4/16 Cubs (Wood) vs. Rangers (Holland) 7:05 CT CSN

[Little Slide Rooter]

Calm down. We have Cody Ransom now for some reason.

[Hawk4Hall]

Calm down. We have Cody Ransom now for some reason.

:stickman: Well I suppose he can't be any worse than Littlefinger was.

[TruffleShuffle]

They have a mutual off day where they could play a DH coming up at the next Cubs scheduled off day, some Rangers writer tweeted about it. Barring a miracle, mother nature is not going to let the next 2 games in.

 

there is a reasonable chance that they could get in the wednesday night game. thursday looks awful.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Maybe Stewart will suck when he comes back. There is a strong possibility that is the case. But the fact of the matter is that he was once a very talented baseball player that has been playing with a hurt, painful, bum wrist for years. He has said after this last procedure it finally feels normal. He doesn't have to be "set the world on fire" productive for him to be an upgrade. Nobody has ever said that and nobody ever will. But there is a better than nothing chance he'll be an average-ish third baseman. Hell, there is a chance he could be a very good and above average third baseman when all is said and done. That's the damn reason they rolled the dice and traded an expendable and flawed Tyler Colvin for him. He's a lottery ticket. There were just no better (realistic) options for this season.

 

I'd be more inclined to believe him if this were the first time he said his wrist was healthy. It's just a spring training platitude like "rededicated" or "best shape of his career."

 

Valbuena's sucky enough that I won't pitch a fit if they bench him, but I'm not exactly holding my breath for a Stewart breakout. It would be nice, though.

[bukie]

Either way, it isn't likely that the Cubs' long term answer at 3B is currently on the 25 man roster. That doesn't mean that the team is awful and irreconcilable, though.

 

Right now, the offense is performing about as expected overall, with a bit of bad timing luck. The starting pitching is over-performing while at the same time being at less than full strength. The bullpen is vastly under-performing, leading to a lot of knee-jerk reactions over two weeks of play.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Either way, it isn't likely that the Cubs' long term answer at 3B is currently on the 25 man roster. That doesn't mean that the team is awful and irreconcilable, though.

 

Right now, the offense is performing about as expected overall, with a bit of bad timing luck. The starting pitching is over-performing while at the same time being at less than full strength. The bullpen is vastly under-performing, leading to a lot of knee-jerk reactions over two weeks of play.

 

This team has performed better than 4-9, to be sure.

 

What sucks is that they had absolutely no margin for error, so between injuries and negative variance, we're pretty darn sunk.

[weis21]

Maybe Stewart will suck when he comes back. There is a strong possibility that is the case. But the fact of the matter is that he was once a very talented baseball player that has been playing with a hurt, painful, bum wrist for years. He has said after this last procedure it finally feels normal. He doesn't have to be "set the world on fire" productive for him to be an upgrade. Nobody has ever said that and nobody ever will. But there is a better than nothing chance he'll be an average-ish third baseman. Hell, there is a chance he could be a very good and above average third baseman when all is said and done. That's the damn reason they rolled the dice and traded an expendable and flawed Tyler Colvin for him. He's a lottery ticket. There were just no better (realistic) options for this season.

 

I'd be more inclined to believe him if this were the first time he said his wrist was healthy. It's just a spring training platitude like "rededicated" or "best shape of his career."

 

Valbuena's sucky enough that I won't pitch a fit if they bench him, but I'm not exactly holding my breath for a Stewart breakout. It would be nice, though.

Unless I'm mistaken, this is the first time he has gone under the knife to correct it though, correct? That's a pretty big distinction.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Unless I'm mistaken, this is the first time he has gone under the knife to correct it though, correct? That's a pretty big distinction.

 

Correct, I do believe it's the first time he's actually had surgery. It'd be nice if that turns out to be the turning point.

[SouthSideRyan]

Appreciate it, Baker!

 

Wonder if SSR stuck it out.

 

How dare you.

