Piecing together the 25 Man Roster

[bukie]

The general problem people had with trading Wells at that point was that the rotation was paper thin as it was, and that there wasn't going to be anyone else of value that could step in and be decent.

 

Considering how the season went after even the first member of the rotation went down, it was a pretty valid concern.

[Exile on Waveland]

The revisionist history about opinions of Wells last year is getting borderline obnoxious. People didn’t want to trade Wells for Garza not because Wells is some prize with Longorian trade value, but because a primary motivation for getting Garza was improving the rotation, and using Wells to do that would largely mitigate that goal.

 

The revisionist history is the other way, I think. Go back and read the thread. The initial discussion point of Wells-for-Garza not being efficient enough to help the rotation quickly turned into a discussion where posters argued Wells was just as good as Garza:

 

--"It's really not that much of an upgrade"

 

--"I wouldn't go past Wells alone. And it's not like I'd jump to do it either."

 

--"Regardless, a straight swap would be an ill-advised and very shortsighted move at best. Including prospects with Wells would be incredibly dumb."

 

--"I really don't see the positive behind dealing Wells for Garza."

 

I have. And all of those quotes are easily read in the context of the idea that trading Wells for Garza is cutting off your nose to spite your face. The semantics of people thinking that Wells is only marginally worse or marginally + x worse than Garza(who was a buy low candidate to begin with) misses the point entirely.

 

Sure, the context of the discussion was "trading Wells for Garza is cutting off your nose to spite your face." But no context is necessary for statements such as "it's really not that much of an upgrade." That is an explicit qualitative comparison between the two players. That's not semantics, it's the plain language of the words used in the thread.

[jersey cubs fan]

The revisionist history about opinions of Wells last year is getting borderline obnoxious. People didn’t want to trade Wells for Garza not because Wells is some prize with Longorian trade value, but because a primary motivation for getting Garza was improving the rotation, and using Wells to do that would largely mitigate that goal.

 

The revisionist history is the other way, I think. Go back and read the thread. The initial discussion point of Wells-for-Garza not being efficient enough to help the rotation quickly turned into a discussion where posters argued Wells was just as good as Garza:

 

--"It's really not that much of an upgrade"

 

--"I wouldn't go past Wells alone. And it's not like I'd jump to do it either."

 

--"Regardless, a straight swap would be an ill-advised and very shortsighted move at best. Including prospects with Wells would be incredibly dumb."

 

--"I really don't see the positive behind dealing Wells for Garza."

 

I have. And all of those quotes are easily read in the context of the idea that trading Wells for Garza is cutting off your nose to spite your face. The semantics of people thinking that Wells is only marginally worse or marginally + x worse than Garza(who was a buy low candidate to begin with) misses the point entirely.

 

Sure, the context of the discussion was "trading Wells for Garza is cutting off your nose to spite your face." But no context is necessary for statements such as "it's really not that much of an upgrade." That is an explicit qualitative comparison between the two players. That's not semantics, it's the plain language of the words used in the thread.

 

Actually there's nothing explicit about it other than the clear indication that it is an upgrade.

[TruffleShuffle]

what'd it take, like 6 posts for this to turn from a discussion about what players would make up the 25 man roster to a pissing match about who said something wrong last offseason? fantastic.

[biittner77]

Heading into Spring Training, how is the roster shaping up?

 

Catcher:

1. Soto

2. Castillo (?)

Infield

3. LeHair

4. Barney

5. Castro

6. Stewart

7. Baker

8. Cardenas (?)

Outfield

9. Byrd

10. Soriano

11. DeJesus

12. Johnson

13. Campana

Starting Pitchers

14. Dempster

15. Garza

16. Wells

17. Wood

18. Volstad

19. Maholm

Relief PItchers

20. Marmol

22. Wood

22. Samardzjia

23. Russell

24. ????

25. ????

Does this look about right?

 

Barring any trades, I'd say so.

 

-They haven't said so but I think they'll try to get Soto some time at 1st which in turn gets enough PAs for Castillo

 

-Campana over Sappelt since the better prospect should get to play in Iowa rather than rot on the MLB bench.

