BigbadB

I think there's a lot of reasons that a manager wouldn't do it. Some of these guys who should be platooned are getting everyday starter money. Some guys still put up such great numbers on their split, that their weakness isn't exposed as much. In some cases, a player can make the all star team even though they shouldn't be batting against particular pitchers. Some managers don't pay attention to splits. The Cubs completely ignored it last year with Jones. They seem to be more interested in BA w/RISP than vs. LHP or vs. RHP. I disagree that platoons are only for mid to small market teams. I believe the Yankees were employing platoons for an aging Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius during their World Series runs. I want to say they also slowly groomed Cano into his everyday job with a platoon. Melky Cabrera is another guy that they could give a start to occasionally because his splits might be better than one of the other OF's. A platoon can keep your bench guys sharper at the plate. It gets them more involved with the games. Who didn't like the Henry Rodriguez/Glenallen Hill platoon? If you can't get a stud player that can hit RHP and LHP equally well, the next best thing is to get 2 guys at equal or less cost to do the same. The other thing a platoon provides is depth. Last year is another perfect example for the Cubs. The Cubs had no depth whatsoever. If Murton got hurt, who plays in his place? Angel Pagan? Freddy Bynum? John Mabry? None of those guys have shown they should get quality playing time. Signing a guy like Cliff Floyd might push Murton to the bench more often than if he wasn't here, but what Floyd brings with the bat is more than likely going to be more productive than what Murton can bring with the bat against RHP. Now you have a stud player that will still get plenty of PT. And if someone gets hurt, you don't lose a single step. Floyd can even play some 1b, and I can't even begin to tell you how much more valuable a guy like Floyd is when you compare him to John Mabry. If you sign Floyd, yep, he's probably going to take at bats from Murton. But, a platoon allows you to keep your starting guys rested more, gives the bench guys more PT to keep them sharp, and just gives the team many more options over the course of a season. And one of those options is trade value at the deadline. If Floyd is tearing it up and Murton is having an all star caliber season, Floyd becomes a nice trade option. Same can be said of Jacque Jones. When Cleveland was in the heart of their mini-dynasty, they were employing platoons. They had so much talent, they could afford to.

That's what I'm saying. This rumor is unverifiable, and there is no such newspaper as the San Diego Tribune. Its called the San Diego Union-Tribune. The other major newspaper in San Diego is the North County Times. I have never heard anyone just call the Union Tribune the San Diego Tribune or even the Tribune. U-T is the common shortened version of the newspaper here.

He's been dealing with a knee injury for awhile now.

Explain who is playing left field and I might be sold on this offseason plan. Floyd and Murton works for me.

Do you think they will look for a lefty shortstop, or a lefty CF and deal Jones? They like Izturis a lot so I don't see them trading him. The latter is more of a real possibility. This is what absolutely kills me. How can someone like a no hit-slick fielding SS a lot? They are a dime a dozen. The Cubs seem to have employed seemingly just about every single one of them over the last 3 or so years. If they went out and grabbed a JD Drew type for the last spot in the outfield and then picked up a Mark Loretta type to play 2b, I think the Cubs could get by. Maybe that's the plan, but with Vernon Wells or someone of that caliber rather than Drew. I've seen Izturis play enough that I just don't understand the manlove he's getting. And after a nearly 2 year layoff, he's bound to be even worse than he was before. Maybe we should sign Marquis. At least then we can count on more offensive production from the pitcher's spot than wherever Piniella decides to bat Izturis. Ughh. #-o

I absolutely hated the Jacque Jones contract. But..... , the Jones contract definitely makes him valuable in this market.

Why would Patterson kill that deal? I'd take Kendrick over Patterson all day long. Patterson is 3 months younger than Kendrick.

The Bears must win against Minnesota. I do not want to wear Minnesota face paint next week.

I think Nady has played some first base, and Bay can play CF if need be - albeit not that well. Nady's been all over the place. I believe he was drafted as a 3b. The Padres attempted to convert him to a 2b when Burroughs was at 3b. Nady has played some 1b and lots of outfield since.

Aren't the Pirates set in the corner outfield spots with X Nady and Jason Bay?

Yep, I'd love to see Hendry steal Drew out from under Boston. And Lugo as well. The turnaround in OBP would definitely impact offensive production.

While the thread title definitely is misleading, the thread creator is requesting feedback on baseball related transactions.

Uribe is nothing to get excited about, but I'd take him over Izturis in a heartbeat.

