nilodnayr

I wouldn't say it hinges. I would think there's a better chance Hendry realizes they need offensive help now that Barrett has been replaced for defensive purposes. And hopefully he realizes that SS and RF are the two biggest need spots for that improvement. So if a guy walks into the ER with a gunshot wound, no ones going to do anything about it, but if while waiting someone stabs him in the leg, then the doctors will need to take care of the gunshot wound? For clarification: guy=cubs gunshot wound=SS someone who stabs guy=Hendry stabbing wound =losing Barrett taking care of gunshot wound=upgrading offensively at SS This analogy is better than it appears at first. :D Yeah, thats why I opted to include the clarification

I wouldn't say it hinges. I would think there's a better chance Hendry realizes they need offensive help now that Barrett has been replaced for defensive purposes. And hopefully he realizes that SS and RF are the two biggest need spots for that improvement. So if a guy walks into the ER with a gunshot wound, no ones going to do anything about it, but if while waiting someone stabs him in the leg, then the doctors will need to take care of the gunshot wound? For clarification: guy=cubs gunshot wound=SS someone who stabs guy=Hendry stabbing wound =losing Barrett talomg care of gunshot wound=upgrading offensively at SS

I think everyone on this board with any baseball sense has agreed that the argument you stated above is moronic. Did that come out wrong? i'd say awkward, not wrong :lol: Truffle is saying that CERA is stupid no matter what it "proves".

It's either one but no team would sign him before 12/1. Plus, he'd be dumb not to except, unless you're assuming he changes how he has played so far this year and there's an expected demand for him. One more year of Barrett equals one more year of a likely declining C both defensively and offensively (from the '06 Barrett) and gives Soto his 3rd year at Iowa. I'm all for Soto, this hopefully cleared the way. Of course no one would sign him before 12/1, not many players do (unless we are talking about the idiot Giants). But Barrett would be dumb to accept arbi. 1 year ~6M is a hell of a lot worse than 3 years ~15M. Those numbers may be off a bit as the market shakes up but relatively speaking thats what we are talking about. I'm assuming that either Barretts luck evens out or some team is smart enough to realize that basically this year he isn't too far off from last year if you take luck out of the equation. I would be fine with signing Barrett for one year as he is in his prime/starting the decline stage with Soto being the backup. That puts the best cubs team out there both performance-wise and financial-wise.

This doesn't make the team better in the short term, IMO. That's what I don't get. My only hope is that it's setting up another deal for a RF or SS. I won't get my hopes up though. The only good out of it is getting "something" for a player that was likely gone at the end of the year anyway. I just don't understand why they brought in another back up catcher. I think people that are clinging to Bowen's high OBP from 2007 so far are going to be disapointed. I'd be shocked if it stays anywhere near that level considering his high BABIP and his past. I dont see how acquiring a backup catcher and a struggling low A prospect sets anything up for trade to improve SS or RF. Unless theres someone else out there that loves Bowen, and if that was true then SD probably could have gotten something better than renting Barrett for 4 months.

You're assuming two things for the Cubs to get compensation from Barrett leaving FA. 1)Sign before 12/1. 2)The Cubs offer arbitration. I doubt these two things would've been possible. Actually, its either of those two, not both. And if I were the cubs and held onto Barrett for the rest of the year I sure as hell would offer him arbitration. I'd try to have him agree to decline it, but if he wouldnt agree to that, worst case scenario is you get one of the best offensive catchers in the league for a 1 year deal. Most likely he'll be offered a multi-year contract that will be a lot more valuable to him than returning to a team that doesnt want him. Either way its a win win for the cubs, unless of course they do something stupid like trade him.

Is that before the year or now? Before the year... but still, it's a pretty stark difference. True-but in that, it has to gauge Bowen's absolutely awful 2004 and not good 2005 with his ok 2006 in the majors. Which one is supposed to be believed more? The projections would say 2004 and 2005, but that hasn't happened in his at-bats so far this year. The same thing has happened to Barrett the other way. Will Bowen outperform Barrett with the bat for the rest of 2007? I don't know. Does he have to? Not necessarily-if he gets somewhere close, the improved defense might be enough to make up for it. That's really all the Cubs need to make this a good deal-Bowen to stay close enough to Barrett to not make it too much of a downgrade this year (which is certainly possible), and then the Cubs benefit in 2008 and beyond with Bowen and the prospect. I haven't dug too deeply, but what in Bowens 2007 campaign is drastically different than previously besides BABIP? Not much, but even if he just repeats 2006 that graph will change, because now less importance will be shown to his worse 2004 and 2005. Sorry if this has been mentioned (stupid work, had to leave the thread) but is that really true? His K and BA ranks will stay the same, the only thing that will increase is his ISO. Not that I have a problem with a high K, low BA type guy, but we aren't talking about Dunn-esque ISoD and ISoP.

They should send us the YES network in the deal to make it fair.

Is that before the year or now? Before the year... but still, it's a pretty stark difference. True-but in that, it has to gauge Bowen's absolutely awful 2004 and not good 2005 with his ok 2006 in the majors. Which one is supposed to be believed more? The projections would say 2004 and 2005, but that hasn't happened in his at-bats so far this year. The same thing has happened to Barrett the other way. Will Bowen outperform Barrett with the bat for the rest of 2007? I don't know. Does he have to? Not necessarily-if he gets somewhere close, the improved defense might be enough to make up for it. That's really all the Cubs need to make this a good deal-Bowen to stay close enough to Barrett to not make it too much of a downgrade this year (which is certainly possible), and then the Cubs benefit in 2008 and beyond with Bowen and the prospect. I haven't dug too deeply, but what in Bowens 2007 campaign is drastically different than previously besides BABIP?

