javi baez deep concern and probably giving hope up thread

[RammyFanny]

Yeah, I just realized that after seeing him in an argument over on PSD,

[imb]

SomeGuy is totally SenorGato/KingKongwhatever/WeGotWood

 

Yeah I think you're right

[Some Guy]

Nope, don't know them. Were they always right too?

[bukie]

I see we've already reached the "Meph writing a joke article about himself on the hate blog" phase of this poster.

[Guest]

Reasons not to care/worry about Baez's winter league performance:

 

- Like Spring Training, winter league is not competitive baseball, our underlying assumptions that drive how we interpret performance are not necessarily true in that setting.

- Mallee is there working with Baez. As a new hitting coach giving hands on instruction, Baez's performance could be an extension of working on very specific things with his swing, and possibly radically different things considering this is Baez's first exposure to Mallee

- Baez quite possibly hasn't even touched a baseball prior to heading to Puerto Rico, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if the Front Office told him to forget about the game for a while to help clear his head of his MLB struggles. As such, detangling how much of his winter league performance is rust(especially given the infrequent games and very few number of games) is not easy or even desirable, given the sample.

- Even if these were Major League games, we're talking about 11 games played over a span of 3 weeks. It's an inconsistent and largely meaningless sample even in the most pure playing conditions, never mind with the above caveats.

 

 

Reasons to care/worry about Baez's winter league performance:

 

- It's a slow part of the offseason and it's news about an important Cubs player playing

- Baez's performance is not very good, and all things equal we'd like Baez's performance to be good rather than bad

- Baez's performance is not good in a way that mirrors his MLB performance

 

Reasons to worry about Baez more(or less) than before he started winter league:

 

[file not found]

 

 

BONUS FUN FACT: Both Neil Ramirez and Arrieta are listed as reserves(like Baez) on Baez's winter league roster, though it appears neither have pitched in a game.

[Guest]

If there can be and are reasons to worry about his winter league performance, how can there not be reasons to worry more than before his winter league performance?

[sneakypower]

his problems with whiffs at AA wasn't a concern because his production was admittedly immense, they weren't a concern at AAA because he needs time to adjust to a new league, they weren't a concern at the pros because he needs time to adjust to a new league, they aren't a concern at winter ball because he's just trying to do new experimental things, they won't be a concern at spring training because spring training is meaningless, it won't be a concern come May because the season is still young / he's not used to his new swing mechanics / he's still young he'll grow the ability to hit the ball

[Guest]

If there can be and are reasons to worry about his winter league performance, how can there not be reasons to worry more than before his winter league performance?

 

They aren't real reasons, I was trying to be generous.

[Some Guy]

Theo talks Javy, says the Cubs are sticking with him. --> http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/theo-epstein-cubs-wont-bail-javier-baez-2015

 

I only chimed in to respond to this comment, which presented the notion that it was current news that Theo said they're rolling with Javy. "Theo *talks*..." "the Cubs *are* sticking..." Verbs in the present form.

 

But that statement came over 3 months ago, and since then the Cubs have acquired La Stella and inquired about Drew - indicating plans may have changed, as they often do. And rightly so, when Javy is doing nothing to allay existing concerns, but rather exacerbating them.

[Some Guy]

TT, I would like you to be right. But I agree with others who think it's silly to sweep Javy's PR league issues under the rug. His 2014 can be chopped into discrete smaller sample sizes, each with their own excuse, but put them all together and they tell the same story.

[Guest]

Getting LaStella to be a reserve infielder and a rumor that's highly likely to be Boras trying to drum up interest in Drew don't really do much to indicate any change of heart with Baez. If anything, La Stella being a 2B-only guy puts more weight on Baez's positional flexibility since Bryant, Valbuena, and maybe Alcantara are not going to be suitable backups at SS. And if there were indicators, those would be the wrong ones. This is a team that has Bryant, Valbuena, and soon to be Russell after all. Rumors of Alcantara being a Zobrist-esque super sub would be more telling than the front office (hypothetically) making a phone call to find out Drew's asking price.

 

Put more simply, there were more than enough Javy contingencies before they added La Stella, and a random rumor about Drew doesn't mean anything.

[Guest]

TT, I would like you to be right. But I agree with others who think it's silly to sweep Javy's PR league issues under the rug. His 2014 can be chopped into discrete smaller sample sizes, each with their own excuse, but put them all together and they tell the same story.

 

Worry as much as you want about Baez, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with him or risky about his future. I'm saying that worrying about his winter league performance specifically is tantamount to worrying that he didn't hit enough home runs in a celebrity softball game.

[Some Guy]

I'm saying that worrying about his winter league performance specifically is tantamount to worrying that he didn't hit enough home runs in a celebrity softball game.

 

Quoted without further comment.

[Some Guy]

Getting LaStella to be a reserve infielder and a rumor that's highly likely to be Boras trying to drum up interest in Drew don't really do much to indicate any change of heart with Baez.

 

You don't know that either of these are true. LaStella is here and it looks quite plausible that he could open the season as the starter. And while it's possible that the Drew rumors were fictions created by his agent, "highly likely" is an overreach, just like your last comment about a celebrity softball game.

 

The point is, those things and Javy's winter league K pileup have happened since Theo first stated the plan for him to be the 2015 2B starter. Therefore it's not right to present that September quote as the current gospel truth. I'm not saying Javy is hopeless - just that it is now plausible that he opens the season in AAA.

