Sveum - Rizzo call up to be discussed soon

[Guest]

Are there other Super Two implications outside of arbitration eligibility? If not, I don't really see the Cubs being overly concerned.

 

Not that I can think of. It's pretty much just money, and really not all that much money unless you've got a wave of 4-5 Super Twos.

[CubColtPacer]

Are there other Super Two implications outside of arbitration eligibility? If not, I don't really see the Cubs being overly concerned.

 

Not that I can think of. It's pretty much just money, and really not all that much money unless you've got a wave of 4-5 Super Twos.

 

I think it can be a decent amount of money. While the first year salary would be the same (just a year earlier) there is extra time for the raises to build up. And while they still can't be compared to free agents until their final year of arbitration, that still adds up. For example, Ryan Howard just finished what would have been his 4 arbitration years. And he earned 10 million, 15 million, 19 million, and 20 million in those 4 years (Philadelphia chose to give them the last 3 years in an extension that didn't have any free agency on it). So the Phillies probably would have saved 15-20 million dollars if they hadn't made Howard a Super Two in the first place.

[KingCubsFan]

As for the package for Soriano, I'm guessing most likely would be similar to the DLee trade. Maybe a hard throwing teenage arm and a couple early 20-something fillers who may have some Casey Coleman type potential to contribute in a spot start on long relief role, if all goes right. But they aren't getting any players worth serious development.

If we're lucky, we'll get the equivalent of Blake Lalli and not have to pay all of Soriano's salary. Soriano has to be one of the least valuable players in the majors in terms of trade value, and it's only gotten worse considering he admitted his legs hurt and it's tough to play in the outfield.

[jersey cubs fan]

Can't they just call him up for the 6 games where they would need a DH and send him back again?

[CUBZ99]

Can't they just call him up for the 6 games where they would need a DH and send him back again?

\

 

Why bother? This season is a lost cause anyways. Let him stay down in Iowa until they can be sure he will be under control for another year and call him up.

[jersey cubs fan]

Can't they just call him up for the 6 games where they would need a DH and send him back again?

\

 

Why bother? This season is a lost cause anyways. Let him stay down in Iowa until they can be sure he will be under control for another year and call him up.

 

Sure, but if the manager wants DH flexibility and people want to see the guy, you can call him up the day they go to MIN, let him stay around for the DET/BOS home series and then send him back down after the WS series. It's 13 days of service, a little taste of Wrigley in the summer, and when interleague is done you still have the excuse of no room for the guy.

[jersey cubs fan]

LaHair has a sub 500 OPS in his last 7 and sub 700 in his last 14. It could be helpful to sit him a little bit to keep his overall numbers high and maybe have some guys lose track of how he's been pitched the past couple weeks.

[CUBZ99]

Can't they just call him up for the 6 games where they would need a DH and send him back again?

\

 

Why bother? This season is a lost cause anyways. Let him stay down in Iowa until they can be sure he will be under control for another year and call him up.

 

Sure, but if the manager wants DH flexibility and people want to see the guy, you can call him up the day they go to MIN, let him stay around for the DET/BOS home series and then send him back down after the WS series. It's 13 days of service, a little taste of Wrigley in the summer, and when interleague is done you still have the excuse of no room for the guy.

 

I just don't see the point of yo-yo ing him around for the benefit of a few games that don't matter. Plus, what are they going to do if he gets extremely hot during that stretch? Sveum, the fans, and media will be livid if he is sent back down in that case. There is very little upside.

[Sammy Sofa]

LaHair has a sub 500 OPS in his last 7 and sub 700 in his last 14. It could be helpful to sit him a little bit to keep his overall numbers high and maybe have some guys lose track of how he's been pitched the past couple weeks.

 

Shhhhhhhh.

[jersey cubs fan]

I just don't see the point of yo-yo ing him around for the benefit of a few games that don't matter. Plus, what are they going to do if he gets extremely hot during that stretch? Sveum, the fans, and media will be livid if he is sent back down in that case. There is very little upside.

 

If he gets extremely hot during that stretch I would suggest that, in and of itself, is quite a bit of upside. Sure, ideally you keep him down there to put off the future cost, but if he does come up earlier, it's not like its going to be a damaging financial setback to the team. Also, stemming the bleeding of fan interest this summer will have its own value.

 

Odds are you can call him up for 2 weeks and send him back down and everything will be essentially the same. Maybe he gets incredibly hot and you can't sent him back, but so be it.

