Misc. Cubs offseason rumor discussion

[Hairyducked Idiot]

They don't have to be 100% analogous to make for an example. Jackson doesn't have to kill the ball like Rizzo did at AAA and then with the Cubs in order to be a productive MLB CF. They both made adjustments to make more MLB contact to be more in line with their AAA performance. Rizzo's appear to have worked, time will tell if Jackson's will too or if his higher baseline/AAA K-rates mean that it won't be enough.

 

But the simple difference remains:

 

Everything about Rizzo's minor league performance said "Major league hitter," then he had a small-sample blip in the opposite direction.

 

Something very prevalent in Jackson's minor league performance screamed "this guy can't hit advanced pitching," then he had a small-sample showing the same thing in the extreme.

 

Maybe Jackson can make an adjustment, but the Rizzo comparison doesn't seem to fly.

[Guest]

We've been down this road enough times, but the short version is I don't agree with that characterization of Jackson's minor league career.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

The contact rates are THE thing, though.

 

Yeah, but Rizzo had a pretty terrible contact rate in his debut and adjustments were made to fix it. Nobody's expecting Jackson to hit like Rizzo, but if he can even get the K% down to 25%, he's much better off than he was before.

 

In his debut. In his very brief debut. A period of time that was very brief. Jackson has been like this a while and got worse and worse for a whole hell of a lot longer. It's pretty much the definition of who he is as a hitter and has been since the day they signed him when they talked about the one thing he struggle with, making contact with the baseball. Rizzo was tweaking his swing along the way, the type of normal adjustment everybody who isn't Vladdyesque must make as a professional moving up the ladder. Jackson's a complete clusterpuck at this point.

 

The situations are not comparable and it's pointless to bring up Rizzo when discussing what is expected/hoped for from Jackson.

[neely crenshaw]

Like I said he's not an all star but he's a .280 average, with 800 ops in the minors.

Rizzo was .290 and 900 ops....and we expect a lot more from him than jackson. Adding that Rizzo OPS in in the 1000's in the PCL and 800 everywhere else, and jackson's is steady in the 800's all the way through, the comparison is pretty vaild.

If we are expecting for Rizzo to be our middle of the order stud, is it crazy to 'hope" that maybe jackson will fix that long swing and be a solid player. Heck we had 1 full time player over 800 ops (soriano) plus rizzo in 87 games. we had 4 total (counting rizzo) over 700ops. As awful as he was hitting.175, he was still at a 650 ops. If he could hit .240 to .250 he could push that 800 ops.

As I said it's very difficult to change a swing but it's certainly as possible as any veteran risk that the cubs have taken.

 

It just seems like we have no patience with "our" guys but we pull Cardenas or Stewart off somebody else's scrap heap and they have such upside..but our guy is done after his first 120 at bats in the bigs.

[Cubswin11]

Like I said he's not an all star but he's a .280 average, with 800 ops in the minors.

Rizzo was .290 and 900 ops....and we expect a lot more from him than jackson. Adding that Rizzo OPS in in the 1000's in the PCL and 800 everywhere else, and jackson's is steady in the 800's all the way through, the comparison is pretty vaild.

If we are expecting for Rizzo to be our middle of the order stud, is it crazy to 'hope" that maybe jackson will fix that long swing and be a solid player. Heck we had 1 full time player over 800 ops (soriano) plus rizzo in 87 games. we had 4 total (counting rizzo) over 700ops. As awful as he was hitting.175, he was still at a 650 ops. If he could hit .240 to .250 he could push that 800 ops.

As I said it's very difficult to change a swing but it's certainly as possible as any veteran risk that the cubs have taken.

 

It just seems like we have no patience with "our" guys but we pull Cardenas or Stewart off somebody else's scrap heap and they have such upside..but our guy is done after his first 120 at bats in the bigs.

I think looking and comparing Rizzo's/Jackson's OPS' is missing the point, Jackson clearly has a contact problem when facing advanced pitching while Rizzo doesn't.

 

Rizzo never had a k% over 23% in the minors and his highest k% occurred in 29 games in 2010 at A+ he was promoted to AA that same year and played in 107 games and got his k% down to 21%. When he had his call up with the Padres and struggled his k% was 30%.

 

Jackson's last two years in the minors at AAA (2011 for 49 games and 2012 for 106 games) his k% was 29.8% and 33.8% while he struck out at a 41.5% last year in his time in MLB. Jackson clearly has a much harder time making contact as he has moved up and faced more advanced pitching.

 

Rizzo's k% stayed in between 17%-23.7% for his entire minor league career (his 2 AAA season's he had k% of 21.5% and 18.3%). Jackson's k% has ranged from 18.9%-33.8% and his k% got higher every time he reached a higher level and presumably better pitching.

[Little Slide Rooter]

@BleacherNation: Hearing that @jonmorosi's suggestion this morning of David DeJesus to Seattle wasn't totally out of nowhere. Not saying anything happens.

 

They have King Felix, Tijuana Walker, and I think 1-2 more really good pitching prospects. We can forget about any of them for DeJesus. Not sure what else the Mariners have. My guess is that we're mainly in the hunt for guys who won't require a spot on the 40 man.

[Little Slide Rooter]

@BleacherNation: #Cubs: Cubs Sign Pitcher Andrew Carpenter to Minor League Deal with Spring Training Invite http://t.co/SpvGDqSK

 

I guess we did this as well. From what I understand, Andrew Carpenter is a guy who has pitched professionally over the past several years, floating between the majors and minors.

[abuck1220]

@BleacherNation: Hearing that @jonmorosi's suggestion this morning of David DeJesus to Seattle wasn't totally out of nowhere. Not saying anything happens.

