Soler to AAA, Almora to AA

[Sammy Sofa]

Dramatic UZR difference(partially due to not playing CF anymore) has him on track for a similar fWAR. Cuban Willingham is what he has been. Worth his contract and a pretty good player with some exciting skills, but not much of a building block considering his contract and his inability to progress beyond being a 2+ win player.

 

Didn't have to be a building block to justify signing him; given the Cubs' needs and the money not spent a solid OF worth his contract would have been a nice pick up. It just seems a bit much to dismiss him as "meh" when the Cubs could have and should have walked away with both him and Soler, especially since such moves would have been more in line with the rhetoric they were spouting at the time.

[jersey cubs fan]

Dramatic UZR difference(partially due to not playing CF anymore) has him on track for a similar fWAR. Cuban Willingham is what he has been. Worth his contract and a pretty good player with some exciting skills, but not much of a building block considering his contract and his inability to progress beyond being a 2+ win player.

 

Didn't have to be a building block to justify signing him; given the Cubs' needs and the money not spent a solid OF worth his contract would have been a nice pick up. It just seems a bit much to dismiss him as "meh" when the Cubs could have and should have walked away with both him and Soler, especially since such moves would have been more in line with the rhetoric they were spouting at the time.

 

Especially considering the difference it would make from the type of guys who are playing in the OF for the Cubs. That is a maker of difference.

[sneakypower]

Dramatic UZR difference(partially due to not playing CF anymore) has him on track for a similar fWAR. Cuban Willingham is what he has been. Worth his contract and a pretty good player with some exciting skills, but not much of a building block considering his contract and his inability to progress beyond being a 2+ win player.

 

Didn't have to be a building block to justify signing him; given the Cubs' needs and the money not spent a solid OF worth his contract would have been a nice pick up. It just seems a bit much to dismiss him as "meh" when the Cubs could have and should have walked away with both him and Soler, especially since such moves would have been more in line with the rhetoric they were spouting at the time.

sure, he was really cool in 2012 but who knows, he could very well have meant the difference between having Kris Bryant and Colin Moran right now

 

i'm over Cespedes

[jersey cubs fan]

Dramatic UZR difference(partially due to not playing CF anymore) has him on track for a similar fWAR. Cuban Willingham is what he has been. Worth his contract and a pretty good player with some exciting skills, but not much of a building block considering his contract and his inability to progress beyond being a 2+ win player.

 

Didn't have to be a building block to justify signing him; given the Cubs' needs and the money not spent a solid OF worth his contract would have been a nice pick up. It just seems a bit much to dismiss him as "meh" when the Cubs could have and should have walked away with both him and Soler, especially since such moves would have been more in line with the rhetoric they were spouting at the time.

sure, he was really cool in 2012 but who knows, he could very well have meant the difference between having Kris Bryant and Colin Moran right now

 

i'm over Cespedes

 

That doesn't show much faith in this front office to be any good at drafting.

 

He could also be the difference between having Scheirholtz and Cespedes right now.

[Guest]

Dramatic UZR difference(partially due to not playing CF anymore) has him on track for a similar fWAR. Cuban Willingham is what he has been. Worth his contract and a pretty good player with some exciting skills, but not much of a building block considering his contract and his inability to progress beyond being a 2+ win player.

 

Didn't have to be a building block to justify signing him; given the Cubs' needs and the money not spent a solid OF worth his contract would have been a nice pick up. It just seems a bit much to dismiss him as "meh" when the Cubs could have and should have walked away with both him and Soler, especially since such moves would have been more in line with the rhetoric they were spouting at the time.

 

He's an average to slightly above average LF with power, some defense, and poor OBP skills. He is more than 'meh', but he's not someone to lament.

[SouthSideRyan]

We would've had to win 4 more games, and our OF was pretty damn respectable that season. Maybe Cespedes's presence leads to a Brett Jackson wizardry Cashner trade.

[davell]

What did I miss with the wizard stuff?

[jersey cubs fan]

What did I miss with the wizard stuff?

I'm guessing that was about how, if they had Cespedes, Jackson is less likely to be called up and be exposed and would still have the reputation of a pretty good prospect doing fine at AAA, thus, a tradeable commodity.

[Guest]

What did I miss with the wizard stuff?

