Cubs trade Straily/Valbuena for Dexter Fowler

[Rod Becks Ghost]

This is not a lateral move. It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B and it shifts the expected production of Valbuena to center, which was a major question mark as of yesterday. It's a fantastic move, IMO.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

This is not a lateral move. It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B and it shifts the expected production of Valbuena to center, which was a major question mark as of yesterday. It's a fantastic move, IMO.

 

If CF was a hole then, then 2b is the same hole now.

[Sammy Sofa]

It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B

 

Nope.

[Rod Becks Ghost]

It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B

 

Nope.

 

Then, who is the third baseman? Find it hard to believe they'd start actually trying and then throw Olt out there. He can't even see!

[Rod Becks Ghost]

This is not a lateral move. It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B and it shifts the expected production of Valbuena to center, which was a major question mark as of yesterday. It's a fantastic move, IMO.

 

If CF was a hole then, then 2b is the same hole now.

 

Javy Baez is gonna show the damn world, man. He's just lulling opposing pitchers into a false sense of security.

[Sammy Sofa]

It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B

 

Nope.

 

Then, who is the third baseman? Find it hard to believe they'd start actually trying and then throw Olt out there. He can't even see!

 

They'll prop up an empty uniform on a broomstick at 3B if it means they get more Bryant-control. He's simply not starting the season with the Cubs.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

They would bring in Ian Stewart for two weeks before they'd bring up Bryant on Opening Day, unless he suddenly signs an extension he has shown no interest in signing.

[Guest]

The trade off of a full extra year of team control by keeping him down for 2 weeks is worth it. I don't care if they put Josh Vitters, Mike Olt, or whoever is singing the 7th inning stretch for those 2 weeks, as long is it isn't Kris Bryant.

[Guest]

The trade off of a full extra year of team control by keeping him down for 2 weeks is worth it. I don't care if they put Josh Vitters, Mike Olt, or whoever is singing the 7th inning stretch for those 2 weeks, as long is it isn't Kris Bryant.

Isn't it more like 6 weeks?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

The trade off of a full extra year of team control by keeping him down for 2 weeks is worth it. I don't care if they put Josh Vitters, Mike Olt, or whoever is singing the 7th inning stretch for those 2 weeks, as long is it isn't Kris Bryant.

Isn't it more like 6 weeks?

 

Nope. It's roughly 10 days for a year of control. It used to be about six weeks for super-2, but now it's more like half a year.

[Guest]

The trade off of a full extra year of team control by keeping him down for 2 weeks is worth it. I don't care if they put Josh Vitters, Mike Olt, or whoever is singing the 7th inning stretch for those 2 weeks, as long is it isn't Kris Bryant.

Isn't it more like 6 weeks?

 

Nope.

 

A year of service time is equal to 172 days, and there are normally around 183 total days in the major league calendar. This means that if a team wants to keep a prospect from accruing a full year of service time, they simply need to leave that player in the minors for around 15-20 days out of the entire season. For example, the Rays left Evan Longoria in the minors for the first two weeks of the 2008 season; as a result, if Longoria hadn’t signed his long-term contract, he would have been under team control through the 2014 season instead of the 2013 season. Technically, this demotion could happen at any point of the year, but it’s most common for teams to leave a prospect in the minors for the first month or so of the season before calling them up.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/pri...ime-super-two/

[craig]

Structuring a lineup with some OBP on top might be nice. Cubs haven't had a serious OBP-guy at leadoff very often.

 

Depending on how left and 2B shake out, it's possible that one of those spots could provide a decent OBP guy batting 2nd, too. La Stella, Coghlan, and Denorfia all profile as guys who *might* be pretty solid OBP guys, and might kind of fit into 2nd slot. Not sure which of them will be any good this year, or get to play much. But on a given day, fair chance that one of those three might be in the lineup.

*La Stella was a .407-OBP minor-league career, and his .328-OBP for Atlanta is still well above league average.

*Denorfia stunk last year, but was .335-OBP or better the previous four years, .331 career.

*Coghlan was .352 last year and .340 career.

 

I think Transmogrified Tiger made a good point about more stability in terms of expectations. Offensively, Fowler gives some stability to one of the three OF spots, and leadoff and the front of the batting order. Alcantara might do very well this year, but there's also the chance that he'd be a black hole offensively. If he's good, there are lots of places for him to get AB: maybe CF (with Fowler to left; maybe LF; maybe 2B is Baez doesn't earn it; maybe 3B until Bryant is ready.

 

I don't know how 2B will play, but La Stella, Baez, and Alcantara provide an interesting pool. Rather diverse profiles.

 

I think this also makes it a little easier to send Alcantara down, if he looks pretty rough. The way the roster stood, you almost had to play Alcantara in CF, whether he looked improved or not. Now, perhaps easier to send him down if he's really best served with more Iowa time.

[Deeg]

This is not a lateral move. It likely means Bryant will be the opening day 3B and it shifts the expected production of Valbuena to center, which was a major question mark as of yesterday. It's a fantastic move, IMO.

