Cubs trade Straily/Valbuena for Dexter Fowler

[Guest]

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.

[Rob]

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.

[CubsInNC]

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?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Maybe, just maybe, the defensive metrics are wrong and/or it's an artifact of the parks he played in. Or maybe the Cubs think they've seen a flaw that they can correct in his defense (something about playing too shallow)?

 

But if not, then Coghlan/Fowler has the potential to be *really* bad.

[imb]

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?

 

shut up vinestal

[KrisBryantisaBeast]

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?

 

Not really.

[CubsInNC]

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?

 

Not really.

 

And that's my point.

[Tryptamine]

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.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

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.

 

I'd rather have Sweeney, Szczur, and maybe teaching Christian Villanueva to play OF over Lake.

[Andy]

holy [expletive] this is colby rasmus

 

making me love fowler even more

 

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

I hope for his sake that woman next to him is a relative.

[Cubswin11]

FWIW, Fowler doesn't have his contract settled for this year yet. Fowler submitted $10.8 mil and Astros offered $8.5 before he was traded.

 

http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2015/1/16/7577725/astros-arbitration-roundup-dexter-fowler-marwin-gonzalez-exchange

[Rob]

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.

 

I'd rather have Sweeney, Szczur, and maybe teaching Christian Villanueva to play OF over Lake.

 

It's time for Lake to learn how to pitch. I think he could be a great 25th man.

[rawaction]

holy [expletive] this is colby rasmus

 

making me love fowler even more

 

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

I hope for his sake that woman next to him is a relative.

 

She doesn't even have lips negating her only value as a non-relative. She's Ryan Theriot after he stopped getting lucky with BABIP and still played SS.

[sneakypower]

could we not do this?

[Guest]

could we not do this?

 

the trade or whatever the hell is going on in the last few posts?

[Sammy Sofa]

No, let them continue. They got this. The pros always do.

[Vinestal]

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?

 

shut up vinestal

Its a nice shirt.

[Sammy Sofa]

http://mrwgifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Shake-My-Head-Reaction-Gif.gif

[Derwood]

C - Montero (L)

1B - Rizzo (L)

2B - Javy? ®

3B - Bryant ®

SS - Castro ®

LF - Coghlan (L)

CF - Fowler (S)

RF - Soler ®

 

Pretty nice lineup flexibility

[Thrilho]

Fangraphs really put the B team on this one.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/astros-and-cubs-complete-swap-to-fill-current-needs/

 

 

"It’s fair to wonder why the team needs him if they aren’t going to compete this year."

 

"The Cubs do need pitching. So perhaps it was surprising for them to send Dan Straily in the deal"

 

"At the very least, Straily can be an above-average starter"

[Guest]

Yeah, I like Eno Sarris, but he did not seem to be at all in tune with anything about the Cubs' motivations for making that deal. I can respect his Straily optimism though.

[abuck1220]

i would disagree that straily's floor is "above average starter."

[Guest]

i would disagree that straily's floor is "above average starter."

 

At the very least, Straily can be an above-average starter.

 

He said he can be, not is. I would interpret those words to mean that his ceiling is at least that (in other words, it might be higher).

[Thrilho]

Yeah, I like Eno Sarris, but he did not seem to be at all in tune with anything about the Cubs' motivations for making that deal. I can respect his Straily optimism though.

 

 

I just think Sarris's view of Straily's floor is pretty optimistic, and it's to the point where he seems to believe that Straily was a more important piece than Valbuena. He spends 4 paragraphs discussing Straily vs one on Valbuena. And the Valbuena part is mostly just bagging him on his splits against lefties.

 

I think the volume of posts here bemoaning the loss of Valbuena vs the ones bemoaning the loss of Straily shows that his valuation of the two players varies significantly from the norm.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Thrilho

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

straily is terrible, how have people not realized this yet.