Cubs trade for Ian Stewart/Weathers pg. 5 (Colvin+DJ)

[RammyFanny]

#Rockies exploring trades for Ian Stewart... Cubs are one team w interest. Not sure to what degree but have interest

https://twitter.com/#!/TroyRenck/status/141348277885997056

 

Cubs interest perking up on Rocks' Ian Stewart. Chase Headly also 3B of interest but Pads really don't want to deal him. Then again...

https://twitter.com/#!/georgeofman/status/141348104657051649

Edited December 9, 2011 by RammyFanny

[RammyFanny]

So...what's the consensus on Stewart's D at third?

[shnsajax]

So...what's the consensus on Stewart's D at third?

 

Well he's white so he can't be as lazy as Aramis. Really I have no idea why he would be appealing to anyone.

[CUBZ99]

Haven't seen any rumors reported by Ofman in awhile. I wonder how connected to the new regime he is.

[sneakypower]

well, i'm very pleased to hear this

[JockJones]

I guess Stewart's appeal is that he will turn 27 in April and posted 3 seasons in a row (half season in 08) where he was around league average. Also, he showed the ability to take some walks, although he hasn't had very high averages. His WAR was 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5 those 3 years. Obviously, he sucked last year, but maybe the Cubs see it as a chance to buy low on a player and see if that player can't rebound to being league average again or possibly better.

[Guest]

I guess Stewart's appeal is that he will turn 27 in April and posted 3 seasons in a row (half season in 08) where he was around league average. Also, he showed the ability to take some walks, although he hasn't had very high averages. His WAR was 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5 those 3 years. Obviously, he sucked last year, but maybe the Cubs see it as a chance to buy low on a player and see if that player can't rebound to being league average again or possibly better.

He's also a guy that destroyed the minors on his way up.

[XZero771679666304]

This is pretty unsurprising. Given the dearth of options at 3B, Stewart is certainly worth a shot.

[Abe Frohman]

Weird. I just bought one of his bats from a buddy. It's meant to be.

[haubrich91]

I'd really like to get Headley.

[dew1679666265]

I'd really like to get Headley.

 

Me too. Ofman not completely closing the door on Headley is the most encouraging bit of news from that tidbit, for me.

[Little Slide Rooter]

At this point, I have Ian Stewart in the same boat as guys like Brandon Wood and Josh Fields. I wouldn't go out of the way to acquire them, but if they were available for next to nothing, sure why not. I'd be interested to see what if anything Rudy J could do with some of these one time top prospects.

[Theo]

What's with this theory that Rudy has magic pixie dust? Who is his big reclamation project here in Chicago? Not saying he sucks, he's just your average MLB hitting coach. No more, no less.

[Little Slide Rooter]

What's with this theory that Rudy has magic pixie dust? Who is his big reclamation project here in Chicago? Not saying he sucks, he's just your average MLB hitting coach. No more, no less.

 

Pretty much what he is, but he was billed as something more so we may as well see what he can do.

[Clem Fandango]

I guess Stewart's appeal is that he will turn 27 in April and posted 3 seasons in a row (half season in 08) where he was around league average. Also, he showed the ability to take some walks, although he hasn't had very high averages. His WAR was 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5 those 3 years. Obviously, he sucked last year, but maybe the Cubs see it as a chance to buy low on a player and see if that player can't rebound to being league average again or possibly better.

He's also a guy that destroyed the minors on his way up.

 

"Destroyed" is a bit much, don't you think? He was never bad, but I'd hardly say he destroyed the minor leagues when he only really had one truly outstanding full year in the minors. His only other years when he posted impressive numbers all came in partial seasons, and came at completely random years (2003, 2008, 2011).

 

Supporters of him on here keep saying he crushed the minors, but let's not kid ourselves... he was simply just a pretty good ball player. I would like the Cubs to target Ian Stewart and other players with similar histories (former top prospects, not able to stick at MLB level, still relatively young and possibly salvageable), but I've seen a lot of the reasoning behind going after Stewart to be his minor league numbers and that kind of mentality has been widely panned in the past for players who don't have as much of an attractive name as his, so I'm confused as to why it's now being used as the measuring stick in this case.

