Cubs acquire Justin Ruggiano

[Post Count Padder]

from Marlins for Bugosevic. Had a down season at the plate but does offer 20-20 potential and is much better against lefties in his career. Decent platoon option in the outfield.

[hankp101]

At the cost of just bogusevic, I think this was a no brainer

[jersey cubs fan]

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

[sneakypower]

best Ruggiano moment

 

http://i.imgur.com/tHg2vPc.png

 

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

.250/.331/.424 - 3.5(!) WAR

Edited December 12, 2013 by sneakypower

[jersey cubs fan]

Mark Gonzales ‏@MDGonzales 48s

Hoyer on Ruggiano: hits LHPs well, fits well in OF with Sweeney and Schierholtz. Lake will still get ABs.

[jersey cubs fan]

http://www.fishstripes.com/2013/12/11/5199626/2013-winter-meetings-justin-ruggiano-greg-dobbs-on-trade-block

 

Miami's interest in trading Ruggiano comes as no surprise. The Fish have four outfielders whom they would like to play in the next few seasons between Giancarlo Stanton, Marcell Ozuna, Christian Yelich, and Jake Marisnick. The team has no spot for Ruggiano in the prospective starting lineup, even though he may very well be the team's second best outfielder right now despite his struggle of a 2013 season. Last year, Ruggiano was second on the Marlins with 18 home runs but also suffered through a hitless streak that sunk his campaign; he finished the year batting .222/.298/.396 (.307 wOBA).

 

Ruggiano could be a fit for a team interested in either a corner outfield spot or a center field position if the club is OK with a lower-tier starting player. The better option would be for Ruggiano to serve as a lefty-mashing platoon partner, as he owns a career .256/.328/.506 (.360 wOBA) line against left-handers. The Marlins' only lefty outfielder is Yelich, and the Fish have a heavy developmental investment on him becoming a capable hitter, so Miami would be best served allowing Yelich to face left-handed pitching.

 

Who might be interested in Ruggiano? Not a lot of teams have overt outfield needs at the moment, as a number of free agent outfielders have already been signed. Less talented squads like the New York Mets or Houston Astros could hold interest in Ruggiano as a stopgap option who would still be relatively cheap for the next three years. The Baltimore Orioles are apparently looking for outfielders according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli, so Ruggiano could be a decent option.

[Cubswin11]

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

Idk, but its projection really likes Ruggiano for this year. 20 HR, mid .700's OPS and a 3.5 WAR. That's the same WAR it projects for Cargo. It also projects Javy at 33 HR and 4.3 WAR.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Cubswin11

[tfarks]

I like this move.

[Guest]

I like this.

[Guest]

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

Idk, but it's projection really likes Ruggiano for this year. 20 HR, mid .700's OPS and a 3.5 WAR. That's the same WAR it projects for Cargo. It also projects Javy at 33 HR and 4.3 WAR.

 

Good God...what the hell projection is this and can we make it real life?

[jersey cubs fan]

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

Idk, but it's projection really likes Ruggiano for this year. 20 HR, mid .700's OPS and a 3.5 WAR. That's the same WAR it projects for Cargo. It also projects Javy at 33 HR and 4.3 WAR.

 

It projects 600 PA for everybody, which means it has Ruggiano as more valuable than Rizzo over the next four years.

[Cubswin11]

Full Fangraphs description of Oliver:

 

Oliver - This system was created by Brian Cartwright and is available over at The Hardball Times. It’s a comparatively simple projection system – using weighted averages of the past three seasons of data, and adjusting for aging and regression – but it calculates its major league equivalencies (MLEs) in a different way than most systems, taking the raw numbers and adjusting them based on park and league. Since most projection systems simply try to adjust for the transition between each minor-league level, Oliver’s projections are better when showing how young players will perform at the major league level. This is also the only projection system to include a fielding and WAR component.

[XZero771679666304]

Ruggiano should be a good RH platoon partner. I like it, especially for the cost.

[jersey cubs fan]

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

Idk, but it's projection really likes Ruggiano for this year. 20 HR, mid .700's OPS and a 3.5 WAR. That's the same WAR it projects for Cargo. It also projects Javy at 33 HR and 4.3 WAR.

 

Good God...what the hell projection is this and can we make it real life?

 

Seems to take a lot of generous assumptions with guys who don't have a big enough track record.

[Guest]

What is the Oliver projection on fangraphs?

Idk, but it's projection really likes Ruggiano for this year. 20 HR, mid .700's OPS and a 3.5 WAR. That's the same WAR it projects for Cargo. It also projects Javy at 33 HR and 4.3 WAR.

 

Good God...what the hell projection is this and can we make it real life?

 

Seems to take a lot of generous assumptions with guys who don't have a big enough track record.

 

Yeah. Ruggiano had a really nice 2012 in ~90 games so that must be it.

Edited December 12, 2013 by David

[jersey cubs fan]

Ruggiano should be a good RH platoon partner. I like it, especially for the cost.

 

A Jeff Baker that can help in center.

[Cubswin11]

I wonder if this is the position player trade Theo alluded to yesterday that they had on the table or if that one is still out there and this one just kinda came up.

[jersey cubs fan]

I wonder if this is the position player trade Theo alluded to yesterday that they had on the table or if that one is still out there and this one just kinda came up.

 

It would seem to be, considering the story that Miami was looking to trade him and alluding to their own desire to get a LH bat.

[Guest]

We still need another lefty hitting OF right?

[Cubswin11]

We still need another lefty hitting OF right?

Maybe? I could see the OF being Lake/Ruggiano/Sweeney/Schierholtz going into the year. Can Watkins play OF (at least in the supersub/5th OF type guy)?

Edited December 12, 2013 by Cubswin11

[Guest]

We still need another lefty hitting OF right?

 

Currently the OF is something like Sweeney-Lake-Schierholtz with Ruggiano getting ABs(probably for Schierholtz) against LHP. They don't NEED another LH OF, but if they added one they could probably find a use for him, especially since Schierholtz and maybe Lake stand a chance of getting dealt still.

[Guest]

We still need another lefty hitting OF right?

 

Currently the OF is something like Sweeney-Lake-Schierholtz with Ruggiano getting ABs(probably for Schierholtz) against LHP. They don't NEED another LH OF, but if they added one they could probably find a use for him, especially since Schierholtz and maybe Lake stand a chance of getting dealt still.

 

Sorry. I worded that REALLY poorly because I was going to write "lefty mashing" and then I was like ehhh that's a strong word for Ruggiano...which resulted in the worst possible phrasing of "lefty hitting" when i meant a righty who hits lefties well.

[Guest]

Depends on how they view Sweeney. My guess is that don't feel he has to have a handcuff, but they probably have similar feelings about Lake so I could see the 5th OF going either way.

[Cubswin11]

What is his contract status, does he have a few years of team control left?

[Guest]

What is his contract status, does he have a few years of team control left?

 

First year arbitration eligible this year, so they control him through 2016 if they want him.