Joc

[Brian]

Cubs are signing Joc.

[Banedon]

Wait.

 

Are they allowed to sign people I've heard of?

[Rob]

Assuming it doesn't cost much, it's a solid move. He was replacement-level last year, but IDGAF about 2020 stats given all that was going on. Prior to that he looked like an average or slightly-above average regular. Young enough worth taking a gamble on with a short term deal.

[Banedon]

I mean, he's basically just Schwarber again, right?

[Bertz]

Joc is mostly just a fun house mirror version of Schwarber. My guess is when we dig in deeper on certain aspects (high fastballs?) he fairs much better and thus compliments the current lineup better.

[champaignchris]

I mean, he's basically just Schwarber again, right?

 

They have bizarrely similar career stats and were born 11 months apart. They’re basically the same players.

[CubinNY]

Assuming it doesn't cost much, it's a solid move. He was replacement-level last year, but IDGAF about 2020 stats given all that was going on. Prior to that he looked like an average or slightly-above average regular. Young enough worth taking a gamble on with a short term deal.

Somewhere about three weeks ago on a Washington Nationals board with the least terrible faction of National fans on the internet, someone made that exact post about Kyle.

[We Got The Whole 9]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

[Derwood]

So we're back to having our big offseason acquisition be a Jeromy Burnitz/Jacque Jones/Milton Bradley/Marlon Byrd type of "eh, he's a guy" outfielder

[squally1313]

He's fine, whatever, I'm already resigned to paying attention to Javy/Happ/Kyle/Contreras/Rizzo and then seeing what former awesome Cub is coming to town. It's bothering me a lot how they went out and found essentially a Schwarber clone to save a rounding error on the books. Just...keep the Cubs legend who clearly wanted to stay here.

[jersey cubs fan]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

[ConstableRabbit]

I like this move. In LF he’s going to grade out well (speed, arm) and this gives us one of the best defense OFs in MLB imo. The bat is basically Schwarber, but he will provide more value overall at a lower cost.

[squally1313]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

 

God, I want to call out the word 'significantly' there, but....you're probably right. This all sucks.

[SaorsaDaonnan]

Does anybody remember what Schwarber’s arb projection was? I was thinking 8 vs Joc’s 7.

 

Unless you really distrust arb projections, seems like the comp should be Schwarber for arb vs Joc as FA, rather than vs Schwarber’s 10 from the Nats.

[ChiCubsFan]

7-8 range

[SaorsaDaonnan]

7-8 range

 

Thx

[jersey cubs fan]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

 

God, I want to call out the word 'significantly' there, but....you're probably right. This all sucks.

It is significant in terms of the payroll Jed is being allowed to spend. Jed isn't the problem here is the only point I'm making.

[Andy]

Joc is mostly just a fun house mirror version of Schwarber. My guess is when we dig in deeper on certain aspects (high fastballs?) he fairs much better and thus compliments the current lineup better.

Supposedly his contact profile is slightly better. And he's likely going to be better in LF than Schwarber. So it's a small upgrade, I guess. Personally, I've always liked Joc, so this is all fine.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

7-8 range

My hatred level is in the Kolten Wong range.

[SaorsaDaonnan]

Well, the way things have been going lately, at least they didn’t announce a move to Iowa to play under a 400 foot statue of Joseph de Maistre....

 

....though yes, the day is young.....

[We Got The Whole 9]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

Does anybody remember what Schwarber’s arb projection was? I was thinking 8 vs Joc’s 7.

 

Unless you really distrust arb projections, seems like the comp should be Schwarber for arb vs Joc as FA, rather than vs Schwarber’s 10 from the Nats.

Yeah this was my point. Sure he's getting significantly less than Schwarbers Nats contract but the arbitration estimates for Kyle were right around this amount.

 

And he might also suck in LF. His foot speed is dropping every year, he's always had bad grades on his reads and jumps. He should also be entirely unplayable vs LHP.

[ConstableRabbit]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

 

God, I want to call out the word 'significantly' there, but....you're probably right. This all sucks.

Hey I loved Schwarbs too but having to spend 40%+ more for a guy who will likely add less value to the team is just dumb.

[ConstableRabbit]

He gets 1/7

 

Jed sucks

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

Does anybody remember what Schwarber’s arb projection was? I was thinking 8 vs Joc’s 7.

 

Unless you really distrust arb projections, seems like the comp should be Schwarber for arb vs Joc as FA, rather than vs Schwarber’s 10 from the Nats.

Yeah this was my point. Sure he's getting significantly less than Schwarbers Nats contract but the arbitration estimates for Kyle were right around this amount.

 

And he might also suck in LF. His foot speed is dropping every year, he's always had bad grades on his reads and jumps. He should also be entirely unplayable vs LHP.

If the Cubs knew they could have gotten Schwarber for $8m, and instead replaced him with Joc for close to the same money, don’t you think that says something about the FO’s assessment of Schwarber moving forward? Hate ownership, fine; but this FO is still very good and knows a guy like Schwarber as well as anyone. My take is that they just didn’t have a lot of faith that he’d be good in 2021.

[squally1313]

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

 

God, I want to call out the word 'significantly' there, but....you're probably right. This all sucks.

It is significant in terms of the payroll Jed is being allowed to spend. Jed isn't the problem here is the only point I'm making.

 

Sure, re: Jed. And it's significant in terms of it being a large percentage of his allowed payroll. But the implication there for overall money available means we're screwed either way.

[squally1313]

He's probably slightly better than Schwarber and he's getting significantly less money. It's a perfectly cromulent move all on its own.

Does anybody remember what Schwarber’s arb projection was? I was thinking 8 vs Joc’s 7.

 

Unless you really distrust arb projections, seems like the comp should be Schwarber for arb vs Joc as FA, rather than vs Schwarber’s 10 from the Nats.

Yeah this was my point. Sure he's getting significantly less than Schwarbers Nats contract but the arbitration estimates for Kyle were right around this amount.

 

And he might also suck in LF. His foot speed is dropping every year, he's always had bad grades on his reads and jumps. He should also be entirely unplayable vs LHP.

If the Cubs knew they could have gotten Schwarber for $8m, and instead replaced him with Joc for close to the same money, don’t you think that says something about the FO’s assessment of Schwarber moving forward? Hate ownership, fine; but this FO is still very good and knows a guy like Schwarber as well as anyone. My take is that they just didn’t have a lot of faith that he’d be good in 2021.

 

I mean, are they? Time will tell on this deal, but my issue with this kind of argument is that you could make it in response to virtually any transaction made and kinda eliminates the point of even discussing it. Maybe Jed just thought Darvish is going to suck. Of course they have access to information we don't and expertise we don't. From everything I can tell, these dudes are pretty much exactly the same.