Well that's a bit uncalled for, don't ya think? First off, why did you only list qualified players? The list shows 92 out of 120 total players. And even though Mark Loretta (using just one example) finished just short of the .350 mark in OBP, he's put up much higher OBP's in previous seasons and it wouldn't be a stretch to think he could do it again. The Cubs are a top 5 spending team in the league. To think they can't afford a couple of .350+ OBP guys at the top of the order is not missing the reality of baseball. They could have easily done it last year by putting Walker in the lead off spot and Murton 2nd. That option right there would have been head over heels better than Pierre and Neifi. I'll argue with you all day. But, can we leave insults out of it when your opinion differs with someone elses?

Whoops. No, I meant 1998. A .337 team OBP is pretty good, actually.

No, I'm not. I was attempting to show how well the Cubs did with a really good OBP in 1989 in comparison to the rest of the league. I just threw the pitching stuff on the end because it shows that the Cubs were able to win a lot of games with a good offense and bad pitching. The Cubs walked A LOT that year.

Which makes Theriot an awesome bench guy. He's super cheap, and could potentially step into the everyday job and provide even better production than the guy he's replacing. Lugo and DeRosa with Theriot backing both of them up. Izturis is traded to anyone looking for a guy who can catch the ball.

More threads like this please. Let's pound OBP into his skull.

I think a couple years back Tim had an article on the front page that showed a slew of stats' statistical correlation with runs scored...and guess what, OBP had the highest correlation. Anyone want to try to find that? You have to go back to 1998 to find a Cub team that scored 800+ runs. That team went to the playoffs. And the pitching staff in 1998 was NOT good. Kevin Tapani had a 19-9 record with a 4.85 ERA. Score enough runs, and you can make a mediocre pitcher look good in the win column.

And I think I'll survive going after mediocre OBP guys if they would just keep guys like Neifi and Izturis out of the top spots in the batting order. If you can't get on base at a .350+ clip, you are a bottom of the order hitter. Period.

They eye roll smiley doesnt work as well when you are mocking somewhat solid points. Its not Soriano who set the market, heck he was asking for Beltran money, Hendry gave him MORE than he was asking for. And although we do not know for sure we can assume that no other GM was willing to come anywhere near what Hendry offered. 1)The signing happened so early in the offseason. 2)The signing materialized so quickly. Soriano's agent isn't dumb, he and Hendry talked Saturday. He then took the offer the cubs had on the table and shopped in around to others teams that were interested. He was met with a resounding "Hell NO", and then quickly accepted Sunday morning. If he was even met with an apprehensive "maybe", it wouldn't have materialized so quickly. That right there shows that Hendry really doesn't understand OBP. :shock: Oh my god. The Cubs also finished 4th in AB's. That's because no one walks!! Pittsburgh: 1921 base runners (hits and walks only) Cubs: 1891 base runners I'm not asking to lead the league in BB's. Just quit finishing dead last. 8th would at least be respectable. But, they'd need to walk 136 times more than they did last year to reach 8th. As far as hits, they only needed 19 hits to finish 2nd overall in hits. Timely hitting? Uh no. The teams that get issued the most free passes along with a batting average like the Cubs put up in 2006 are the teams that score the most runs. The team that led the league in runs in 2006 had the best OBP in the NL. The Cubs had a better AVG than the team that scored the most runs in the NL last year. The difference in runs scored is 149 by the two teams, or nearly 1 run per game. Timely hitting factors on a much smaller scale than just getting guys on base. OBP and SLG should be the most important things when analyzing players to add to your roster. The Cubs have been dead last in walks the last 2 years. They haven't finished above 13th in walks since 2002. Try it! I think you'll like it.

Other than the amount of money being discussed, I hope Floyd comes to Chicago.

Not sure what McGehee's k/bb rate is in the minors, but I'm impressed with this kid. Looks like he has the tools to be a pretty decent major league hitter. His glove doesn't appear to be all that, however.

Who is our current 4th outfielder? Angel Pagan or Freddie Bynum? I'm a huge fan of Murton, but Murton can't beat this: Floyd last 3 years against RHP: .277/.369/.498/.867 It doesn't necessarily have to be an exact platoon, but I'm all for adding Floyd and getting him some at bats against RHP. Floyd not on the team< Floyd on the team Not to mention the fact that if someone were to get hurt (most likely Floyd of the current bunch we have :D ), you have someone solid coming off the bench to pick up the slack. Floyd is another guy who would not have much business batting against LHP, but Floyd might be a guy who could spell Derrek Lee at 1b occasionally as well.

David Wright will be available in 4 years. :D