to see him back.

 

I am for it. I have been for a while without saying much about it because part of me thinks it's s stupid idea, but I like it.

[pitchcs]

it doesn't matter what pick the Cubs have when they will only pick players from Notre Dame, Creighton, or Sister Aloicious Community Junior College

 

Dunedin, FL

 

Vanderbilt

.

.

.

.

Woops, wrong sport

I'd take a couple from there though.

[Illini Iceman]

Yup, which is just another reason why the idea of trading Kosuke is a terrible one, and why Colvin will still get a ton of PA's even though he's not a starter.

 

Of the four, Kosuke has a pretty comfortable lead in OPS+ and OBP. He's 4th in games played and third in PA. All four of them have had bad months, but I think Kosuke is the only one who people think of as having been bad for an extended period of time.

 

Jersey, what do you think of the idea of the Cubs bringing Nady back for the bench next year? I don't know if he'd be willing to accept a deal like that with how he's come on late, but if he can be had for the right price I'd like to see him back.

 

I am for it. I have been for a while without saying much about it because part of me thinks it's s stupid idea, but I like it.

 

Seems to me he needs regular at bats to get his hitting stroke going so I don't know how effective he will be as a part time player.

[muntjack]

I don't understand the desire to have him back. The "hot streak" has consisted of a bunch of singles and no walks. He has put up numbers similar to a down year from Ryan Theriot, and he is 31 and plays 1B. Pick a AAAA player and get the same production.

[jersey cubs fan]

I don't understand the desire to have him back. The "hot streak" has consisted of a bunch of singles and no walks. He has put up numbers similar to a down year from Ryan Theriot, and he is 31 and plays 1B. Pick a AAAA player and get the same production.

 

I understand the negatives. But the guy has a history of being able to hit and has improved the further away from surgery. I think he's a nice bat off the bench and potential fill-in starter if need be. If they are going with only 1 or 2 vets on the bench, he'd be a solid option.

[CubColtPacer]

I don't understand the desire to have him back. The "hot streak" has consisted of a bunch of singles and no walks. He has put up numbers similar to a down year from Ryan Theriot, and he is 31 and plays 1B. Pick a AAAA player and get the same production.

 

I understand the negatives. But the guy has a history of being able to hit and has improved the further away from surgery. I think he's a nice bat off the bench and potential fill-in starter if need be. If they are going with only 1 or 2 vets on the bench, he'd be a solid option.

 

He has improved sure but that's to the tune of a .719 OPS in the second half. And that's with a .388 BABIP over that time frame and terrible ISOD's (.043) and ISOP's (.096). If he had followed up August with at least a decent September the case for his improvement might be better but right now it just looks like he got lucky one month.

 

The Cubs are also going to carry only 5 bench spots again next season. One is for the backup catcher. Hopefully Fukudome stays and one spot is for Colvin/Fukudome. One spot is for a backup MI. Of the two spots remaining, do we really want one spot to go to a backup 1B/corner OF that really has shown very little offensively, doesn't have much to offer defensively, and may be injury prone?

[Sammy Sofa]

Actually, he's shown a lot offensively over his career, should be fine defensively the further he gets away from surgery, and how has he shown he's "injury prone?"

 

Nobody's saying they should dump a ton of money on him, but in terms of having a veteran bat who can play 1B and the corner OF spots you could do a LOT worse. If he can be had for cheap I'd love to see him back.

[davell]

While I wouldn't mind having Nady back as a bat off the bench, I don't see him accepting that honestly. He'll find a fulltime gig somewhere on a one year deal and try to up his value that way, to eventually get one last decent payday. If we miss out on Dunn, I bet our options 2 and 3 are Pena and Huff anyway.

[jersey cubs fan]

I don't understand the desire to have him back. The "hot streak" has consisted of a bunch of singles and no walks. He has put up numbers similar to a down year from Ryan Theriot, and he is 31 and plays 1B. Pick a AAAA player and get the same production.

 

I understand the negatives. But the guy has a history of being able to hit and has improved the further away from surgery. I think he's a nice bat off the bench and potential fill-in starter if need be. If they are going with only 1 or 2 vets on the bench, he'd be a solid option.

 

He has improved sure but that's to the tune of a .719 OPS in the second half. And that's with a .388 BABIP over that time frame and terrible ISOD's (.043) and ISOP's (.096). If he had followed up August with at least a decent September the case for his improvement might be better but right now it just looks like he got lucky one month.

 

The Cubs are also going to carry only 5 bench spots again next season. One is for the backup catcher. Hopefully Fukudome stays and one spot is for Colvin/Fukudome. One spot is for a backup MI. Of the two spots remaining, do we really want one spot to go to a backup 1B/corner OF that really has shown very little offensively, doesn't have much to offer defensively, and may be injury prone?

 

Yeah, on a team that is almost certainly not going to have a very good 1B, having a backup 1B like Nady available is a pretty decent idea. What other spots do you want to spend on the bench? Barney is fine for backing up SS and 2B. There's no need for a specific CF backup, since you have three guys capable of filling the position already. What you need in those spots on the bench are bats, not specific positional backups. Nady is having a weak enough season that I doubt many teams are banging down his door for a starting gig. But he's had a good enough career, and isn't old enough to be thought of as washed up, so he fits the bill pretty well. If they get Dunn at 1B, you can probably go another direction there, but I'm not sure anybody else is much better.