[CubColtPacer]

LaHair has a sub 500 OPS in his last 7 and sub 700 in his last 14. It could be helpful to sit him a little bit to keep his overall numbers high and maybe have some guys lose track of how he's been pitched the past couple weeks.

 

Shhhhhhhh.

 

It's mostly a result of his BABIP and HR/FB coming back to earth as had to at some point. If you take this last stretch where he's struggled (12 games) here are his numbers:

 

44 AB's, 8 H, 2 HR, 8 BB, 13 K's .182/.308/.318, BAPIP of .207, K/PA: 25%, BB/PA: 15.4%

 

The BB/K ratio is just fine and actually better than he has done on the season. He's had a couple series during that stretch where he has struggled with strikeouts, but a couple series where he has not as well. 2 HR's is fine for that stretch. The only really bad thing about his line over the last couple weeks is the lack of doubles.

[Tyrant]

Saw another article that said Rizzo had 40 homers in his last ~133 AAA games. I hadn't realized it was that much. That's...nice.

[Sammy Sofa]

LaHair has a sub 500 OPS in his last 7 and sub 700 in his last 14. It could be helpful to sit him a little bit to keep his overall numbers high and maybe have some guys lose track of how he's been pitched the past couple weeks.

 

Shhhhhhhh.

 

It's mostly a result of his BABIP and HR/FB coming back to earth as had to at some point. If you take this last stretch where he's struggled (12 games) here are his numbers:

 

44 AB's, 8 H, 2 HR, 8 BB, 13 K's .182/.308/.318, BAPIP of .207, K/PA: 25%, BB/PA: 15.4%

 

The BB/K ratio is just fine and actually better than he has done on the season. He's had a couple series during that stretch where he has struggled with strikeouts, but a couple series where he has not as well. 2 HR's is fine for that stretch. The only really bad thing about his line over the last couple weeks is the lack of doubles.

 

Shhhhhhhhhh.

[KingCubsFan]

Saw another article that said Rizzo had 40 homers in his last ~133 AAA games. I hadn't realized it was that much. That's...nice.

You would think a 22 year old who has put up Rizzo's numbers in AAA would be getting a lot more hype. His struggles in the majors last year really damaged him in a lot of evaluators' eyes.

[sneakypower]

in 134 AAA games (587 PA):

44 2B, 40 HR, 140 RBI, 59 BB, 123 K, .336/.407/.664

 

his overall AAA MLE, adjusted for Wrigley, is (roughly) .283/.344/.523

[neely crenshaw]

This is administration is not supposed to make moves because "people" want to see someone. It is better for this team if he stays down until his date is past. if he is barry bonds in his juiced up prime, our offense would go from horrid to bad. We can certainly find out if he can play in the last 80-90 games, as much as the last 120.

My only thought is where does he play? where does Lahair play? we have to get some more pop at some time, and left field-although much improved defensively, is hardly a spot where we would hurt ourselves with an inexperienced OF'er.

 

the cubs simply can not put out a team where there outfielders hit less than 5 hrs. and our c,2nd, 3rd and ss hit 10.

[jersey cubs fan]

This is administration is not supposed to make moves because "people" want to see someone. It is better for this team if he stays down until his date is past. if he is barry bonds in his juiced up prime, our offense would go from horrid to bad. We can certainly find out if he can play in the last 80-90 games, as much as the last 120.

My only thought is where does he play? where does Lahair play? we have to get some more pop at some time, and left field-although much improved defensively, is hardly a spot where we would hurt ourselves with an inexperienced OF'er.

 

the cubs simply can not put out a team where there outfielders hit less than 5 hrs. and our c,2nd, 3rd and ss hit 10.

 

If you call him up in 2 weeks he and LaHair takes turns at 1B/DH during the IL games and then Rizzo can go back down when IL is done, still getting all the benefits of staying in the minors while "there is no room" on the major league roster.

[KingCubsFan]

This is administration is not supposed to make moves because "people" want to see someone. It is better for this team if he stays down until his date is past. if he is barry bonds in his juiced up prime, our offense would go from horrid to bad. We can certainly find out if he can play in the last 80-90 games, as much as the last 120.

My only thought is where does he play? where does Lahair play? we have to get some more pop at some time, and left field-although much improved defensively, is hardly a spot where we would hurt ourselves with an inexperienced OF'er.

 

the cubs simply can not put out a team where there outfielders hit less than 5 hrs. and our c,2nd, 3rd and ss hit 10.

