Van Buren to the Red Sox

[don_kessinger_was_good]

Don, weren't you one of JVB's biggest fans?

 

Biggest fan, no; liked him, yes. I'm most angry about moving him for nothing to clear out a 40-man slot, while simultaneously protecting two low-ceiling catchers (Reyes and Soto) and a worthless slug of a player like Macias. JVB showed enough the last two years to keep him as the "shuttle reliever" between Iowa and Chicago should any injuries develop in the Cubs pen, as he has options left.

 

Yet another bad roster management decision by Hendry, just like Sisco last year. He'll likely justify this one by "well, I got a PTBNL this time for JVB, instead of just losing him to Rule 5", which is of course, ridiculous.

[abuck1220]

JVB was released by another team for a reason.

 

man, i hate these, 'if a gm does it, it must be right' statements. lots of good players get released, waived, dumped, skipped over in the draft, etc. gm's are not infallible.

[YearofDaCubs]

The way the 40 man roster has been managed the past two years has been questionable.

[Guest]

Van Buran has more value than Macias and if Macias is still on the roster for opening day I have no idea what Hendry sees as value.

What Hendry sees as value is the same thing that smells like Meryl Streep.

 

(To anyone who gets that reference: I salute your nerdiness.)

[USSoccer]

The way the 40 man roster has been managed the past two years has been questionable.

 

Oh absolutely it has been, and i think it comes down to Hendry's love of toolsy players, and thusly protecting undeserving, high potential players too early at the risk of losing more polished prospects. That leaves out the whole issue of wasting roster space on redundant players like we did last season. IIRC at one point we had 5 middle IF on the 25 man roster. Five! That should never, ever happen on a "contending" ballclubs unless you're the yankees and you have ARod and Jeter as 2 of them.

[USSoccer]

Van Buran has more value than Macias and if Macias is still on the roster for opening day I have no idea what Hendry sees as value.

What Hendry sees as value is the same thing that smells like Meryl Streep.

 

(To anyone who gets that reference: I salute your nerdiness.)

 

I get it. I guess I'm a nerd.

[Guest]

Van Buran has more value than Macias and if Macias is still on the roster for opening day I have no idea what Hendry sees as value.

What Hendry sees as value is the same thing that smells like Meryl Streep.

 

(To anyone who gets that reference: I salute your nerdiness.)

 

I get it. I guess I'm a nerd.

Welcome to the club. Excelsior! (I think I've spent too much time watching my Simpsons DVD sets...)

[NCCubFan]

I might be wrong, but I don't there is a 25 man roster in the offseason

You're not wrong. There is a 40 man roster in the offseason, but not 25. The 25 man roster is from the beginning of the season up until rosters expand on Sept. 1.

[Evers2Tinker2Chance]

first off i cant believe my log in still worked its been a long time!! Thanks for not closing my account Tim.

 

quick question. What is the perpose of protecting some earlier than you would have to. For example i thought that would could have kept Dope off the 40 man for another year, so why put him on if hes not gonna make the team next year out of camp?

[NCCubFan]

quick question. What is the perpose of protecting some earlier than you would have to. For example i thought that would could have kept Dope off the 40 man for another year, so why put him on if hes not gonna make the team next year out of camp?

Because if he's not protected he could be taken by another team in the Rule 5 draft (see: Sisco, Andy).

[CubinNY]

quick question. What is the perpose of protecting some earlier than you would have to. For example i thought that would could have kept Dope off the 40 man for another year, so why put him on if hes not gonna make the team next year out of camp?

Because if he's not protected he could be taken by another team in the Rule 5 draft (see: Sisco, Andy).

 

But there is no way Dope sticks on a big league team next year.

[Diffusion]

The real lesson to be learnt from this Van Buren trade is that you have to construct your 40-man roster properly.

 

Over the last few years, Hendry has made a number of 40-man roster decisions that have been highly questionable at best.

 

In November 2003, he purchased the contracts of Carlos Vasquez and Ronny Cedeno.

 

Vasquez was about to turn 21, and was coming off a first season at Lansing (Low-A) where, coming off Tommy John surgery, he'd thrown 137.1 IP of 3.74 ERA ball (136 hits, 5 home runs, 47 walks, 87 strikeouts, and, for what it's worth a 10-13 record in 23 starts). In spite of the unspectacular numbers, Hendry protected the left-handed sinkerballer from the Rule 5 draft. He'd never have been selected, yet alone have stuck on a major league roster for a year, for his complete lack of a real upside would have made effectively suffering a 24-man roster for a year entirely unthinkable. Vasquez was optioned to Daytona (High-A) in 2004, had another unspectacular season, and was quietly outrighted (successfully) off the forty this year. He then failed a drugs test, and that's the last I've heard of him.

 

Ronny Cedeno, meanwhile, as we all know, has blossomed into something of a prospect. Credit must be given to Hendry and his scouting department for recognising this at an early stage. All the same, the decision to protect him on the 40-man roster was unjustifiable. Cedeno, 20, was coming off a first season at Daytona (High-A) where he'd hit just .211/.257/.295 in 107 games. And the year before that he'd hit a virtually identical .214/.270/.296 in 127 games split between Lansing (Low-A) and Boise (short-season A). While very good defensively, there's simply no way that he'd have been picked in the Rule 5 draft given that the market is always flooded with no-hit/good-glove middle infield types. Consider, for instance, that the Cubs were able to sign Neifi originally via a minor-league contract. Anyway, the Cubs needlessly burnt an option on Cedeno's 2004 breakout season, they burnt another option on his 2005, and so he has just the one more option year left.