Something I've noticed with Hill(and presumably all good defensive catchers) as opposed to Barrett(and the broadcast pointed it out quite a bit as well) is that he seems to "frame" pitches better than Barrett ever did... if that gets our pitchers 3-5 more strike calls at the right time during a game that could be a big deal...and has nothing to do with "calling" the game...but is really something that you can't "measure" Framing pitches is good an all, but it stopped really having a significant impact once you moved past little league umps.

Selling teams don't dump players for little return. Selling teams have an interest in the near future, looking for players near MLB ready to make an impact in the next 2 years. Well I'm assuming Hendry believes Bowen to make a contribution in the next 2 years, but I dont see how he can think hes an upgrade now.

Also, Bowen is hitting 268 with a 385 BABIP and an 18.9 LD%. Its only 98 PAs, so its a small sample size, but hes got a 34% K rate!!! And last year in a similar sample size had a 28% K rate. With a K rate over 30% for his major league career, he really hasn't shown that he can figure out major league pitching.

This is the type of trade a SELLING team at the deadline makes. Frankly, given the fact that Barrett probably will be a Type A FA and that the FA catching market is going to have a ton of supply, I don't see why it is necessary to lock up that position now by getting rid of the guy who when injury/suspension strikes is your clean up hitter. I would have been fine riding Barrett out (hes a notoriously streaky hitter who right now has a BABIP 30 points lower than what he should) until the end of the season and letting him walk to pick up the draft pick and signing someone else in FA. This however, downgrades our offense for the rest of the season, doesn't allow us to pick up a draft pick, and could mean that we won't sign one of the many catchers that will be available.

Bowen has had 1 throwing error and 2 fielding errors in 98 PAs this year with a .390 WP+PB/G vs Barrett whos had 3 throwing errors and 1 field ing error in 231 PAs with a .440 WP+PB/G. Its not like we just upgraded from Piazza to Pudge.

All I could discern was that Lee started talking to him first, saying "that was a terrible pitch", Young replied with "go to first base". Thats all I got, couldn't tell the rest.

I saw an interview of Cuban and he said he was so into statistics that he was keeping stats on referees and running analyses such as the optimal amount of passes before a shot, etc. He'd be quite a refreshing turnaround from the current ideology.

Don't have to go too far...Reinsdorf.

Hempey doesn't look that good. His fastball is in the 84-88 MPH range and his curve looks very hanging and hittable. All especially disappoitning for his size. He'll definitely need some fixing. He doesn't pitch well at all out of the stretch and seems to be getting very frustrated. And as I say that, he just got out of a jam with a really nice unhittable 10-5 curve to a lefty well outside of the zone.

Wright had a crazy catch yesterday. Hempey has a crazy arm motion.

This is what you're referring to http://www.insidethebook.com/c05.shtml

dont count on it. if we had the cash to sign them we would have gotten better players in rounds 3-10. Although consistant with the cubs, it might be a quantity over quality move. We might be able to sign 5 pretty good guys who we picked in the lower rounds for the same money as 2 really good guys who we picked in the higher rounds. Giving a couple mil to Sanchez and Clark it might fall under the radar moreso than giving Wieters 10M.

While stat wise Weiters and Donaldson appear equal, I think people are reacting to reports of a looped swing that will need to be altered to hit better pitching. Any time a significant change in batting stance/approach is needed you run the risk of a flame out. Thats what worries me. I don't think its two faced whatsoever to have wanted Weiters and not be a fan of Donaldson based on the little change that Weiters will have to make to hit big league pitching and the major change Donaldson will have to make (according to scouting reports). Defensively while there is some question as to whether Weiters will be able to stick behind the plate, there appears to be more questions about Donaldsons arm and the fact that he is newly converted. Again the stats don't show an issue as hes gunned down more than his fare share of runners. If anything the passing of Weiters and the taking of Donaldson appears to be a Bean-esque move. Passing up the hype to take a similar player statwise with a lower pick. While I'm a fan of most of Beans moves on the ML club and high minors, I am not a fan of his drafting technique at all and proof in the pudding, the Moneyball draft has been a relative failure. Guys like Wilken, Mike Rizzo, and Logan White have proven much much better by doing the opposte of Bean.

Now, but you're comparing a 6'1 25-26 year old MLB hitter to a 6'4 and 3/4ths (read that Vitters is up there now) 17 year old who is still growing into his body. I don't know for sure, but I can say pretty confidently Murton didn't show Vitters power potential at 17. I'm sure he won his HS HR Derby.

Hooray for Ryan Harvey part II We need to stop taking HS position players.

Which is sad considering the wasted money we have tied up in Eyre, Jones, and bitch tit.s whose remaining salary we ate. Wieters has MLB ready power and understands the concept of taking a walk. He should be ML ready by mid 08 and could replace Barrett. 4-5 years after that he could slide to first or third to ease the wear on this knees. I hate this organization. Could not have said it any better. Wieters is the second best player in this draft, if he is on the board we NEED to take him. Wieters ready by mid 08! Really? I don't know as much as him as a lot of people here, but is that true? His bat might be ready, but defensively/play calling its gotta take a little time to adjust. Regarding $, the cubs have never been penny pinchers in terms of high end draft talent. In fact, I can't think of any team that is as unfrugal as we are. We always take guys who fall from the first couple rounds because of bonus demands/signability and have no problem investing in who we think is the best on the board.