Cubs to offer arb to 6(including Koyie Hill)

[javy knows my name]

How shortsighted of me. Upon further reflection, I think we can count as positives that Geovany Soto is still alive and Jim Hendry has announced no plans to steal Christmas.

Hahaha

[Guest]

What's the point of rostering Robinson Chirinos? Sweet, 4 catchers on the 40-man.

[soapy]

Even expecting completely idiotic behavior and signings by Hendry, I am stunned that they would offer arby to Hill. Amazing. Almost as amazing is that nobody has stepped in with some nonsense about Hill's leadership or magical work with the pitching staff or something stupid and then played the old, "It's only $___, people. No big deal." Maybe we can get Bob Brenly to do a chat and rave about Koyie's allegedly phenomenal defensive prowess.

 

WE CAN'T AFFORD ADAM DUNN/CARLOS PENA/[insert quality starter if you desire] PEOPLE. WE'RE NOT MADE OF MONEY. YOU CAN'T FIND CRIPPLED, NON-HITTING BACK-UP CATCHERS JUST ANYWHERE!

 

Sorry, I'm in a pissed-off mood today.

[BeerHere]

What's the point of rostering Robinson Chirinos? Sweet, 4 catchers on the 40-man.

Agreed. This organization is dumb. Offering arb to Hill is beyond dumb. No one else will, but Hendry will be surprised when he accepts.

[SouthSideRyan]

What's the point of rostering Robinson Chirinos? Sweet, 4 catchers on the 40-man.

Agreed. This organization is dumb. Offering arb to Hill is beyond dumb. No one else will, but Hendry will be surprised when he accepts.

 

Read page 1, not that type of arb

[Guest]

 

Baker signs, 1.175 million.

[Cubswin11]

 

Baker signs, 1.175 million.

Very reasonable for both sides IMO. Baker is a nice piece as a back up/starter a few times a week.

[Rob]

I like Baker. He would be a great bench player for a team with a manager who realizes he should never face a righty. I can't remember if Quade was that smart, though.

[jersey cubs fan]

There's only so much you can do to prevent a guy from facing RHP. Baker was at 152/72 in terms of LHP/RHP plate appearances last season. Maybe they can do a little better next year, but probably not a lot. Especially if he has to start for any extended period.

[BeerHere]

What's the point of rostering Robinson Chirinos? Sweet, 4 catchers on the 40-man.

Agreed. This organization is dumb. Offering arb to Hill is beyond dumb. No one else will, but Hendry will be surprised when he accepts.

 

Read page 1, not that type of arb

I see. I still wonder why though....I was under the impression that Hill was gone.

[jersey cubs fan]

What's the point of rostering Robinson Chirinos? Sweet, 4 catchers on the 40-man.

Agreed. This organization is dumb. Offering arb to Hill is beyond dumb. No one else will, but Hendry will be surprised when he accepts.

 

Read page 1, not that type of arb

I see. I still wonder why though....I was under the impression that Hill was gone.

 

People assumed it when Chirinos was added to the roster, but that was premature speculation. You can't get rid of the two most vocal clubhouse personalities in the same year (Theriot was the first).

[Backtobanks]

I like Baker. He would be a great bench player for a team with a manager who realizes he should never face a righty. I can't remember if Quade was that smart, though.

 

Assuming DeWitt is on the team, they ought to be able to limit his at-bats againt righties.

[erik316wttn]

Are you going to offer me Arbitration too, Jim? I can suck just as bad as Koyie Hill, if not moreso.

[davell]

I'll play devil's advocate here for a second, even though I was the one that started this thread AND think it was extremely stupid to offer Hill arb.......

 

But, maybe the reason they're doing this is because they know that one of Castillo or Chirinos IS getting dealt this offseason and they already have an agreement in place with Hill for less than he made this past season(80 percent of his previous year's contract is the least they can offer). Considering that the pitchers DO(unfortunately) appear to really like throwing to him, if we kept him for less than what he made in 2010 AND played him alot less, it wouldn't be THAT bad, I suppose.

 

Don't get me wrong, I expect him to get a raise, expect us to keep 4 catchers on the 40 man all season and expect Hill to receive 50 starts or so, because, well, this is the Cubs we're talking about here, but maybe, just maybe, there's a sliver of chance that there's a method to their madness here.

[jersey cubs fan]

I'll play devil's advocate here for a second, even though I was the one that started this thread AND think it was extremely stupid to offer Hill arb.......

 

But, maybe the reason they're doing this is because they know that one of Castillo or Chirinos IS getting dealt this offseason and they already have an agreement in place with Hill for less than he made this past season(80 percent of his previous year's contract is the least they can offer). Considering that the pitchers DO(unfortunately) appear to really like throwing to him, if we kept him for less than what he made in 2010 AND played him alot less, it wouldn't be THAT bad, I suppose.

 

Don't get me wrong, I expect him to get a raise, expect us to keep 4 catchers on the 40 man all season and expect Hill to receive 50 starts or so, because, well, this is the Cubs we're talking about here, but maybe, just maybe, there's a sliver of chance that there's a method to their madness here.

 

He's worse than replacement level. And despite possible anecdotal evidence that pitchers "like" throwing to him, there's absolutely no evidence that they do any better throwing to him, or that the team enjoys any upside whatsoever to him being in any game.

[Rob]

I'll play devil's advocate here for a second, even though I was the one that started this thread AND think it was extremely stupid to offer Hill arb.......

 

But, maybe the reason they're doing this is because they know that one of Castillo or Chirinos IS getting dealt this offseason and they already have an agreement in place with Hill for less than he made this past season(80 percent of his previous year's contract is the least they can offer). Considering that the pitchers DO(unfortunately) appear to really like throwing to him, if we kept him for less than what he made in 2010 AND played him alot less, it wouldn't be THAT bad, I suppose.

 

Don't get me wrong, I expect him to get a raise, expect us to keep 4 catchers on the 40 man all season and expect Hill to receive 50 starts or so, because, well, this is the Cubs we're talking about here, but maybe, just maybe, there's a sliver of chance that there's a method to their madness here.

 

The thought had definitely occurred to me that Hendry may be planning on trading Castillo or Chirinos.

[dew1679666265]

But, maybe the reason they're doing this is because they know that one of Castillo or Chirinos IS getting dealt this offseason and they already have an agreement in place with Hill for less than he made this past season(80 percent of his previous year's contract is the least they can offer). Considering that the pitchers DO(unfortunately) appear to really like throwing to him, if we kept him for less than what he made in 2010 AND played him alot less, it wouldn't be THAT bad, I suppose.

 

Even if we do trade one of Chirinos/Castillo, we still have the other to be the backup catcher - and he'll probably be more productive than Koyie. And that leaves us Clevenger (I believe) to be the AAA catcher and ML depth if one of Soto or the backup go down.

 

Also, we can pretty easily find a better catcher (at least offensively) on the FA market.