 

-Really pulling for Samardzjia to make the rotation. The Cubs have plenty of RH 6th/ 7th inning options.

 

Sorry, please continue patting yourselves on the back over Wells being terrible or whatever.

[carolinacubbie]

Heading into Spring Training, how is the roster shaping up?

 

Catcher:

1. Soto

2. Castillo (?)

Infield

3. LeHair

4. Barney

5. Castro

6. Stewart

7. Baker

8. Cardenas (?)

Outfield

9. Byrd

10. Soriano

11. DeJesus

12. Johnson

13. Campana

Starting Pitchers

14. Dempster

15. Garza

16. Wells

17. Wood

18. Volstad

19. Maholm

Relief PItchers

20. Marmol

22. Wood

22. Samardzjia

23. Russell

24. ????

25. ????

Does this look about right?

 

Barring any trades, I'd say so.

 

-They haven't said so but I think they'll try to get Soto some time at 1st which in turn gets enough PAs for Castillo

 

-Campana over Sappelt since the better prospect should get to play in Iowa rather than rot on the MLB bench.

 

-Really pulling for Samardzjia to make the rotation. The Cubs have plenty of RH 6th/ 7th inning options.

 

Sorry, please continue patting yourselves on the back over Wells being terrible or whatever.

 

I haven't been on this board in quite a while, but what are the chances of Rizzo being our opening day 1B? And if he isn't who is? Baker or Lehair? Either way it has to be one of the worst starting 1Bs ever. I'm very anti-Jeff Baker. Are we looking at something like?

 

1. RF- Dejesus

2. SS- Castro

3. CF- Byrd

4. C- Soto

5. LF- Soriano

6. 3B- Stewart

7. 1b- Baker

8. 2b- Barney

9. SP- Demp/Garza/Maholm/Wood/Volstad

[biittner77]

I haven't been on this board in quite a while, but what are the chances of Rizzo being our opening day 1B? And if he isn't who is? Baker or Lehair? Either way it has to be one of the worst starting 1Bs ever. I'm very anti-Jeff Baker. Are we looking at something like?

 

1. RF- Dejesus

2. SS- Castro

3. CF- Byrd

4. C- Soto

5. LF- Soriano

6. 3B- Stewart

7. 1b- Baker

8. 2b- Barney

9. SP- Demp/Garza/Maholm/Wood/Volstad

 

They've been saying (Hoyer) that they felt like Rizzo got rushed last year. He'll have every opportunity to win the job out of ST but more likely LaHair is the placeholder until he's ready, hopefully by late June.

 

I think the opening day lineup looks more like this:

Dejesus

Barney (should be 8th, would much rather see Stewart here)

Castro

LaHair

Soto

then some combo of Soriano, Stewart and Byrd

[Old Style]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

[Guest]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

[biittner77]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

That plan could easily change though. Outside of his agent and his immediate family, no one wants Lahair as the opening day starter if they have a better in house option.

[weis21]

Assuming no more moves are made, I'd like to see this opening day lineup and this starting rotation:

 

Dejesus

Castro

Soto

Lahair

Byrd

Stewart

Soriano

Barney

Garza

 

Garza

Dempster

Wood

Maholm

Samardzjia (If not, Volstad and Wells in that order)

[Tracer Bullet]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

That plan could easily change though. Outside of his agent and his immediate family, no one wants Lahair as the opening day starter if they have a better in house option.

 

Unless starting him allows the club to keep Rizzo in AAA.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah, even TT wants him to start the year at first base. Though, I think that's only so he'll publicly embarrass himself and bring great shame upon his family.

[Backtobanks]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

Yeah, you have to give Lahair a chance to see if he can hit at the ML level. If he can he becomes a decent pinch hitter/backup 1B-OF.

[biittner77]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

Yeah, you have to give Lahair a chance to see if he can hit at the ML level. If he can he becomes a decent pinch hitter/backup 1B-OF.

 

It may be the smart thing to do, if Rizzo does need the time in AAA, but you don't have to give Lahair anything. He's already showed enough to be a bench bat.

