Carlos Pena

[dew1679666265]

He's just not hitting the ball hard so far.

 

This is a big, big problem though. (sorry to pick one sentence from your well-constructed post).

 

Pena absolutely MUST slug or he's worthless.

 

Thank God he's only here one year. We've got nothing else, so it's him this year and that's probably it.

 

Pena is hitting it hard, though. LD% of just over 21 is pretty solid and right around his career average. He's getting a little unlucky overall, but probably very unlucky on flyballs leaving the yard. He's hitting flyballs 40% of the time and has had none go out for homers. What I was wondering was whether he was simply getting unlucky on those or if an injury is keeping him from driving the ball as well, because he's hitting line drives and getting the ball in the air - the hard hit balls haven't been productive though.

 

It's Colvin who hasn't hit the ball hard. He's got an 8.8 LD% so far this year (through whenever I made that post).

[questionmarkgrace]

His obp so far suggests he will hit the ball. On the flipside, never did I think he would be this bad through month one. It seemed like he had so many things working for him; 1) recovered from last years plantar fasceitous 2) facing national league pitching 3) playing at wrigley vs the trop 4) together again with Rudy Jarmillo.

[Clem Fandango]

i guess the lesson is if tampa bay is willing to part with a player, that should be a red flag.

 

Rarely will Tampa trade a productive player, but they usually dont have a problem letting FAs walk.

 

Garza

 

Randy Wells is better.

 

Better at what?

 

Being injured LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[StarlinOnYou]

HIT SOMETHING YOU BUM

[Cubbie Swagger]

Pena has never really had a year in his career where he played close to a full season without hitting for power. I feel like as long as he stays healthy and keeps getting at bats, he'll hit home runs. Anything we get out of him besides home runs is just a bonus.

[JoshiQ]

I was getting ready to post something about how "I told you so! We should have signed Adam Dunn!"...but he isn't exactly setting the world on fire. Yikes.

[CubColtPacer]

Fangraphs article on Pena's struggles:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/whats-wrong-with-carlos-pena/

 

Has Wrigley really been a home run-haven for left-handed batters though? I always kind of figured it was the opposite-it certainly seems a lot harder to get balls onto Sheffield than Waveland for example.

[pitchcs]

I think we've just never had any good power lefties since....Billy Williams? Henry Rodriguez?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I think we've just never had any good power lefties since....Billy Williams? Henry Rodriguez?

Jim Edmonds

[SouthSideRyan]

Since Williams retired in '76, the Cubs have had 3 lefties hit 30+ HRs (1 season apiece)

[Derwood]

Burnitz

[Cubswin11]

Matt Lawton? Jody Gerut?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Do switch hitter count? If so, how about Aaron Miles?

[Cubswin11]

Do switch hitter count? If so, how about Aaron Miles?

How soon we forget the great Jose Macias

[Bote McBoteface]

Since Williams retired in '76, the Cubs have had 3 lefties hit 30+ HRs (1 season apiece)

 

Fred McGriff and Henry Rodriguez are the two that come to mind. No clue on the third.

[imb]

Hee Seop Choi, duh

[Little Slide Rooter]

Since Williams retired in '76, the Cubs have had 3 lefties hit 30+ HRs (1 season apiece)

 

Fred McGriff and Henry Rodriguez are the two that come to mind. No clue on the third.

 

Rick mutha [expletive] Wilkins FTW!

[SouthSideRyan]

Since Williams retired in '76, the Cubs have had 3 lefties hit 30+ HRs (1 season apiece)

 

Fred McGriff and Henry Rodriguez are the two that come to mind. No clue on the third.

 

Rick mutha [expletive] Wilkins FTW!

 

Is it weird that he was the only one I was certain of?

[pitchcs]

Since Williams retired in '76, the Cubs have had 3 lefties hit 30+ HRs (1 season apiece)

 

Fred McGriff and Henry Rodriguez are the two that come to mind. No clue on the third.

 

Rick mutha [expletive] Wilkins FTW!

 

Is it weird that he was the only one I was certain of?

 

Talk about an outlier season in a career -- wow

[Guest]

Since Williams retired in '76, the Cubs have had 3 lefties hit 30+ HRs (1 season apiece)

 

Fred McGriff and Henry Rodriguez are the two that come to mind. No clue on the third.

 

Rick mutha [expletive] Wilkins FTW!

 

Is it weird that he was the only one I was certain of?

 

Nope. I knew Wilkins for sure and thought of Henry Rodriguez too. I guess when a player has such an outlier of a season, you remember it.

[Guest]

It's almost as if every time Hendry thinks he "needs" something to improve this team, the "need" somehow backfires in a way that is not just abysmal, but embarrassingly bad.

 

Need speedy lead off hitters. Juan Pierre leads the decade in outs made in a season.

Need to get more left handed. Carlos Pena pops out to the warning track on those rare occasions he actually makes contact.

Need veteran relievers in the bullpen. Let us not bother with reliving the names again.

 

I'm not a Pena hater. I thought he would turn it around in Chicago. He was my starting 1b in fantasy. Not anymore. I could put Ted Williams at 1b today and he'd be almost as productive.

 

Isn't this why Jaramillo is getting paid the big bucks? It's time to see some results.

[Soul]

Isn't this why Jaramillo is getting paid the big bucks? It's time to see some results.

 

 

Yeah, regardless of whether it will actually fix the problems, Jaramillo is about to find out the downside to being overpaid.

[TBone]

It's almost as if every time Hendry thinks he "needs" something to improve this team, the "need" somehow backfires in a way that is not just abysmal, but embarrassingly bad.

 

Need speedy lead off hitters. Juan Pierre leads the decade in outs made in a season.

Need to get more left handed. Carlos Pena pops out to the warning track on those rare occasions he actually makes contact.

Need veteran relievers in the bullpen. Let us not bother with reliving the names again.

 

I'm not a Pena hater. I thought he would turn it around in Chicago. He was my starting 1b in fantasy. Not anymore. I could put Ted Williams at 1b today and he'd be almost as productive.

 

Isn't this why Jaramillo is getting paid the big bucks? It's time to see some results.

 

There was a dude - last name DeRosa who was sacrificed in the need of getting more "left handed." It's not that the trade worked out for either party, but the Cubs have been trying to get more "left handed" for a while with poor results.

[pitchcs]

Doesn't Mark DeRosa = 1/3 of Matt Garza for the Cubs?

[CUBZ99]

I checked out his stats on fangraphs and based upon statistics his salary this year should be -$2.8MM. #-o

 

I know we are only in May, but it would be nice to see the organization give a younger player a shot at first base and see what they have. Colvin could get some regular ABs, Lahair is tearing up AAA so far this year, almost anyone would be able to match Pena's .400's OPS.