Yankees mulling moves for Soriano, Ramirez, Grabow?

[J.R.]

I'll take your word for it, even if I don't believe it.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'll take your word for it, even if I don't believe it.

 

Given the money at their disposal and the division they play in there's no reason to automatically write off next season at this point.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I'm not entirely convinced they can actually pull it off next year, but they pretty much have to try. What would be the point of shaving a ton of money off the payroll and not spending it?

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm not entirely convinced they can actually pull it off next year, but they pretty much have to try. What would be the point of shaving a ton of money off the payroll and not spending it?

 

It's not even that; they HAVE to spend at least some of it.

[Guest]

Id really like that teams chances.

 

That rotation isn't good enough, imo. The offense is above average, but the rotation has a high implosion risk.

 

Especially if Prince is the 1B target, the money would be there to add a SP. Plus Wells wouldn't be released, so he'd have brought in another SP or trade equity that could be used on another SP too.

[Tryptamine]

I'm not entirely convinced they can actually pull it off next year, but they pretty much have to try. What would be the point of shaving a ton of money off the payroll and not spending it?

 

I'm all for going out and getting Prince in 2012 then just waiting for that ridiculous 2013 FA class. I think 2013 is the year to make a major push.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Take 'em all. Please.

 

WASHINGTON -- The New York Yankees have three scouts watching the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs as they look for bullpen and hitting help. It appears the Yankees may have some interest in Cubs left-handed reliever John Grabow as well as hitters such as Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/5347/could-soriano-ramirez-be-fits-for-yankees

 

Why are you seemingly so desperate to trade the best third baseman in the NL?

 

He will not be here when our window reopens. I say grab what we can and move on.

 

The window is open next year.

 

I'm kind of pissed this isn't a more common belief. The Brewers are loaded and they can't even pull away from the pack this year. A good offseason and this team should be able to compete.

 

Dream FA signings this year:

 

Fielder

CJ Wilson

Beltran

Keep Ramirez

 

I think that'd make this team pretty damn watchable at least, and very competitive within this division.

[Little Slide Rooter]

WASHINGTON -- The New York Yankees have three scouts watching the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs as they look for bullpen and hitting help. It appears the Yankees may have some interest in Cubs

The window is open next year.

 

I'm kind of pissed this isn't a more common belief. The Brewers are loaded and they can't even pull away from the pack this year. A good offseason and this team should be able to compete.

 

Dream FA signings this year:

 

Fielder

CJ Wilson

Beltran

Keep Ramirez

 

I think that'd make this team pretty damn watchable at least, and very competitive within this division.

No way we could afford all that unless you mean Frances Beltran. I do think we could get Fielder and Wilson, or a similar pitcher and keep Ramirez. That would make the Cubs contenders, maybe even favorites in the division. Looking at what we have now, as well as some guys on the farm who could be ready to contribute, I can't imagine how anyone can't believe that we can't compete. Oh, and we could definitely use a new manager.

[Sammy Sofa]

Yeah, I'd be fine with those moves...except for the Beltran part. He's old and (usually) busted. Ride out the remainder of the Byrd contract and then replace him with Kemp after 2012.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

WASHINGTON -- The New York Yankees have three scouts watching the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs as they look for bullpen and hitting help. It appears the Yankees may have some interest in Cubs

The window is open next year.

 

I'm kind of pissed this isn't a more common belief. The Brewers are loaded and they can't even pull away from the pack this year. A good offseason and this team should be able to compete.

 

Dream FA signings this year:

 

Fielder

CJ Wilson

Beltran

Keep Ramirez

 

I think that'd make this team pretty damn watchable at least, and very competitive within this division.

No way we could afford all that unless you mean Frances Beltran. I do think we could get Fielder and Wilson, or a similar pitcher and keep Ramirez. That would make the Cubs contenders, maybe even favorites in the division. Looking at what we have now, as well as some guys on the farm who could be ready to contribute, I can't imagine how anyone can't believe that we can't compete. Oh, and we could definitely use a new manager.