[Guest]

He has a career minor league line of .292/.373/.529/.902 when he was 1-2 years young at every level. He did play in a disproportionate number of hitters leagues, but I'm not sure what your threshold must be to not consider his minor league performance very impressive.

 

I have no idea what you're referring to with the "widely panned mentality" bit.

[jersey cubs fan]

He has a career minor league line of .292/.373/.529/.902 when he was 1-2 years young at every level. He did play in a disproportionate number of hitters leagues, but I'm not sure what your threshold must be to not consider his minor league performance very impressive.

 

I have no idea what you're referring to with the "widely panned mentality" bit.

 

I'm thinking there's a legit difference between very impressive and destroying the minors.

 

 

 

Maybe the widely panned reference was about the Lahair argument.

[Clem Fandango]

He has a career minor league line of .292/.373/.529/.902 when he was 1-2 years young at every level. He did play in a disproportionate number of hitters leagues, but I'm not sure what your threshold must be to not consider his minor league performance very impressive.

 

I have no idea what you're referring to with the "widely panned mentality" bit.

 

I'm thinking there's a legit difference between very impressive and destroying the minors.

 

 

 

Maybe the widely panned reference was about the Lahair argument.

 

 

Nah, I figured someone would think I was talking about Lahair. I wasn't. Just in general most people seem to take minor league numbers with a grain of salt for players who have more than enough MLB service time under their belts without living up to their minor league hype. Stewart kind of fits that mold, but people still refer to his minor league service time as a reason to remain optimistic for a turn around when the last time he was regularly playing in the minors was 2008.

 

Again, I don't want people to think I dislike Stewart, I don't. I would very much like the Cubs to target him. I think Stewart was a very good player in the minors, just not the trailblazer people are making him out to be

[jersey cubs fan]

He has a career minor league line of .292/.373/.529/.902 when he was 1-2 years young at every level. He did play in a disproportionate number of hitters leagues, but I'm not sure what your threshold must be to not consider his minor league performance very impressive.

 

I have no idea what you're referring to with the "widely panned mentality" bit.

 

I'm thinking there's a legit difference between very impressive and destroying the minors.

 

 

 

Maybe the widely panned reference was about the Lahair argument.

 

 

Nah, I figured someone would think I was talking about Lahair. I wasn't. Just in general most people seem to take minor league numbers with a grain of salt for players who have more than enough MLB service time under their belts without living up to their minor league hype. Stewart kind of fits that mold, but people still refer to his minor league service time as a reason to remain optimistic for a turn around when the last time he was regularly playing in the minors was 2008.

 

Again, I don't want people to think I dislike Stewart, I don't. I would very much like the Cubs to target him

 

He does have a fair amount of MLB service time, but it's not like it has been horrible (until this year at least). You figure he's still pre-prime and has a strong minor league track record, so there is some reason to expect his next few years to be better than his early MLB playing time. He started in the majors at 22, that's rough for non-elite guys. What a guy does from 22-26 does not lock him into his career, especially when those years of production are over relatively scattered playing time.

[Clem Fandango]

I know. Again, not attacking the player in question, just the notion of using his minor league numbers as the argument to be made for acquiring him. Are people still interested in Brandon Wood at this point of his career? Same age, same position, same former top prospect pedigree with lack of MLB success

[jersey cubs fan]

I know. Again, not attacking the player in question, just the notion of using his minor league numbers as the argument to be made for acquiring him. Are people still interested in Brandon Wood at this point of his career? Same age, same position, same former top prospect pedigree with lack of MLB success

 

There's like a 220 point differential in their major league OPS. Ian Stewart's 2008, 2009 and 2010 dwarfs what Wood has done in the majors. They aren't the same player. His minor league numbers wouldn't be the only reason to go after him, but his minor league numbers, age and relatively decent start to his major league career do offer some hopes for a rebound and justification for interest.