 

There's no way in Hell Bryant is the opening day 3B - this has zero impact on that. What it possibly does suggest is that the Cubs are committed to giving Bryant every chance to prove he can stick at 3B.

[davell]

My guess is Alcantara gets two weeks of full time starts at 3B. If Javy starts the year off in Iowa, then LaStella starts at 2B or Alcantara does, if Olt looks like he's not completely blind.

 

Either way, KB will be up quick as hell.

[Deeg]

I think the smartest move is to give Olt the chance to prove he has some semblance of value by letting him start for those weeks, assuming he shows anything at all in spring training.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

My guess is Alcantara gets two weeks of full time starts at 3B. If Javy starts the year off in Iowa, then LaStella starts at 2B or Alcantara does, if Olt looks like he's not completely blind.

 

Either way, KB will be up quick as hell.

 

Now I'm having that fantasy again where Bryant has a Longoria-like rookie year and we're the 2008 Devil Rays.

[Sammy Sofa]

Olt will suck. They just need him for a couple weeks because he's a breathing sack of meat and then he will vanish as if he never existed.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I think the smartest move is to give Olt the chance to prove he has some semblance of value by letting him start for those weeks, assuming he shows anything at all in spring training.

 

Even though I understand the baseball reasons for the move and I like any small upgrade, I hate this trade because it means I'm going to have to hear people speak positively about giving Olt a chance for the next three months.

[Fro]

If we're really going to try to compete it doesn't make any sense to forfeit a couple weeks worth of wins because we're worried about an extra year of control for Bryant (which only costs coughing up the money to Boras).

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If we're really going to try to compete it doesn't make any sense to forfeit a couple weeks worth of wins because we're worried about an extra year of control for Bryant (which only costs coughing up the money to Boras).

 

Two weeks of Mike Trout over a replacement level CF isn't quite worth a full win. And Kris Bryant, bless his heart, isn't Mike Trout.

 

I am all about squeezing out tiny edges, but there's just nothing to this. You just end up paying dozens of millions of dollars for half a win, at best.

[SouthSideRyan]

Ken Rosenthal:

 

#Cubs didn't love giving up two years of control on Valbuena plus STraily for one year of Fowler. But they had more IF depth than OF depth.

 

#Cubs also valued Valbuena's on-base ability -they need more such players - but Bryant's ascent would have made him expendable by June.

 

I'm a little concerned that this isn't the first time I've seen Bryant's timeline listed as June.

[SouthSideRyan]

Passan brought up that if Fowler has a halfway decent year, he'll net us a comp pick.

 

It's cloooooose. $15m or whatever? I think he'd pass on that, maybe?

 

I believe it was like 16.1 this year. He can probably get a 4 year deal with a repeat of this past year.

[SouthSideRyan]

holy [expletive] this is colby rasmus

 

making me love fowler even more

 

http://i.imgur.com/tPycaCm.jpg

 

I would trade all the Luis Valbuenas in the world to avoid this man.

 

 

I don't care what his politics are. Is he good at baseball?

 

I do care about that mustache though.

[SouthSideRyan]

Assuming a Castillo for minor leaguers trade, the roster is pretty well set for position players (post 4/20), I'd think.

 

C: Montero

1B: Rizzo

2B: Baez

3B: Bryant

SS: Castro

LF: Coghlan

CF: Fowler

RF: Soler

 

C: Ross

IF: Alcantara

IF: La Stella

OF: Denorfia

OF: Sweeney

 

What else could happen? I guess Lake could conceivably beat out one of the OF's. Olt will likely make the roster to play 3B until Bryant's 10 days have passed - he could conceivably do a good enough job to stay on the roster afterwards. Baez could blow chunks during ST and get sent down, opening up an IF spot.

 

I'm not sure I see any other possibilities, though.

 

I'd much rather have Lake over Sweeney. Sweeney's only appeal was his ability to play CF and with Fowler and Alcantara, there is no longer a need for that.

 

What is Lake's appeal?

[craig]

Who knows what they're going to do about 2B/3B at the start of the season. My guess is they don't know themselves.

 

Baez, Alcantara, La Stella, and possibly Olt. Four guys now competing for two starting spots, and either 3 or 4 roster spots.

 

Of those four, one could easily argue that Baez, Alcantara, and certainly Olt really belong in the minors improving their offense and earning another chance.

 

The other oddity is that Alcantara has played hardly any pro 3B, and not sure La Stella has either. Not sure how ready they'll be defensively to start the year at 3B.

 

I wonder whether in absence of Valbuena whether they might not sign some backup 3B. I think this would be the kind of open-opportunity situation that the agent for any non-roster guy or a comeback-from-injury guy would be on the phone calling about.

 

Not sure how many people are in the Cubs complex at Mesa these days. But if I was La Stella, I'd be down there begging a couple of guys, one to stand on 1B and the other to hit grounders and choppers and bunt, and get in all the 3B practice, throwing especially, that I could get.