Schwarber's Position

[Gilby]

Well, what say you?

 

Keep him at catcher where he'd theoretically have the most value, but we'd have to wait and there's more of an injury risk

 

OR

 

Move him to LF where he can stay healthy and we can enjoy the dongs and the walks relatively soon

[Sammy Sofa]

LFLFLFLFLFLFLFLFLFLFLFLFLF

 

DAT BAT needs to be here much sooner than if they try to shine a turd and keep him at catcher. Keep him at catcher and he's likely not up until, what, a year from now? Maybe longer? No way.

Edited May 30, 2015 by Sammy Sofa

[rawaction]

What's the chances the Cubs put him in LF after the deadline (assuming they don't upgrade there) and then work with him behind the plate all winter and spring and start him behind the plate in 2016?

[Cubswin11]

What's the chances the Cubs put him in LF after the deadline (assuming they don't upgrade there) and then work with him behind the plate all winter and spring and start him behind the plate in 2016?

This would be my ideal course of action

[dew1679666265]

Too easy to find good bats for LF and too hard to find bats behind the plate. if there's a chance he can catch, let him try.

[rawaction]

Too easy to find good bats for LF and too hard to find bats behind the plate. if there's a chance he can catch, let him try.

 

Yeah, I agree with that. But if there's a chance he can help this year, you let him try. And you can always move him back to C. Basically, he's catching from April to July, called up in July to play OF. Then catches October to December and again in April.

[dew1679666265]

Too easy to find good bats for LF and too hard to find bats behind the plate. if there's a chance he can catch, let him try.

 

Yeah, I agree with that. But if there's a chance he can help this year, you let him try. And you can always move him back to C. Basically, he's catching from April to July, called up in July to play OF. Then catches October to December and again in April.

 

I'm fine with that, if he actually is an upgrade over what we have/can have out there. I wouldn't want to hurt his development as a long-term catcher, though.

[Guest]

I'm not that confident he comes up this year and either hits or fields better than Coghlan.

[dew1679666265]

I'm not that confident he comes up this year and either hits or fields better than Coghlan.

 

Those are my feelings as well.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm not that confident he comes up this year and either hits or fields better than Coghlan.

 

Those are my feelings as well.

 

So what? Seems like there's a pretty good chance this team will be in a position to give a future hitting god a chance to adjust to the MLB sooner rather than later as opposed to having to make time for Chris Coghlan.

[dew1679666265]

I'm not that confident he comes up this year and either hits or fields better than Coghlan.

 

Those are my feelings as well.

 

So what? Seems like there's a pretty good chance this team will be in a position to give a future hitting god a chance to adjust to the MLB sooner rather than later as opposed to having to make time for Chris Coghlan.

 

If Coghlan's luck changes (currently .90 points below career average BABIP and only .10 points behind career average LD%), it's unlikely Schwarber outhits him. If Schwarber isn't going to outhit him and will probably be similar to slightly better in the field, there's no reason to force him into the ML OF - especially since he's far more valuable to the team being awesome with the bat as a catcher.

 

If there's enough reason to believe he can outhit Coghlan or a potential trade candidate, though, I wouldn't have a problem playing him in LF this season. I'm just pretty skeptical of that.

[Sammy Sofa]

I'm not that confident he comes up this year and either hits or fields better than Coghlan.

 

Those are my feelings as well.

 

So what? Seems like there's a pretty good chance this team will be in a position to give a future hitting god a chance to adjust to the MLB sooner rather than later as opposed to having to make time for Chris Coghlan.

 

If Coghlan's luck changes (currently .90 points below career average BABIP and only .10 points behind career average LD%), it's unlikely Schwarber outhits him. If Schwarber isn't going to outhit him and will probably be similar to slightly better in the field, there's no reason to force him into the ML OF - especially since he's far more valuable to the team being awesome with the bat as a catcher.

 

If there's enough reason to believe he can outhit Coghlan or a potential trade candidate, though, I wouldn't have a problem playing him in LF this season. I'm just pretty skeptical of that.