[DonnieD]

TT, I would like you to be right. But I agree with others who think it's silly to sweep Javy's PR league issues under the rug. His 2014 can be chopped into discrete smaller sample sizes, each with their own excuse, but put them all together and they tell the same story.

 

Worry as much as you want about Baez, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with him or risky about his future. I'm saying that worrying about his winter league performance specifically is tantamount to worrying that he didn't hit enough home runs in a celebrity softball game.

 

Would it be okay to worry that he struck out three times in that celebrity softball game?

[Guest]

Getting LaStella to be a reserve infielder and a rumor that's highly likely to be Boras trying to drum up interest in Drew don't really do much to indicate any change of heart with Baez.

 

You don't know that either of these are true. LaStella is here and it looks quite plausible that he could open the season as the starter. And while it's possible that the Drew rumors were fictions created by his agent, "highly likely" is an overreach, just like your last comment about a celebrity softball game.

 

The point is, those things and Javy's winter league K pileup have happened since Theo first stated the plan for him to be the 2015 2B starter. Therefore it's not right to present that September quote as the current gospel truth. I'm not saying Javy is hopeless - just that it is now plausible that he opens the season in AAA.

 

You're the one extrapolating a Jon Heyman tweet as an indicator of the front office's plan for Baez. Moreover, even if they go get an infielder and send Baez to AAA that doesn't mean that his winter league performance has driven a change of heart. I agree that Theo's September comments don't really have much weight.

 

And again, La Stella is currently, what, 3rd on the 2B depth chart? 4th if you want to consider Alcantara at 2B and Denorfia in CF better than Alcantara/La Stella? 5th if you consider Russell MLB ready? The trade for La Stella was a month before Javy went to PR anyway.

 

We're talking across each other at this point, but to sum up. Puerto Rican Winter League numbers means less than nothing. Baez is a high risk prospect, he may flame out or he might be awesome, but we don't know any more about that than we did at the end of the season. The front office could do any number of things with Baez(send him to AAA, platoon him with Valbuena or LaStella/let Maddon shield him from bad matchups, give him everyday MLB PAs), but his winter league statistics won't change that plan, and neither does the addition of La Stella because the MLB team already has several quality non-Baez 2B options.

[George Hayduke]

Getting LaStella to be a reserve infielder and a rumor that's highly likely to be Boras trying to drum up interest in Drew don't really do much to indicate any change of heart with Baez.

 

You don't know that either of these are true. LaStella is here and it looks quite plausible that he could open the season as the starter. And while it's possible that the Drew rumors were fictions created by his agent, "highly likely" is an overreach, just like your last comment about a celebrity softball game.

 

The point is, those things and Javy's winter league K pileup have happened since Theo first stated the plan for him to be the 2015 2B starter. Therefore it's not right to present that September quote as the current gospel truth. I'm not saying Javy is hopeless - just that it is now plausible that he opens the season in AAA.

 

Javy will open the season in the majors. If that was the plan in early October, a month of winter league ball won't change that. Lester's acquisition and the acceleration of the rebuild may mean that Javy is on a shorter leash to start showing improvement in 2015, but for now they're planning on him being the 2B.

 

Like TT said, we can't really read too much into his PR numbers, other than to say that whatever he needs to fix, it isn't fixed yet. That's not to say there aren't good reasons for it or that he won't eventually make the adjustments. That fact that it's not fixed yet doesn't really make me any more worried than I was at the end of the season...it just means I'm still very worried.

[Guest]

LaStella could mean that they're thinking about trading Castro. It could mean they aren't confident in Bryant's fielding at 3B.

 

What it most likely means is they don't want to give Watkins 100+ AB's in a backup IF role.

[Guest]

Considering they de-rostered Watkins I think that's the strongest theory.

[Guest]

Also, as the roster is currently constructed, Javy's the backup SS. If he's spectacular-bad in ST, he could get sent to AAA. But he's likely going to open the season at second base in Chicago.

[biittner77]

Also, as the roster is currently constructed, Javy's the backup SS. If he's spectacular-bad in ST, he could get sent to AAA. But he's likely going to open the season at second base in Chicago.

 

That would mean they think Russell will be ready sooner rather than later, wouldn't it?

[Cubswin11]

Also, as the roster is currently constructed, Javy's the backup SS. If he's spectacular-bad in ST, he could get sent to AAA. But he's likely going to open the season at second base in Chicago.

 

That would mean they think Russell will be ready sooner rather than later, wouldn't it?

Don't think that has much to do with anything. Starlin should/will play almost every day, even if Baez were to some reason start in AAA, Valbuena, La Stella, and Alcantara could all play SS to some degree if needed in an emergency or for an off day for Castro here and there.

[George Hayduke]

Update on Javy. Last four games he is 3 for 18 with 3 K's. Updated line for him in the PWL through 15 games is .213 / .269 / .361. Through 67 PA's, K% is 35.8, BB% is 7.1, Contact% is 60.7.

[sneakypower]

Update on Javy. Contact% is 60.7.

http://media.giphy.com/media/xZv1drArGozD2/giphy.gif

[Sammy Sofa]

Update on Javy. Contact% is 60.7.

http://media.giphy.com/media/xZv1drArGozD2/giphy.gif

 

Yes.

 

Also reason #45691 that the digitally animated Simpsons is the worst. I miss those crazy, weird little off-model things they did.