 

That winter the Cubs also purchased the contracts of Angel Guzman, Renyel Pinto, Brendan Harris and Jason Dubois with the intention of protecting them from the Rule 5. Pinto was most probably well-enough down prospect-lists at that point to escape attention. The other three were obvious moves.

 

In October/November 2004, purchased the contracts of John Koronka, Russ Rohlicek and Geovany Soto

 

John Koronka would have been a six-year minor league free-agent had the Cubs not either added him to the 40-man roster or re-signed him to a minor league deal. You know what I say to that? Big deal. What did Jim Hendry say? Fine, onto the forty you go! Quite why is not obviously apparent. Then 24, Koronka had just come off a season at Iowa (AAA) in which he'd thrown 153.1 IP of 4.34 ERA ball (164 hits, 19 home runs, 65 walks, 116 strikeouts, 12-9 record). His good changeup, bad fastball and nothing else combo was the reason that for many years he languished in the lower regions of the Cincinnati Reds season before they thought him so worthless they sent him our way in exchange for Phil Norton. Since being added, Koronka's put up another "bleh whatever" season at Iowa, had a cup of coffee in the majors in which, for obvious reasons, he got battered around, and had a decent handful of innings in the AFL, all while wasting a 40-man roster spot. He's still on the forty too, still wasting a spot.

 

Of course, Hendry also protected Will Ohman, justifiably, Rohlicek, right decision but didn't pan out, and Soto, an understandable third catcher move, and left, amongst others, Andy Sisco, stupidly, and Luke Hagerty, presciently, unprotected. Why was the Andy Sisco move stupid, if adding fellow deep in the system lefties Renyel Pinto and Carlos Vasquez was uncalled for? Simply because Sisco was a top prospect, and widely thought of as such. A second round pick, tall, mid-nineties fastball, the comparisons to the likes of Randy Johnson preceeded him. From the very moment that Sisco was left unprotected, Cub fans knew that he'd at the very least be selected in the draft. On the other hand, most Cub fans hadn't even heard of Pinto and Vasquez at the time they were added to the roster. Of course, that's not to say that other team's scouts hadn't seen them, and there's a possibility that Hendry became aware that Pinto or Vasquez would be selected, but it's unlikely. Pinto and Vasquez were lesser names for a reason - they were lesser prospects.

 

In November 2005, purchased the contracts of Brian Dopirak, Scott Moore and Jose Reyes

 

Brian Dopirak has all the power in the world. He's also a first baseman that has trouble hitting for average due to his strikeouts, doesn't walk that often and plays pretty poor defence. Baseball America's ranking of him as the Cubs' 2004 top prospect was always at best a bit of a stretch, and that they still rank him ninth in the system after the year that he had at Daytona (High-A) is, I believe, a case of them trying to justify last year's ranking. What kind of a year did he have? Well, he hit .235/.289/.381 in 132 games. Let's just leave it at that. No team would have taken him, because of the Carlos Vasquez factor: his upside isn't great enough to make a 24-man roster worthwhile. If he were a gold-glove shortstop, absolutely you'd still protect him. But Dopirak is right at the other end of the defensive spectrum, where viable options are ten times more easily found. Scott Moore is in the exact same boat, only with a better year at Daytona but less ceiling.

 

And Jose Reyes is another Geovany Soto backup catcher at best type, all glove not that much hit. It's possible he would have been lost in the Rule 5 draft, but the forty doesn't need four catchers. The only way it really makes sense to protect him is if Hendry moves either Soto or Reyes in a trade sometime soon. I think for now we should give Hendry the benefit of the doubt, but this trade had better materialise.

 

Also purchased the contracts of Felix Pie, Carlos Marmol, Sean Marshall, Ricky Nolasco and Jae-Kuk Ryu, all correctly in my view. Left Bobby Brownlie, Billy Petrick, David Aardsma, Chadd Blasko and Jake Fox off the 40-man roster, again all correctly I think. And left Brandon Sing off too, which I completely disagree with. Outrighted Mike Fontenot and designated Adam Greenberg for assignment, both ridiculous moves. Both aren't much less marginal than Soto/Reyes, but because they're ready to contribute, you protect them, and then use them as trade chips if you really don't want to keep them.

[Derwood]

Great post. Only thing you failed to mention was that Sisco went on to KC for a 2-5, 3.11, 75.1 IP, 76K, 42 BB, 1.46 WHIP year. Not spectacular (though he did lead the team in ERA had had slightly more than a K/IP) but worth protecting? Yessir!

 

He would have been a great LOOGY, holding lefties to a .216/.297/.318 line.

[BigbadB]

Great post. Only thing you failed to mention was that Sisco went on to KC for a 2-5, 3.11, 75.1 IP, 76K, 42 BB, 1.46 WHIP year. Not spectacular (though he did lead the team in ERA had had slightly more than a K/IP) but worth protecting? Yessir!

 

He would have been a great LOOGY, holding lefties to a .216/.297/.318 line.

 

And now KC can focus their energy on turning him back into a starter.

[Mark Priors Calves]

That's great insight and analysis, Diffusion.