 

There's still a decent possibility that rotation will suck.

[Sammy Sofa]

Then they should just give up.

[Guest]

A rotation of Z/Garza/Wilson/Dempster/(Wells or Cashner) is a pretty surefire bet not to suck. Aside from not having someone who's a surefire bet to put up a 6 WAR(even though Wilson is on pace for that this year and would be moving to the NL), what else do you want?

[Sammy Sofa]

Imaginary pitching FA made up out of thin air.

 

Scathing baseball analysis from Kyle: "Baseball players might be bad...might not. Film at 11."

[J.R.]

Okay, I'm on board with this winning business.

[Little Slide Rooter]

 

I'm kind of pissed this isn't a more common belief. The Brewers are loaded and they can't even pull away from the pack this year. A good offseason and this team should be able to compete.

 

 

Actually, I dont think the Brewers are as loaded as you give them credit for. Its easy to be blinded by Weeks, Braun, and Fielder, and the names of Greinke, Marcum, and Gallardo. While Gallardo has pulled it together, Marcum has come down to earth, and Greinke has been mediocre at best. Their bullpen is questionable aside from Axford, and then beyond Lucroy, Morgan, and Hart, theres really a bunch of junk, no farm system, and no bench. Take Fielder out of that equation next year, and they could be a 4th-5th place team in the division.

[dew1679666265]

Actually, I dont think the Brewers are as loaded as you give them credit for. Its easy to be blinded by Weeks, Braun, and Fielder, and the names of Greinke, Marcum, and Gallardo. While Gallardo has pulled it together, Marcum has come down to earth, and Greinke has been mediocre at best. Their bullpen is questionable aside from Axford, and then beyond Lucroy, Morgan, and Hart, theres really a bunch of junk, no farm system, and no bench. Take Fielder out of that equation next year, and they could be a 4th-5th place team in the division.

 

Greinke has been very Garza-esque this year. His peripherals (11.99 K/9, 1.94 BB/9) and FIP/xFIP (2.98/2.14) have been pretty exceptional, but because of an abnormally high HR/9 (1.33 this year vs .94 career) and BABIP (.344 this year vs .309 career) his ERA is way higher than it should be. Statistically, this is more of the 2009 Greinke than we'd probably like.

 

Marcum hasn't really come down to earth either. His ERA/FIP/xFIP all mirror last year much more than previous years, making him more than acceptable as the third starter behind Gallardo and Greinke.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Since they will be without A Rod for 4-6 weeks, I wonder if we could get them to overpay for Baker or DeWitt and if they like, flip them Grabow in the deal. The good thing about DeWitt or Baker for them is that even when A Rod returns, they're still perfectly good utility guys.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

A rotation of Z/Garza/Wilson/Dempster/(Wells or Cashner) is a pretty surefire bet not to suck. Aside from not having someone who's a surefire bet to put up a 6 WAR(even though Wilson is on pace for that this year and would be moving to the NL), what else do you want?

 

I'd like a real No. 1 pitcher, to not have 40% of the projected rotation rocking horrible ERAs this season, and to not have the No. 2 starter showing signs of wearing down over the last few years.

 

We are seeing that rotation without Wilson suck out loud right now, so I don't think it's that hard to imagine a scenario in which that rotation is the weak link that prevents a pretty good offense from contending next season.

 

Then they should just give up.

 

Like I said, they might as well go for it because they've got the money to spend. That doesn't mean I have a lot of faith in it working.

[Guest]

You're holding the defense/luck against the current staff. Zambrano/Dempster/Garza have xFIPs more than a full run better than their current ERAs.

[Sammy Sofa]

A rotation of Z/Garza/Wilson/Dempster/(Wells or Cashner) is a pretty surefire bet not to suck. Aside from not having someone who's a surefire bet to put up a 6 WAR(even though Wilson is on pace for that this year and would be moving to the NL), what else do you want?