[CubColtPacer]

Actually, he's shown a lot offensively over his career, should be fine defensively the further he gets away from surgery, and how has he shown he's "injury prone?"

 

Nobody's saying they should dump a ton of money on him, but in terms of having a veteran bat who can play 1B and the corner OF spots you could do a LOT worse. If he can be had for cheap I'd love to see him back.

 

He's shown a lot offensively over his career but he hasn't really shown anything offensively this year. Having 1 month where he puts up good numbers because of a .426 BABIP and striking out a lot without showing that much power is not a good combination. He's at best an average corner OF defensively. He won't hurt you much there (especially in left) but he's not a good option either. As for injury prone, it's not a big concern, but it does worry me a little bit when a player has two different episodes of needing TJS.

 

What's the realistic projection for him next year? .710 OPS with possible upside and also possible downside? .725? I'd rather a bench player do something well and Nady is probably below average in every single area.

 

Now if the Cubs don't sign any 1B Nady becomes a little more valuable because of the extreme uncertainty of the position and as a starter his possible upside becomes a little more important. But all indications are that the Cubs see that as their first area of concern and as a bench bat there are better options than Nady. That's especially true since you'd be lucky to get him for 1 million and probably would require a little more than that.

[jersey cubs fan]

What's the realistic projection for him next year? .710 OPS with possible upside and also possible downside? .725? I'd rather a bench player do something well and Nady is probably below average in every single area.

 

He's probably capable of flirting with an 800 OPS again.

[Sammy Sofa]

You seem to be expecting too much for your bench players if you want to keep it cheap, and you also seem to think that Nady his hit his plateau in terms of post-surgery performance. Personally, I disagree, and if he can be had for a decent enough price I'd want to have him back. Veteran bench players are almost always scrap heap guys anyway, so someone who is a "proven" bench player is going to cost too much. Hey, Nady could suck next year, but he's coming back from a surgery that players tend to rebound from and he's still young enough and has a decent enough history that there's a good chance he could produce if he's willing to accept a bench role to build up his stock. I think he could easily end up hovering around an .800 or so OPS next year.

[CubColtPacer]

What's the realistic projection for him next year? .710 OPS with possible upside and also possible downside? .725? I'd rather a bench player do something well and Nady is probably below average in every single area.

 

He's probably capable of flirting with an 800 OPS again.

 

He was an 800 OPS player in the prime of his career. He'll be 32 next year with a major injury in between and has shown no signs of rebounding so far this year. He has never walked much at all. His strikeout rate is actually getting worse as the season has gone along. His power is getting worse as the season is going along. He's shown really no signs of recovering. His improvement has been a mirage.

 

I was actually somewhat supportive of Nady coming back because I bought in to the he's returning to the player he was as he continues to recover. But when I took a deeper look it simply isn't true. And I'm not willing to sign him based on the 5% chance that he could be a very good bench player.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah, on a team that is almost certainly not going to have a very good 1B

 

Why do you say this? I'd be surprised if we don't wind up with Dunn.

[jersey cubs fan]

What's the realistic projection for him next year? .710 OPS with possible upside and also possible downside? .725? I'd rather a bench player do something well and Nady is probably below average in every single area.

 

He's probably capable of flirting with an 800 OPS again.

 

He was an 800 OPS player in the prime of his career. He'll be 32 next year with a major injury in between and has shown no signs of rebounding so far this year. He has never walked much at all. His strikeout rate is actually getting worse as the season has gone along. His power is getting worse as the season is going along. He's shown really no signs of recovering. His improvement has been a mirage.

 

I was actually somewhat supportive of Nady coming back because I bought in to the he's returning to the player he was as he continues to recover. But when I took a deeper look it simply isn't true. And I'm not willing to sign him based on the 5% chance that he could be a very good bench player.

 

He was in excess of an 800 OPS player when he was in his prime. At 32 he's past his prime but still well within the range of a guy capable of getting close to what he's done in the past. I feel that the Cubs were overly optimistic about his time frame for recovery, and that after taking a full year off and showing up to camp unable to play, it's quite possible he's just not in proper condition to play 6 months of baseball this year. If he can go through an offseason of regular workouts and go into spring training actually playing baseball, I really don't think it is at all a stretch to see him somewhere between his 780 career OPS and the 800 level. That is an above average bat on a team that struggles to be average, and useful.

[jersey cubs fan]

Yeah, on a team that is almost certainly not going to have a very good 1B

 

Why do you say this? I'd be surprised if we don't wind up with Dunn.

 

I'd be surprised if they do.

[Cubs Fan Dan]

I would be surprised if the Cubs do not end up with Carlos Pena.

[davell]

From most indications, it appears that Dunn WANTS to stay in Washington. If they won't ante up and give him 3 or probably 4 years, then I'd say we have a great shot at him, but it seems like Washington wants to spend some money for once. It won't shock me to see them keep Dunn and make a big play for Crawford as well.

 

If we don't get Dunn, I think Huff is most likely our 1B next year personally.

[shnsajax]

Order has finally been restored with the Cubs being outscored 20-1 in the last 15 innings so far today.

 

Hopefully we can recapture that draft position magic we had in August.