 

Left Center about a section over from the Beltre HR. Cannot believe that Barney ball hung so long

[jersey cubs fan]

there is a better than nothing chance he'll be an average-ish

 

Print it out and put it on a t-shirt.

[weis21]

there is a better than nothing chance he'll be an average-ish

 

Print it out and put it on a t-shirt.

Yeah. It's pretty awesome to shoot for the stars.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Calm down. We have Cody Ransom now for some reason.

:stickman: Well I suppose he can't be any worse than Littlefinger was.

 

Herpes can't be any worse than the clap, but neither are desirable, and both are easily avoidable.

[neely crenshaw]

Luis Valbuena has a .350 OBP (granted, with no BA or SLG at all). I'm not exactly dying to move him out for Ian Stewart.

 

I guess I won't throw a fit if they do if they continue to believe in Stewart's upside, but I'd prefer they left Valbuena in there.

Do you honestly think thank Valuena is the full-time answer at 3rd?

 

That's the problem. The Cubs don't have anyone who can step in and be that guy or even a decent platoon there. Stewart was signed to be that and he was awful last season, and will be again this season. Vitters isn't the answer either so I don't understand what the Cubs think they are going to do with that position. It's a glaring hole.

 

Nobody knows if Barney will hit either and Littlebridge has shown he's can't even hold Aaron Mile's jockstrap. 2B certainly might be an issue as well.

 

Castro will be fine but Rizzo semi worries me. Right now the infield just isn't hitting as a whole.

 

You have 2 full seasons of Barney's offense. It might not be great but we should have an idea of what he will bring. He'll play great defense and hit toward the high 200's, with an obp around .300(hopefully a touch higher) Not earth shaking but not lillibridge either. If he can be left in the 8 spot, it's not a bad place. I would even think his obp would go up a bit as he would see a few walks to get to the pitcher. The problem we had last year is he had to hit much higher because so many spots were poor.

I am not saying he's great, I am saying we have an idea of what to expect.

[GammonsPocketTweets]

You know, I wish they would just come out and say, we are tanking to save money for renovations and get 3-4 top five draft picks. The holes in this roster are ridiculous. I get(and agree with) not giving massive contracts to guys north of 30 like Pujols and Hamilton, but does that justify leaving gaping holes in the outfield and third base?

 

 

Youkilis or Michael Young could have at least been temporary stopgaps at third till we find a more permanent solution. And were we in play for either of the Upton brothers? Those would have been aquistions of guys still relatively young and in their prime. But no, Theo puts his hands up and the conventions and basically says "Well, the third base market sucks league wide and there is nothing we can do about it". I'm tired of that, try harder to fill a roster spot with a guy who can at least give you replacement level production. /rant

[neely crenshaw]

You know, I wish they would just come out and say, we are tanking to save money for renovations and get 3-4 top five draft picks. The holes in this roster are ridiculous. I get(and agree with) not giving massive contracts to guys north of 30 like Pujols and Hamilton, but does that justify leaving gaping holes in the outfield and third base?

 

 

Youkilis or Michael Young could have at least been temporary stopgaps at third till we find a more permanent solution. And were we in play for either of the Upton brothers? Those would have been aquistions of guys still relatively young and in their prime. But no, Theo puts his hands up and the conventions and basically says "Well, the third base market sucks league wide and there is nothing we can do about it". I'm tired of that, try harder to fill a roster spot with a guy who can at least give you replacement level production. /rant

 

Last night brought me to a similar question. We spent all off season worrying about a RH infield platoon, especially a corner guy who could spell Rizzo against really tough lefties occasionally. We find lillibridge and Gonzales, then I hear that Baker signed a late minor league deal with texas and made the club in spring training.

Now Baker is no long term answer but he hits lefties. He would have been cheap, and he is another bat off the bench when not platooning. Heck, we even got something in trade at the deadline last year, so we could do it again this year. Certainly we could have done without one of the little guys, or clevenger (since he is a lefty bat, we have that covered at every spot-1b,3b and c). It's just aggravating that his #1 skill- hitting lefties, is something that we seriously lack on this roster

[jersey cubs fan]

You know, I wish they would just come out and say, we are tanking to save money for renovations and get 3-4 top five draft picks. The holes in this roster are ridiculous. I get(and agree with) not giving massive contracts to guys north of 30 like Pujols and Hamilton, but does that justify leaving gaping holes in the outfield and third base?

