Cubs offseason chit chat...

[Tryptamine]

If  move doesn't get done by the end of this weekend, I'm officially going to be in greatly worried mode. 

[LBiittner]

11 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I don’t agree with this. If Happ were asked to move over to 1st base he would move over. I would imagine it would be easier for him to pick up than it was Harper. And Harper did fine. So why wouldn’t Happ? At least he did play the infield. But unless they signed a big bat for the outfield or traded for one, I don’t see the purpose. 

Disagree.

Harper signed for an extremely long time. He also has had injury history.

Happ is playing for his next deal to come.

Totally different circumstances.

[17 Seconds]

3 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

If  move doesn't get done by the end of this weekend, I'm officially going to be in greatly worried mode. 

almost nothing has happened outside of ohtani and soto (which are greatly disappointing). i don't see what there is to worry about. it sucks that this offseason is going to be about depth and not stars, but moves are obviously coming. just not the ones we wanted.

[Rob]

1 minute ago, LBiittner said:

People? No.

I did mention ballplayer egos.

Happ at first. Might as well put lefthanded fielding tauchman at third

 

This isn't trying to sort out which of Jeter or Arod plays SS. It's Ian Happ. And if Ian Happ has such an ego that he fights a move to 1B, his intractibility would hurt his free agent market more than the position switch would.

He'd move. He might not be happy about it. But there's no doubt he'd do it.

 

[LBiittner]

I remember Ron Santo switching to second base because Bill Melton played third. LOL.

 

[Irrelevant Dude]

Lost in the conversation about Ian Happ playing 1B, he is 6 ft tall even (at best) at a position where height matters.  I think any discussion of him moving to 1B long term is a non-starter.

[LBiittner]

3 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Lost in the conversation about Ian Happ playing 1B, he is 6 ft tall even (at best) at a position where height matters.  I think any discussion of him moving to 1B long term is a non-starter.

That's why Naylor worries me.

The human fire hydrant

[Jason Ross]

3 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

That's why Naylor worries me.

The human fire hydrant

Regardless of his height, Josh Naylor has been a positive defender. He's a +9 OAA and a +2 DRS. I think height can help, but height is not as necessary as we like to see. Naylor doesn't have a great appearance, and yet, he's a good defender. He moves pretty well for his size.

[LBiittner]

Never seen him, can't imagine anyone 5'11 over 250lbs doing a deep stretch pulling one out of the dirt like bellinger.

Quote: Naylor is one twinklie away from becoming Cecil fielder

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, LBiittner said:

Never seen him, can't imagine anyone 5'11 over 250lbs doing a deep stretch pulling one out of the dirt like bellinger.

Quote: Naylor is one twinklie away from becoming Cecil fielder

Which is fair, I haven't seen him either. But OAA and DRS have, and they think he's pretty good, so I think we both have to accept that they're probably far closer to the truth than our preconceived notions of what someone who looks like Josh Naylor can do, too. He doesn't look like your traditional first baseman, but whatever it is he does, it seemingly works well enough for the time being.

[Irrelevant Dude]

4 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I think height can help, but height is not as necessary as we like to see.

It isn't absolutely necessary, but you don't take a guy from another position where he is a solid defender (even if that position is Left Field) and put him at 1B when he is right-handed and somewhat deficient in height, all on top of never having played the position before.  Naylor is a guy who pretty much HAS to play 1B, because there is nowhere else he can go.  That is not Happ's situation.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

1:31, 3:40, 6:35, and 10:40 are all defensive plays

 

Also let's not worry ourselves too much that the 2028 or 2030 version of Naylor might not be a viable 1B, he has 2 years to FA and extending 1B(*especially* non-elite bat 1B) is not a good idea as a general rule to begin with.

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

It isn't absolutely necessary, but you don't take a guy from another position where he is a solid defender (even if that position is Left Field) and put him at 1B when he is right-handed and somewhat deficient in height, all on top of never having played the position before.  Naylor is a guy who pretty much HAS to play 1B, because there is nowhere else he can go.  That is not Happ's situation.

Yeah, I'd be a little skeptical of Happ there. That said, he has played there before. He's athletic enough to where you'd assume he'd probably figure it out just fine. I wouldn't argue that Happ belongs at 1b, and I think it's very unlikely the Cubs wait out the Bellinger market, pay him like a CF'er and then move him to LF, anyways.

[LBiittner]

That's fair.

I do believe bellinger ability probably made hoerner and swanson fielding numbers look better.

Heck belli probably helped madrigal look better

[Rob]

Carlos Santana is listed pretty generously at 5'11" and 215 lbs, and he's always been a heck of a defender at 1B.

Height can help cover up some deficiencies, but in so far as there might be a minimum height necessary in order to be adequate, I think only Nick Madrigal would be disqualified on the current roster.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

That's fair.

I do believe bellinger ability probably made hoerner and swanson fielding numbers look better.

Heck belli probably helped madrigal look better

Bellinger played about 30% of the team's innings at 1B, whatever impact he did have was on the margins.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

4 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

That's fair.

I do believe bellinger ability probably made hoerner and swanson fielding numbers look better.

Heck belli probably helped madrigal look better

Lol, come on. 

[Rob]

Just now, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Bellinger played about 30% of the team's innings at 1B, whatever impact he did have was on the margins.

And for that matter, he rated as a 0 by OAA and RAA, and a 0.3 by UZR. Only DRS saw him as particularly valuable, at 5 runs.

[LBiittner]

4 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Bellinger played about 30% of the team's innings at 1B, whatever impact he did have was on the margins.

Yep. For about 50 games he's a gold glover. LOL

[Rcal10]

49 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

Disagree.

Harper signed for an extremely long time. He also has had injury history.

Happ is playing for his next deal to come.

Totally different circumstances.

I don’t like the idea of Happ at 1st. But if the Cubs  got a big bat that played the corner outfield and needed him to move to 1st, he is moving to first, ego and all. 

[Bull]

5 hours ago, Derwood said:

Clearly we just need to make PCA our third baseman. 

PCA is a nincompoop.

[17 Seconds]

35 minutes ago, LBiittner said:

Never seen him, can't imagine anyone 5'11 over 250lbs doing a deep stretch pulling one out of the dirt like bellinger.

Quote: Naylor is one twinklie away from becoming Cecil fielder

you really need to stop with the fat jokes

[Rob]

3 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

you really need to stop with the fat jokes

Or the generally rude and dismissive responses in general. This isn't a Facebook comments section.

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 minute ago, LBiittner said:

I do believe bellinger ability probably made hoerner and swanson fielding numbers look better.

There were times when Bellinger tried to do TOO much at first base.  For example, ranging really far to his right and turning what would have been a semi-routine play for Hoerner into a difficult play for Bellinger and the pitcher covering first.  Those are plays he would probably learn to let go with more experience, but regardless, you aren't maximizing his value if you are using him at first base full-time.

[LBiittner]

33 minutes ago, Rob said:

Or the generally rude and dismissive responses in general. This isn't a Facebook comments section.

My apologies to all.