 

It took me a couple tries, but I think the implication is that with Cespedes, they would've been freed up to trade Jackson at the height of his value(pre-2012) and get disproportionate returns for him, a la Cashner.

[sneakypower]

We would've had to win 4 more games, and our OF was pretty damn respectable that season. Maybe Cespedes's presence leads to a Brett Jackson wizardry Cashner trade.

what you call pretty damn respectable i call bottom-3 in fWAR

 

but we're sitting in a position currently where our offense is primed to very soon be a force to be reckoned with for a pretty long time, with or without Cespedes; if you want to cry over league-average spilt milk, that's your right

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

http://i.imgur.com/AdVsiyY.gif

[Guest]

Hannemann to Daytona to backfill Almora (woah x2), Jeff Baez to KC to backfill Hannemann (cool)

[SouthSideRyan]

if you want to cry over league-average spilt milk, that's your right

 

I figured the guy who's gone on about Rick Porcello for the last 9 years would understand.

[SouthSideRyan]

We would've had to win 4 more games, and our OF was pretty damn respectable that season. Maybe Cespedes's presence leads to a Brett Jackson wizardry Cashner trade.

what you call pretty damn respectable i call bottom-3 in fWAR

 

What you call bottom-3 in fWAR, fangraphs doesn't.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Hannemann to Daytona to backfill Almora (woah x2), Jeff Baez to KC to backfill Hannemann (cool)

No CF for you, McKinney.

[sneakypower]

We would've had to win 4 more games, and our OF was pretty damn respectable that season. Maybe Cespedes's presence leads to a Brett Jackson wizardry Cashner trade.

what you call pretty damn respectable i call bottom-3 in fWAR

 

What you call bottom-3 in fWAR, fangraphs doesn't.

believe me, they do

[Guest]

Weird: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2012&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

[XZero771679666304]

Well, that's certainly odd.

[sneakypower]

don't pay attention to the filters, but the splits

 

the tabbed filters at the top show seasonal totals from everybody with time at those positions, but the splits only show stats accrued at that position (remember the dialogue where Junior Lake was sort of awesome at LF and a complete barf-bag everywhere else?)

 

-Lahair had respectable WAR at 1B and completely disastrous OF WAR in limited duty

-i closed the window but i think it was that Mather was replacement level in the IF and like -1.3 or something similarly abominable like that in the OF

 

 

edit: this probably explains it more succinctly

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/leaderboard-feature-positional-splits/

[SouthSideRyan]

Well then. Mea culpa

[bukie]

How well was Javy doing in Daytona before he got the promotion to AA?

 

.274/.338/.535/.873 overall, .302/.396/.698/1.094 in the month of June (he was promoted after 6/28)

I thought it was somewhere around where Almora was/is. Bunch more power, though.

[Clem Fandango]

Now Olt is heading to Iowa, too.

 

THE RICH GET RICHER!

[Sammy Sofa]

Dramatic UZR difference(partially due to not playing CF anymore) has him on track for a similar fWAR. Cuban Willingham is what he has been. Worth his contract and a pretty good player with some exciting skills, but not much of a building block considering his contract and his inability to progress beyond being a 2+ win player.

 

Didn't have to be a building block to justify signing him; given the Cubs' needs and the money not spent a solid OF worth his contract would have been a nice pick up. It just seems a bit much to dismiss him as "meh" when the Cubs could have and should have walked away with both him and Soler, especially since such moves would have been more in line with the rhetoric they were spouting at the time.

 

He's an average to slightly above average LF with power, some defense, and poor OBP skills. He is more than 'meh', but he's not someone to lament.

 

Why not? Having Cespedes wouldn't be blocking anyone, and even a slightly above average OF would have been preferable to the raging tire fire throughout the OF. I know the FO has had a bizarrely lucky streak of missing out on FA's that have been busts, but it's not like it's a "phew, really dodged a bullet there" with all of their misses.

[Guest]

Cespedes would've easily fit into this year's outfield, and by rate he would've been about the 5th best outfielder they employed last year. The consistency matters, but it also illustrates that locking in league average production for 9 milllion per year without long term control is not worth the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments that he's received because he happened to be an IFA.

[Sammy Sofa]

I don't think there was anyone with any histrionics over him besides me, and that was a long ass time ago. Just thought dismissing him as "meh," as if the Cubs couldn't have used him or he was some kind of bust or cost too damn much, was silly.