 

They have King Felix, Tijuana Walker, and I think 1-2 more really good pitching prospects. We can forget about any of them for DeJesus.

 

noted

[Sammy Sofa]

@BleacherNation: Hearing that @jonmorosi's suggestion this morning of David DeJesus to Seattle wasn't totally out of nowhere. Not saying anything happens.

 

They have King Felix, Tijuana Walker, and I think 1-2 more really good pitching prospects. We can forget about any of them for DeJesus.

 

noted

 

Just FYI.

[Guest]

Tijuana?

[mookie]

Cheap snatch.

[SouthSideRyan]

@BleacherNation: Hearing that @jonmorosi's suggestion this morning of David DeJesus to Seattle wasn't totally out of nowhere. Not saying anything happens.

 

They have King Felix, Tijuana Walker, and I think 1-2 more really good pitching prospects. We can forget about any of them for DeJesus.

 

noted

 

Just FYI.

 

I'm interested in who else we can forget about for DeJesus

[illiniguy]

Tijuana?

Had to be auto correct?

[illiniguy]

@BleacherNation: Hearing that @jonmorosi's suggestion this morning of David DeJesus to Seattle wasn't totally out of nowhere. Not saying anything happens.

 

They have King Felix, Tijuana Walker, and I think 1-2 more really good pitching prospects. We can forget about any of them for DeJesus.

 

noted

 

Just FYI.

 

I'm interested in who else we can forget about for DeJesus

Probably Mike Trout, probably.

[Clem Fandango]

Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg are probably just out of reach for DeJesus. Stanton, too, sadly.

[illiniguy]

Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg are probably just out of reach for DeJesus. Stanton, too, sadly.

Together, but I'm not sure on separately. Will wait for scs to let us know.

[Guest]

yep that's the general joke

[UMFan83]

Should I be worried about seeing the ESPN crawl say that Dempster turned down 2/15 from the Red Sox because he wants 3 years, and the Cubs and Brewers are said to be aggressively pursuing him?

[Little Slide Rooter]

Tijuana?

Had to be auto correct?

 

Yup.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg are probably just out of reach for DeJesus. Stanton, too, sadly.

Together, but I'm not sure on separately. Will wait for scs to let us know.

 

I was basically stating that I don't know who the hell the Mariners have these days, but I'm sure we can work something out if they're interested.

[VVMattVV]

Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg are probably just out of reach for DeJesus. Stanton, too, sadly.

Together, but I'm not sure on separately. Will wait for scs to let us know.

 

I was basically stating that I don't know who the hell the Mariners have these days, but I'm sure we can work something out if they're interested.

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

[jersey cubs fan]

Should I be worried about seeing the ESPN crawl say that Dempster turned down 2/15 from the Red Sox because he wants 3 years, and the Cubs and Brewers are said to be aggressively pursuing him?

 

Not really.

 

 

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox made a two-year, $25 million offer to free agent right-hander Ryan Dempster but were turned down by the pitcher and his agent, Craig Landis, according to a source.

 

Dempster is believed to be seeking a three-year deal and reportedly is being wooed by the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Should I be worried about seeing the ESPN crawl say that Dempster turned down 2/15 from the Red Sox because he wants 3 years, and the Cubs and Brewers are said to be aggressively pursuing him?

 

Not really.

 

 

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox made a two-year, $25 million offer to free agent right-hander Ryan Dempster but were turned down by the pitcher and his agent, Craig Landis, according to a source.

 

Dempster is believed to be seeking a three-year deal and reportedly is being wooed by the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

This type of thing happens. Some guys will be willing to sign a lesser contract with either their desired team or location, and for them to get out of that comfort zone, it will take a much better deal. I remember the end of Jermain Dye's career came when he was offered a deal by the Giants but it wasn't enough for him to move his family and the Cubs were reported to have made him as offer, but he didn't feel as though he'd get enough playing time. I'm betting that if the Brewers of Cubs made that same offer he'd take it. I'd probably take him back on that deal.

[Backtobanks]

Should I be worried about seeing the ESPN crawl say that Dempster turned down 2/15 from the Red Sox because he wants 3 years, and the Cubs and Brewers are said to be aggressively pursuing him?

 

Not really.

 

 

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox made a two-year, $25 million offer to free agent right-hander Ryan Dempster but were turned down by the pitcher and his agent, Craig Landis, according to a source.

 

Dempster is believed to be seeking a three-year deal and reportedly is being wooed by the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

From MLBTR:

The Brewers, Red Sox and Royals are the "three main teams" looking at Ryan Dempster, reports Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). This would seem to eliminate the Cubs, who we recently heard weren't negotiating with Dempster

 

Don't you just love conflicting rumors.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Should I be worried about seeing the ESPN crawl say that Dempster turned down 2/15 from the Red Sox because he wants 3 years, and the Cubs and Brewers are said to be aggressively pursuing him?

 

Not really.

 

 

BOSTON -- The Boston Red Sox made a two-year, $25 million offer to free agent right-hander Ryan Dempster but were turned down by the pitcher and his agent, Craig Landis, according to a source.

 

Dempster is believed to be seeking a three-year deal and reportedly is being wooed by the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

From MLBTR:

The Brewers, Red Sox and Royals are the "three main teams" looking at Ryan Dempster, reports Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link). This would seem to eliminate the Cubs, who we recently heard weren't negotiating with Dempster

 

Don't you just love conflicting rumors.

 

Welcome to the Twitter era. The second a "journalist" spots a GM and Agent discussin a player at any capacity, they want to be the first to break the news. The result is an island of news surrounded by an ocean of rumors.