 

 

Youkilis or Michael Young could have at least been temporary stopgaps at third till we find a more permanent solution. And were we in play for either of the Upton brothers? Those would have been aquistions of guys still relatively young and in their prime. But no, Theo puts his hands up and the conventions and basically says "Well, the third base market sucks league wide and there is nothing we can do about it". I'm tired of that, try harder to fill a roster spot with a guy who can at least give you replacement level production. /rant

 

Last night brought me to a similar question. We spent all off season worrying about a RH infield platoon, especially a corner guy who could spell Rizzo against really tough lefties occasionally. We find lillibridge and Gonzales, then I hear that Baker signed a late minor league deal with texas and made the club in spring training.

Now Baker is no long term answer but he hits lefties. He would have been cheap, and he is another bat off the bench when not platooning. Heck, we even got something in trade at the deadline last year, so we could do it again this year. Certainly we could have done without one of the little guys, or clevenger (since he is a lefty bat, we have that covered at every spot-1b,3b and c). It's just aggravating that his #1 skill- hitting lefties, is something that we seriously lack on this roster

 

I could see somebody like Baker not wanting to go through another Cubs season if he was only getting the same kind of contract others were offering. It has to be tough to be a veteran on a team that isn't even trying to win and basically planning on a midseason firesale. They probably also factor in things like the early season miserable conditions, the team coming off three straight miserable seasons and an increasingly frustrated fan base and just don't want to deal with it, unless there's a financial benefit. Might as well sign with a team that has a chance.

[Guest]

You know, I wish they would just come out and say, we are tanking to save money for renovations and get 3-4 top five draft picks. The holes in this roster are ridiculous. I get(and agree with) not giving massive contracts to guys north of 30 like Pujols and Hamilton, but does that justify leaving gaping holes in the outfield and third base?

 

 

Youkilis or Michael Young could have at least been temporary stopgaps at third till we find a more permanent solution. And were we in play for either of the Upton brothers? Those would have been aquistions of guys still relatively young and in their prime. But no, Theo puts his hands up and the conventions and basically says "Well, the third base market sucks league wide and there is nothing we can do about it". I'm tired of that, try harder to fill a roster spot with a guy who can at least give you replacement level production. /rant

 

Yes, they were rumored to be after both Uptons, and yes they tried to get Keppinger to help with 3B. No they did not want to pay Youkilis 12 million dollars, or add Michael Young, who was a 1B/DH last year and worse than Valbuena.

 

Valbuena currently sits 16th of 27 3B in WAR. There are 10 3B below replacement level right now(including Keppinger!) but he is not one of them. Stewart will also be healthy soon to provide another option.

 

Soriano is 25th of 30 LF in WAR. He's the one guy on the team with a contract situation impacting his status, and even then I'd expect him moreso than anyone else to improve their performance going forward.

 

DeJesus is 26th in CF WAR due to some early season UZR variance. His wOBA is middle of the pack.

 

Schierholtz is 10th in RF WAR despite similar poor UZR numbers. He's 2nd in wOBA.

 

 

Of all the things to be irritated about, "gaping holes" costing the Cubs wins is not really high on the list. In no particular order, some poor bullpen showings, some crappy BABIP fortune, and below average defense are what's separating the Cubs from having a couple extra wins and hovering at .500. None of those are gaping holes and there's been steps taken on several of those fronts to at least try to help where possible.

 

It's been 13 games, each team in baseball has 4-9 stretches where they look terrible. It's okay to not like it, but extrapolating to the season as a whole or using it as judgment of roster decisions is silly right now.