 

I'm not saying it's going to happen but if Lahair stinks in ST and Rizzo is tearing up the cactus league, they'd have to at least consider giving the job to Rizzo. Wouldn't they?

[MWV]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

That plan could easily change though. Outside of his agent and his immediate family, no one wants Lahair as the opening day starter if they have a better in house option.

 

I'd rather watch Rizzo repeat (or improve upon) his success at the AAA level than burn a year of his ML service time with a team that is going nowhere in 2012.

[Guest]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

That plan could easily change though. Outside of his agent and his immediate family, no one wants Lahair as the opening day starter if they have a better in house option.

 

I'm pretty sure they're more concerned with Rizzo's development and pushing back his clock one more year than anything.

 

They're not going to make decisions like that based on Spring Training. We don't have imbeciles running this team anymore.

[SouthSideRyan]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

Yeah, you have to give Lahair a chance to see if he can hit at the ML level. If he can he becomes a decent pinch hitter/backup 1B-OF.

 

It may be the smart thing to do, if Rizzo does need the time in AAA, but you don't have to give Lahair anything. He's already showed enough to be a bench bat.

 

I'm not saying it's going to happen but if Lahair stinks in ST and Rizzo is tearing up the cactus league, they'd have to at least consider giving the job to Rizzo. Wouldn't they?

 

No. They've already said judging people by Spring Training is foolish.

[jersey cubs fan]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

Yeah, you have to give Lahair a chance to see if he can hit at the ML level. If he can he becomes a decent pinch hitter/backup 1B-OF.

 

It may be the smart thing to do, if Rizzo does need the time in AAA, but you don't have to give Lahair anything. He's already showed enough to be a bench bat.

 

I'm not saying it's going to happen but if Lahair stinks in ST and Rizzo is tearing up the cactus league, they'd have to at least consider giving the job to Rizzo. Wouldn't they?

 

The point that they don't have to give Lahair anything certainly stands, despite there being no good reason to start Rizzo from day one.

[SouthSideRyan]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

That plan could easily change though. Outside of his agent and his immediate family, no one wants Lahair as the opening day starter if they have a better in house option.

 

I'd rather watch Rizzo repeat (or improve upon) his success at the AAA level than burn a year of his ML service time with a team that is going nowhere in 2012.

 

We're going to have to keep him down until late Juneish in order to get an extra year out of him. If we're leading the division on say May 25th and LaHair is being LaHair, I imagine they'll stay the course, but it could be tempting.

[treebird]

Assuming no more moves are made, I'd like to see this opening day lineup and this starting rotation:

 

Dejesus

Castro

Soto

Lahair

Byrd

Stewart

Soriano

Barney

Garza

 

vomit times a million. you're not wrong, it's just that GOD i hate remembering that is our opening day lineup. especially that 3-5.

[SouthSideRyan]

LaHair at cleanup, there it is just sitting there flipping you off.

[biittner77]

I thought it was already announced that Rizzo would start at Iowa and LeHair would be the starter.

 

Yeah, Jed's already said that was the plan.

 

That plan could easily change though. Outside of his agent and his immediate family, no one wants Lahair as the opening day starter if they have a better in house option.

 

I'd rather watch Rizzo repeat (or improve upon) his success at the AAA level than burn a year of his ML service time with a team that is going nowhere in 2012.

 

We're going to have to keep him down until late Juneish in order to get an extra year out of him. If we're leading the division on say May 25th and LaHair is being LaHair, I imagine they'll stay the course, but it could be tempting.

 

It only takes 11 days to get the extra year IIRC. But late June would probably be the likely timeframe.

[jersey cubs fan]

It only takes 11 days to get the extra year IIRC. But late June would probably be the likely timeframe.

 

But he already has some service time from last season.

[biittner77]

It only takes 11 days to get the extra year IIRC. But late June would probably be the likely timeframe.

 

But he already has some service time from last season.

 

Was he a sept. call up or was it earlier? I don't see him up before June anyway but I thought that sept. callups worked differently/ didn't count for service time