 

Call it a doom boner, but I really don't think this current team is likely to do much of anything in the postseason and I'd really hate to keep Schwarber from getting MLB time to make space for Coghlan, who likely has zero future with the team.

[Banedon]

LF

 

I want him to think about hitting dongs, and not about what pitch to call, or worrying about baserunners or whatever.

 

Dongs only.

[jersey cubs fan]

Is it really all that easy to find good lf bats?

[Guest]

Call it a doom boner, but I really don't think this current team is likely to do much of anything in the postseason and I'd really hate to keep Schwarber from getting MLB time to make space for Coghlan, who likely has zero future with the team.

 

Well calling Schwarber up this season is mostly a move to benefit the 2015 Cubs, even if you think he'll never play an inning at catcher in MLB he could still stand to work on OF defense and his bat probably has a tweak or two to work on. So if you're pessimistic about this year's postseason odds, then there's no urgency or immediate reason to bring up Schwarber.

 

If you do want to maximize the 2015 roster, there's a bunch of options. Coghlan, Alcantara, Baez, Schwarber, a trade, etc. Between them I don't think that Schwarber is the far and away best option(or even narrowly the best option) for 2015, so I'm not in a rush to throw him at LF. It's a bit of a cop out, but these types of decisions are what the front office is paid big dollars to ensure they get the best production, so if they do call up Schwarber we should be pretty confident that they lovelovelove his bat.

[CubInOK]

Is it really all that easy to find good lf bats?

According to fWAR, yes.

 

Strangely enough, for all the bitching we do about Coghlan's defense, UZR loves him right now. Coghlan is up to 0.8 fWAR, with that value almost exclusively coming from his defense.

[Sammy Sofa]

Call it a doom boner, but I really don't think this current team is likely to do much of anything in the postseason and I'd really hate to keep Schwarber from getting MLB time to make space for Coghlan, who likely has zero future with the team.

 

Well calling Schwarber up this season is mostly a move to benefit the 2015 Cubs, even if you think he'll never play an inning at catcher in MLB he could still stand to work on OF defense and his bat probably has a tweak or two to work on. So if you're pessimistic about this year's postseason odds, then there's no urgency or immediate reason to bring up Schwarber.

 

If you do want to maximize the 2015 roster, there's a bunch of options. Coghlan, Alcantara, Baez, Schwarber, a trade, etc. Between them I don't think that Schwarber is the far and away best option(or even narrowly the best option) for 2015, so I'm not in a rush to throw him at LF. It's a bit of a cop out, but these types of decisions are what the front office is paid big dollars to ensure they get the best production, so if they do call up Schwarber we should be pretty confident that they lovelovelove his bat.

 

I thought everyone did lovelovelove his bat.

 

And why wouldn't there be a reason to bring him up this year if they're not going to make a run? It seems like the argument is that he wouldn't necessarily be an upgrade because he'd likely have to adjust to the change, so why put that off? The reason I'd want him up working through that sooner rather than later is because I don't think they're going to be truly competitive later in the season.

[Guest]

Call it a doom boner, but I really don't think this current team is likely to do much of anything in the postseason and I'd really hate to keep Schwarber from getting MLB time to make space for Coghlan, who likely has zero future with the team.

 

Well calling Schwarber up this season is mostly a move to benefit the 2015 Cubs, even if you think he'll never play an inning at catcher in MLB he could still stand to work on OF defense and his bat probably has a tweak or two to work on. So if you're pessimistic about this year's postseason odds, then there's no urgency or immediate reason to bring up Schwarber.

 

If you do want to maximize the 2015 roster, there's a bunch of options. Coghlan, Alcantara, Baez, Schwarber, a trade, etc. Between them I don't think that Schwarber is the far and away best option(or even narrowly the best option) for 2015, so I'm not in a rush to throw him at LF. It's a bit of a cop out, but these types of decisions are what the front office is paid big dollars to ensure they get the best production, so if they do call up Schwarber we should be pretty confident that they lovelovelove his bat.

 

I thought everyone did lovelovelove his bat.