 

I'd like a real No. 1 pitcher, to not have 40% of the projected rotation rocking horrible ERAs this season, and to not have the No. 2 starter showing signs of wearing down over the last few years.

 

We are seeing that rotation without Wilson suck out loud right now, so I don't think it's that hard to imagine a scenario in which that rotation is the weak link that prevents a pretty good offense from contending next season.

 

Then they should just give up.

 

Like I said, they might as well go for it because they've got the money to spend. That doesn't mean I have a lot of faith in it working.

 

Sure, you could have 2/5's of the rotation go down again, but on paper that's a damn good 1-5. Your breakdown of the rotation this year is pretty faulty since it seems to hinge on ERA.

[Tarver]

And how does retaining every one of our position players sans Pena address this porous defense? Should we just hope they get better?

 

I would love to see it happen, but the idea that Wilson and Fielder are going to push us to 85+ wins is absurd.

[Guest]

And how does retaining every one of our position players sans Pena address this porous defense? Should we just hope they get better?

 

That's a fair point. Looking at UZR, here's the chief offenders, remembering that UZR takes a full season to stabilize:

 

Dewitt: -2.5 runs between 3B and LF - He shouldn't be playing in LF, and quite honestly I don't like him and wish he'd go away

Baker: -3.0 runs between 3B, 1B, and RF - He's +1.3 at 2B, and he's a good platoon bat, so you take the good with the bad

Castro: -5.4 runs at SS - I think all of us expect this number to improve, especially since he rated better last year

Johnson: -7.3 runs between LF and CF - Another guy whose roster spot shouldn't be playing this much, and this is one of the reasons he shouldn't be brought back

Fukudome: -8.4 runs in RF - Not listed as coming back in this scenario, and one that's likely to regress upwards anyway

 

The best player we have on the other end is Campana at +3.4. Unsustainable probably, but Byrd is 2nd anyway and has consistently been a plus CF.

[SouthSideRyan]

 

I would love to see it happen, but the idea that Wilson and Fielder are going to push us to 85+ wins is absurd.

 

Are you expecting the '12 Cubs to give 1/3 of their starts to Casey Coleman, Doug Davis, James Russell, Rodrigo Lopez, and Ramon Ortiz? Because the '11 Cubs have played at a ~82 win pace when these losers aren't starting.

[XZero771679666304]

Yeah, I don't see our defense getting any better next year. We'll be parting with perhaps our two best defenders in Pena and Fukudome. Fukudome could be replaced, but Pujols is not better with the glove than Pena, and Fielder is far worse. You can't really cite defense as being accessory to the poor pitching performance this year without acknowledging it probably will still be a factor next year as well.

 

To sign Fielder and improve the defense next year in an appreciable way, you'd likely have to replace Aramis and Kosuke with very good defenders and hope for improvement from Castro. That is unless you can find a way to unload Soriano or replace Byrd with a better defender, or slide him to RF and bring in another CF.

 

People overlook defense at 1B, IMO. We've had superior defenders at 1B for the better part of 20 years here, and Fielder would make for a bit of an epiphany.

[TruffleShuffle]

And how does retaining every one of our position players sans Pena address this porous defense? Should we just hope they get better?

 

That's a fair point. Looking at UZR, here's the chief offenders, remembering that UZR takes a full season to stabilize:

 

it would be a fair point if the biggest offenders were guys that were projected to come back. baker, fukudome, johnson and montanez are unlikely to all be cubs next year. koyie hill has been bad defensively and Lord knows we all hope he's gone.

 

plus the defense being lousy doesn't make dempster or garza fundamentally worse pitchers. they are who they are. if they had a team of ozzie smiths behind them they'd look like perennial all-stars and if they had a team of adam dunns behind them they'd look like 5th starters at best. if you replace dempster or garza with worse pitchers they'll just post worse numbers.