 

If you call him up in 2 weeks he and LaHair takes turns at 1B/DH during the IL games and then Rizzo can go back down when IL is done, still getting all the benefits of staying in the minors while "there is no room" on the major league roster.

But then he has to wait two more weeks to come up to the majors for good. I'd rather he play in AAA until the Cubs are certain they've gotten that extra year of service time. Once he's gotten the extra year, Soriano can have surgery, and LaHair can move to left to see how he does the rest of the year. Hopefully LaHair doesn't embarrass himself defensively and continues to hit.

[davell]

What if you bring him and he mashes? You're not sending him back down then. Whenever he comes up, whether it's in a week or two or two months from now, it should be for good. Screw this yo-yo'ing crap.

[jersey cubs fan]

What if you bring him and he mashes? You're not sending him back down then. Whenever he comes up, whether it's in a week or two or two months from now, it should be for good. Screw this yo-yo'ing crap.

 

So don't send him back down. It's not going to be a bad thing. Less than ideal, sure, but nothing ideal ever happens in baseball.

[Guest]

What if you bring him and he mashes? You're not sending him back down then. Whenever he comes up, whether it's in a week or two or two months from now, it should be for good. Screw this yo-yo'ing crap.

Yo-yoing?

 

Bringing him up for the IL stuff and then sending him back down until July or whenever is not yo-yoing him. Just be honest with him. He knows why he's being held down there.

 

I frankly don't care one way or the other, but to characterize that as a yo-yo is off, to me.

[Guest]

I'm not quite willing to risk losing a full year of team control in Rizzo's prime simply so we have a decent DH option for 6 games. That said, I think there could be some benefit to playing him every day for a couple weeks and then sending him down for a month as a sort of sneak peek into how he's going to be pitched, and to give him some specific things to work on in his last month at Iowa. Above all though, you don't risk him breaking the 1 year of service time mark. To do so at this point would be near madness.

[KingCubsFan]

I'm not quite willing to risk losing a full year of team control in Rizzo's prime simply so we have a decent DH option for 6 games. That said, I think there could be some benefit to playing him every day for a couple weeks and then sending him down for a month as a sort of sneak peek into how he's going to be pitched, and to give him some specific things to work on in his last month at Iowa. Above all though, you don't risk him breaking the 1 year of service time mark. To do so at this point would be near madness.

There's really nothing left for him to work on at Iowa. I think he's shown that. And what if he comes up for a few weeks and excels? Can you really tell him with a straight face he needs to go down and work on a few things?

 

The Cubs have already waited this long to bring him up. It makes absolutely no sense to bring him up until it's assured we get the extra year. And once he's up, he should be up for good.

[CUBZ99]

I'm not quite willing to risk losing a full year of team control in Rizzo's prime simply so we have a decent DH option for 6 games. That said, I think there could be some benefit to playing him every day for a couple weeks and then sending him down for a month as a sort of sneak peek into how he's going to be pitched, and to give him some specific things to work on in his last month at Iowa. Above all though, you don't risk him breaking the 1 year of service time mark. To do so at this point would be near madness.

There's really nothing left for him to work on at Iowa. I think he's shown that. And what if he comes up for a few weeks and excels? Can you really tell him with a straight face he needs to go down and work on a few things?

 

The Cubs have already waited this long to bring him up. It makes absolutely no sense to bring him up until it's assured we get the extra year. And once he's up, he should be up for good.

 

Right, everybody knew that the Cubs were not going to be competitive this year, so the fact that they are 10 games under .500 is no surprise and no reason to freak out and bring him up prematurely.

[Tracer Bullet]

I'm not quite willing to risk losing a full year of team control in Rizzo's prime simply so we have a decent DH option for 6 games. That said, I think there could be some benefit to playing him every day for a couple weeks and then sending him down for a month as a sort of sneak peek into how he's going to be pitched, and to give him some specific things to work on in his last month at Iowa. Above all though, you don't risk him breaking the 1 year of service time mark. To do so at this point would be near madness.

There's really nothing left for him to work on at Iowa. I think he's shown that. And what if he comes up for a few weeks and excels? Can you really tell him with a straight face he needs to go down and work on a few things?

 

The Cubs have already waited this long to bring him up. It makes absolutely no sense to bring him up until it's assured we get the extra year. And once he's up, he should be up for good.

 

I doubt he can't handle being told be needs to work on some things for a few weeks at Iowa. He may be disappointed, but you manage those expectations from the start.