 

And why wouldn't there be a reason to bring him up this year if they're not going to make a run? It seems like the argument is that he wouldn't necessarily be an upgrade because he'd likely have to adjust to the change, so why put that off? The reason I'd want him up working through that sooner rather than later is because I don't think they're going to be truly competitive later in the season.

 

What has you thinking that?

 

The playoff odds still have them more likely than not in the postseason (both BP and Fangraphs) and if they're in that position, they are more than likely going to add reinforcements.

[Sammy Sofa]

It's all gut, baby. I just don't think anything's happening this year.

[Guest]

Call it a doom boner, but I really don't think this current team is likely to do much of anything in the postseason and I'd really hate to keep Schwarber from getting MLB time to make space for Coghlan, who likely has zero future with the team.

 

Well calling Schwarber up this season is mostly a move to benefit the 2015 Cubs, even if you think he'll never play an inning at catcher in MLB he could still stand to work on OF defense and his bat probably has a tweak or two to work on. So if you're pessimistic about this year's postseason odds, then there's no urgency or immediate reason to bring up Schwarber.

 

If you do want to maximize the 2015 roster, there's a bunch of options. Coghlan, Alcantara, Baez, Schwarber, a trade, etc. Between them I don't think that Schwarber is the far and away best option(or even narrowly the best option) for 2015, so I'm not in a rush to throw him at LF. It's a bit of a cop out, but these types of decisions are what the front office is paid big dollars to ensure they get the best production, so if they do call up Schwarber we should be pretty confident that they lovelovelove his bat.

 

I thought everyone did lovelovelove his bat.

 

And why wouldn't there be a reason to bring him up this year if they're not going to make a run? It seems like the argument is that he wouldn't necessarily be an upgrade because he'd likely have to adjust to the change, so why put that off? The reason I'd want him up working through that sooner rather than later is because I don't think they're going to be truly competitive later in the season.

 

To clarify, by 'lovelovelove' I mean they believe he'll be an impact bat almost immediately.

 

Not calling up Schwarber this season(or not doing so until September) isn't stalling or putting off his development. Yes there's adjustments he'll have to make at the MLB level, but there's also those that need to happen at the MiLB level too. If he's going to play LF in Chicago then he should probably play it for a few games in AA/AAA, he should probably prove he can carry his AA performance forward to AAA(I'm optimistic but there's a chance more advanced breaking balls make the K rate creep up to noteworthy levels), etc. Schwarber's clearly a fast mover but he also was also only drafted less than a year ago.

[Sammy Sofa]

Well, yeah, I obviously want them to move him to LF in the minors, too. I thought that was just assumed with anyone who ultimately wants him in LF.

[Guest]

It's all gut, baby. I just don't think anything's happening this year.

 

Stop doing that. This is like a full season version of the game thread stuff.

[Guest]

Well, yeah, I obviously want them to move him to LF in the minors, too. I thought that was just assumed with anyone who ultimately wants him in LF.

 

The point there is that it takes time and games to do that. Schwarber was a college catcher with 36 pro games in the OF(none at AA or AAA) and doesn't have much in the way of physical gifts to fall back on. This isn't Baez getting a few games to see the difference between SS and 2B for a week or two before coming up, it's a larger shift. Especially considering the costs of taking development time away from him at catcher if they still think he can be at least a partial regular there.

[Sammy Sofa]

Well, yeah, I obviously want them to move him to LF in the minors, too. I thought that was just assumed with anyone who ultimately wants him in LF.

 

The point there is that it takes time and games to do that. Schwarber was a college catcher with 36 pro games in the OF(none at AA or AAA) and doesn't have much in the way of physical gifts to fall back on. This isn't Baez getting a few games to see the difference between SS and 2B for a week or two before coming up, it's a larger shift. Especially considering the costs of taking development time away from him at catcher if they still think he can be at least a partial regular there.

 

Of course we're talking about this taking time; isn't the whole idea that he'd come up this year that it would be in September?

[Sammy Sofa]

It's all gut, baby. I just don't think anything's happening this year.

 

Stop doing that. This is like a full season version of the game thread stuff.

 

I don't think they're terrible or going to disastrously implode or tanking or any of that nonsense; I just think the team is too flawed to make a real run at anything.