[jersey cubs fan]

Of all the things to be irritated about, "gaping holes" costing the Cubs wins is not really high on the list. In no particular order, some poor bullpen showings, some crappy BABIP fortune, and below average defense are what's separating the Cubs from having a couple extra wins and hovering at .500. None of those are gaping holes and there's been steps taken on several of those fronts to at least try to help where possible.

 

It's been 13 games, each team in baseball has 4-9 stretches where they look terrible. It's okay to not like it, but extrapolating to the season as a whole or using it as judgment of roster decisions is silly right now.

 

Are we supposed to pretend we didn't already know this roster sucked before the season started?

[Guest]

Yes.

[GammonsPocketTweets]

Is a Valbaueno/Ian Stewart really an acceptable platoon? Stewart is nothing but a lottery ticket, and even if he manages to be healthy this year, there is not much evidence he'll be good.

[jersey cubs fan]

Is a Valbaueno/Ian Stewart really an acceptable platoon? Stewart is nothing but a lottery ticket, and even if he manages to be healthy this year, there is not much evidence he'll be good.

 

as weis21 said, there is a better than nothing chance he'll be an average-ish.

 

 

To answer your question, the answer depends on the team. If you have some more quality elsewhere, those guys are probably acceptable. Everybody has weak spots. I think there's two ways to be good, having quality everywhere, even if you don't have any studs, or get a number of really good guys to offset your weaknesses. The Cubs have all sorts of weakness and not nearly enough really good guys to offset them. Any individual weakness they have is actually acceptable on an individual basis. But it's the collective weakness, and limited strength that hurts them.

[neely crenshaw]

Of all the things to be irritated about, "gaping holes" costing the Cubs wins is not really high on the list. In no particular order, some poor bullpen showings, some crappy BABIP fortune, and below average defense are what's separating the Cubs from having a couple extra wins and hovering at .500. None of those are gaping holes and there's been steps taken on several of those fronts to at least try to help where possible.

 

It's been 13 games, each team in baseball has 4-9 stretches where they look terrible. It's okay to not like it, but extrapolating to the season as a whole or using it as judgment of roster decisions is silly right now.

 

Are we supposed to pretend we didn't already know this roster sucked before the season started?

 

Jersey the problem is there were more than a few that really thought we were decent. Remember the talk of 80+ wins, and being in the race come july..will we go get players? Our starting pitching has a good shot to be very solid to good but I tried to explain to people that we had darn good starting pitching last year until Aug 1, and we were still on a pace to win only 66 games (dempster and Maholm were pretty awesome). So even improved, the difference in wins might not be there. People also tried to discount the start that LaHair had. he has a great april, a HOF april, and even though Rizzo is better, you can't discount what Lahair did early on. So even though our offense may be slightly better, it still might not translate to more wins.

It's not a good roster. Any improvement as far as wins goes will come from our starting pitching keeping us close in games.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Is a Valbaueno/Ian Stewart really an acceptable platoon? Stewart is nothing but a lottery ticket, and even if he manages to be healthy this year, there is not much evidence he'll be good.

 

Worst case scenerio, he'll be slightly better than Lillibridge/Ransom/Gonzalez/whatever junk passes through waivers over the next few weeks.

 

Give me a lottery ticket over used toilet paper any day.

 

There's also the option of a dreaded Theriot and/or Miles reunion.

[neely crenshaw]

Even I agree. I have no faith that Stewart will work out but somewhere down deep I just hope that getting surgery this time is the needed fix and he can be decent. This is one spot on our roster that there just isn't much help for. Stewart is lottery ticket, but maybe not a powerball..in that he won't have the huge payout but it also isn't that astronomical of odds. Seriously, as sad as it sounds, if he can just hit .230, with his usual obp, and slugging, it would be such an upgrade over what we trot out there now, or last year. I just don't know if he can or if he will stay healthy.

 

some hope is better than none. We know what valbuena will bring, there is no upside. Even with his obp right now, I have a sneaky suspicion that if he was followed by anyone in the order other than Lillibridge or the pitcher, he would never walk or at least a whole lot less.

[Guest]

Sweetpeteman start a game thread, please.

 

Or someone spot start.