[Clem Fandango]

Stewart and Wood have both been in the majors for parts of 5 seasons since they were 22. Stewart has played in 160 more games than wood, so he has roughly one more full seasons's worth of experience at the MLB level.

 

Wood, IIRC, was completely mishandled by the Angels, wasn't he? Wouldn't they move him around the diamond because Figgins was there and then play him 2 or 3 times a week and bench him when he struggled then send him down, and bring him back up and rinse and repeat? I think 2010 was the first year they gave Wood a legitimate chance and it lasted about a month and a half before they took him out.

 

Stewart was given his chances and he faltered. And while his 220 point OPs difference is impressive in comparison to Wood, he still only mustered a .751 OPS hitting in Coors. And that's a slugging heavy OPS, too. He's obviously got power, but he's had an inability to hit for average, which in turn makes his slightly above average ability to draw a walk (looks like he's a 40-60 walks a year type of guy) look paltry. If he can get his average up to .260-.275 he'd be a fine player, but if he's hitting .220, his OBP is gonna be around .320-.330, and his value hinges solely on his ability to hit for power, which he has the ability to do, but has struggled with it while hitting in the friendliest hitters park ever so far in his career.

 

I'd take Stewart over Wood 10 times out of 10, I was just using Wood as a similar player example.

 

Oddly enough, and I didn't know this, the Rockies signed Wood to a minor league contract a couple weeks ago.

[MSG T]

Stewart and Wood have both been in the majors for parts of 5 seasons since they were 22. Stewart has played in 160 more games than wood, so he has roughly one more full seasons's worth of experience at the MLB level.

 

Wood, IIRC, was completely mishandled by the Angels, wasn't he? Wouldn't they move him around the diamond because Figgins was there and then play him 2 or 3 times a week and bench him when he struggled then send him down, and bring him back up and rinse and repeat? I think 2010 was the first year they gave Wood a legitimate chance and it lasted about a month and a half before they took him out.

 

Stewart was given his chances and he faltered. And while his 220 point OPs difference is impressive in comparison to Wood, he still only mustered a .751 OPS hitting in Coors. And that's a slugging heavy OPS, too. He's obviously got power, but he's had an inability to hit for average, which in turn makes his slightly above average ability to draw a walk (looks like he's a 40-60 walks a year type of guy) look paltry. If he can get his average up to .260-.275 he'd be a fine player, but if he's hitting .220, his OBP is gonna be around .320-.330, and his value hinges solely on his ability to hit for power, which he has the ability to do, but has struggled with it while hitting in the friendliest hitters park ever so far in his career.

 

I'd take Stewart over Wood 10 times out of 10, I was just using Wood as a similar player example.

 

Oddly enough, and I didn't know this, the Rockies signed Wood to a minor league contract a couple weeks ago.

 

 

Don't take this as a sign I'd give up a lot for him, cause I'd want it to be a cheaper acquisition, but...

 

It's not like Stewart has been a regular starter for his 5 years. His PA's have been 46, 304, 491, 441 and 136 starting with 2007, over the same 5 year period he also racked up almost 1000 MiL PA's. It's not like he was racking up 5 500 PA seasons in COL while Wood was playing a few days here and there while getting sent down constantly. He definitely has more ML experience than Wood, but he also only has two season where he played over half the games and one where he played exactly half. I'd just like to know what happened to Stewart in 2011. Some of his numbers are similar to the rest of his career, but his LD% and BABIP fell off a cliff. What caused it? If he could get back to a 1.5-2.0 WAR player, he'd be cheap and useful.

[Clem Fandango]

I agree wholeheartedly. I think Stewart is the far superior player and a great trade target

[Shilzzz]

didn't realize that Stewart was BA's #4 prospect a handful of years back. I like the idea of him, but his numbers coming down from Coors will combat that, so I hope for better.