Fowler

[David]

not gonna lie, i've caught myself dreaming on heyward tapping into power a little bit more and being a plus defensive CF to the point that he's like an 8 win player

[Tim]

not gonna lie, i've caught myself dreaming on heyward tapping into power a little bit more and being a plus defensive CF to the point that he's like an 8 win player

Oh yeah, definitely.

[Tim]

I'm also dreaming that the Cubs have a lineup with seven guys that could all reach 4-5 WAR.

 

Wait...that's real.

[David]

I'm also dreaming that the Cubs have a lineup with seven guys that could all reach 4-5 WAR.

 

Wait...that's real.

 

lol and the 8th guy actually has done it, even though he's not gonna again

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I'm also dreaming that the Cubs have a lineup with seven guys that could all reach 4-5 WAR.

 

Wait...that's real.

 

lol and the 8th guy actually has done it, even though he's not gonna again

Well, not with that attitude.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I'm also dreaming that the Cubs have a lineup with seven guys that could all reach 4-5 WAR.

 

Wait...that's real.

 

lol and the 8th guy actually has done it, even though he's not gonna again

 

He can get close if you include his framing runs.

[sneakypower]

I'm also dreaming that the Cubs have a lineup with seven guys that could all reach 4-5 WAR.

 

Wait...that's real.

the closest realistic estimates for 4 WAR...

 

Rizzo: 674 PA, .271/.369/.502, +5 Def (5 WAR)

Zobrist: 560 PA, .273/.356/.439, +3 Def

Russell: 575 PA, .260/.320/.425, +7 Def

Bryant: 658 PA, .263/.362/.485, +6 Def (6 WAR)

Schwarber: 586 PA, .255/.340/.500, -2 Def (C: 46 G / LF: 107 G)

Soler: 591 PA, .274/.361/.507, -3 Def

Heyward: 613 PA, .274/.352/.442, +10 Def (5 WAR)

 

the Soler one admittedly strains credulity; it's just pretty hard to make a bad fielding RF super-valuable unless he just lumbers up in a big way

[David]

i'm holding out hope that soler's defensive metrics from last year were somewhat of an aberration and that he's just bad instead of super really really bad

[Sammy Sofa]

Soler's lucky he's so pretty.

[David]

whenever i start to question or doubt jorge i just think of his ridiculous postseason and the few weeks before that where he just decided it was time to murder baseballs and pitchers. yep, that's the REAL jorge.

[Cubswin11]

i'm holding out hope that soler's defensive metrics from last year were somewhat of an aberration and that he's just bad instead of super really really bad

*I think* his arm is good enough for his limited other abilities, which I agree, were overblown last year that he shouldn't be all that negative of a defender going forward.

[Sammy Sofa]

whenever i start to question or doubt jorge i just think of his ridiculous postseason and the few weeks before that where he just decided it was time to murder baseballs and pitchers. yep, that's the REAL jorge.

 

THE WRONG COMEBACK KID GOT TRADED.

 

*Sobs*

[Bryants Disco Ball]

whenever i start to question or doubt jorge i just think of his ridiculous postseason and the few weeks before that where he just decided it was time to murder baseballs and pitchers. yep, that's the REAL jorge.

 

Yup. His command of the strike zone returned in big way.

[davell]

If what Olney says is correct and Dex can't find 2/20 out there, at some point, it does become feasible to bring him back and trade Soler + for the best pitching you can get, right?

[UMFan83]

Hell I'd pay 2/$20m for Fowler to simply be Soler's injury and cold weather replacement, and play 4th OF the rest of the time. I bet we could get him 300+ PAs in that role and really open up our options at the trade deadline.

 

I doubt he'd sign on for that role though, and really he deserves better.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

If what Olney says is correct and Dex can't find 2/20 out there, at some point, it does become feasible to bring him back and trade Soler + for the best pitching you can get, right?

 

Trade Coghlan, not Soler. Fowler is an upgrade and a much better roster fit than Coghlan, swapping Fowler for Soler doesn't really move the needle.

 

Also, with being a true CF, Schwarber catching/DHing, and Soler's proclivity for injury, odds are Dex would be able to get closer to 500 PA than 300 once the actual imperfect circumstances of the season play out.

[David]

If what Olney says is correct and Dex can't find 2/20 out there, at some point, it does become feasible to bring him back and trade Soler + for the best pitching you can get, right?

Pass.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

It's crazy how far the Fowler market has fallen. We had a lot of people on here in June, when he was awful, still willing to give him $15 per for four years.

 

Now, he can't even get $20 for two.

[Cubswin11]

Come back, Dex. Crazy he can't get 2/20, I'd be fine giving him 3/30 with opt outs. Edited February 10, 2016 by Cubswin11

[Cubswin11]

If what Olney says is correct and Dex can't find 2/20 out there, at some point, it does become feasible to bring him back and trade Soler + for the best pitching you can get, right?

 

Trade Coghlan, not Soler. Fowler is an upgrade and a much better roster fit than Coghlan, swapping Fowler for Soler doesn't really move the needle.

 

Also, with being a true CF, Schwarber catching/DHing, and Soler's proclivity for injury, odds are Dex would be able to get closer to 500 PA than 300 once the actual imperfect circumstances of the season play out.

I posted this on page 1 and yeah.... It's not hard to get there at all. And my assumption assumes perfect health, no poor performances, crazy platoon splits, etc.

 

There's roughly 1,944 PAs between the 3 OF spots for next year (4 PAs per game per 3 spots). Heyward at 600 drops it to 1,344, 500 for both Soler/Fowler drops it to 344, that means Schwarber catches about 35 games to get him to 500 PAs, which seems reasonable. There's also an additional 10 games in AL stadiums so DH adds about 40 PAs, if most of those are given to Schwarber/Soler that drops the games Schwarber needs to catch to about 25 games. It can be done fairly easily with those rough parameters.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

It's crazy how far the Fowler market has fallen. We had a lot of people on here in June, when he was awful, still willing to give him $15 per for four years.

 

Now, he can't even get $20 for two.

 

Are we sure it's fallen over folks were getting overexcited about a player playing well on the first decent Cubs team this decade?

 

He wasn't playing well at all during the time the discussion was going on, though.

[Tryptamine]

I can't believe the White Sox aren't all over Fowler. They got .1fWAR out of RF last year and he'd give them an instant 2.5 to 3fWAR upgrade. For 3/30 that's that's an incredible deal.

[David]

I can't believe the White Sox aren't all over Fowler. They got .1fWAR out of RF last year and he'd give them an instant 2.5 to 3fWAR upgrade. For 3/30 that's that's an incredible deal.

 

They're apparently hung up on the pick.

 

I am pretty surprised by how they've approached all the FA OF. I think they were a legit one away from having a real puncher's chance this season.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

There's a couple teams that have either gotten really silly with pick hoarding, or they're using that as an excuse to be cheap. The White Sox basically lose pick #50 by signing Fowler, that is barely worth anything. A couple million bucks max.

[toonsterwu]

Somewhat surprised so few teams have interest. Although the team I wondered about (the Nationals), I sort of get, as they are going through their MASN lawsuit right now. Still, a bunch of teams seem to make sense, including some bad teams that could take a dip on Fowler on a short deal and then see if they can trade him at the deadline.

 

Honestly, for example, with how much Maybin fell off the in the 2nd half, I mean, going after Fowler at that rate isn't the worst idea to boost their chances in the short term. They could probably even spin off Maybin for an asset to help.