Hacking Out Machine

Mike Kablooey has been putting up very good numbers in AAA since he's been moved to the pen full time. Lots of K's, not a lot of hits allowed. GMs that look for guys like him get rewarded with good performance at a low cost, unlike some GMs, who find out who the consensus "best reliever available" is and desperately overpay so that they can placate the masses who are calling for the bullpen to be "addressed"

all the patience in the world is of little value (note I said little, not "no value") if it does not result in the player getting on base. whether generated through walks or hits, Anderson's OBP is still in Neifiland. Pie could come up right now and put up a .282/.332 line, and is 4-5 years younger. again, 2 trades for players on major league rosters, 2-3 FA signings, a couple in house moves, and a few trades for minor league sticks, and this team is set up to make the playoffs next year, and set up to be very good for several years to come. this team doesn't need to be blown up. it needs a new coaching staff and some tinkering at a couple positions. I agree that Jones is not a run producer if playing every day, but with the right platoon, right field could be a run producing position for the Cubs for the duration of Jones' reasonably priced contract. if he is going to be traded, you're right, now's the time. Actually, as of about a week ago, a strict Murton v LHP/Jones v RHP platoon in right would give you a line of .341 .387 .561. That's Cabrera numbers less about 25 or so walks a year, so your assertion that right field could be a run producing position for the Cubs is spot on. Unfortunately, the Cubs are paying Jones to be an everyday player, and don't have the ability to realize a sunk cost. Instead they square peg him into an everyday role to justify the money they spent.

OK.... I hate to generalize, but I'll take some words or phrases that pepper what we can take as characteristics(mostly positive) about these guys, coming from someone in the know:(Remember, the original post asked if we have any IMPACT position players): Valdez: "some pop", "doesn't draw many walks", "just 44 K in 330 PA"(i.e., puts the ball in play, just like our major league club) Carter: "learning", "athlete" Reed: "Defensive C", "strong arm", flexible..can play a lot of positions(paraphrasing) Johnston: "great arm" "range" (Nothing wrong with good range at short, mind you) Reynolds: "Defensive 3b man" Forgive me if I'm not giddy with anticipation. My question is this: Can any of these guys actually hit? Is there a single one of these guys that knows what the heck they are doing in the box, or are we stuck with guys, even at the A ball level, who top out as "flexible, athletic types" who have no instinctive clue how to play baseball? I wish that just once, instead of talking about someone's athleticism, or strong arm, or ability to suck at several differenct positions, you could say, "this guy pounds the hell out of the ball". Is it too much to ask to have even ONE of these kind of guys, even at the low A level??

Very well put. And might I suggest that no team subscribes to these thoughts more than the Cubs.

This is pretty much the conclusion I had come to when I asked the question. With the way that they've drafted lately and they guys they are acquiring, it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon, either. Like I said in my original post, they have a multitude of guys who can fill the role of hard working organizational soldier, but nothing else.

Then you have to give Ronny the chance to change those splits. But even still, Neifi's career indicates there's absolutely no justification to keep him in a platoon, against any pitching. He sucks vs them all, and should get nothing close to regular playing duty. A short period of success vs LHP doesn't justify putting him into a platoon. A career of ineptitude should overrule any such notion. Ronny has to play vs everybody, starting right now. You can't say he isn't allowed to face lefties now, and then say he can't face lefties next year because he didn't hit them before. You have to give him a chance to work through it. Otherwise it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. I really hope I haven't given the impression that I like Neifi Perez or advocate any regular playing time for him. On the contrary, I spend most of my efforts in any baseball discussions with friends making sure they understand that he is one of the worst hitters in MLB history when he's batting left handed. Seriously though, as a platoon shortstop who faces only lefties maybe once a week, you could certainly do worse. Since he's been here his line against lefties is .267 .304 .491. That's almost 2 full seaons of sample size. An above average feilding shortstop who slugs .491 is certainly not a bad thing. Again, the mere potential of him playing against righties negates the worthwhileness of having him on your team at all, but since we are stuck with him through probably next year, he might as well play (NEXT YEAR IF CEDENO CONTINUES TO NOT HIT LEFTIES) when he can help the team.

Umm. No. A good SS should be brought in if Cedeno isn't any better than what he has shown so far. :wink: Oh, there's no doubt we'd like to see a good SS in here. I'm just saying that if we start next season with Perez and Cedeno as our two alternatives at short(a very strong possibility based on very unfortunate circumstances) then you should platoon them. Let me go on record as hoping that Perez is NOT here, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Gene Wojo should note the following: 1. His insistence on batting his lowest OBP players at the top of the order has sabotaged his offense's chances of scoring runs for 1 1/2 years now. 2. He has given Neifi Perez more than 80 at bats against right handed pitching, a good portion of those at bats coming in the 2 spot in the order. 3. He continually trotted Jacque Jones out against lefty pitchers, despite the fact that every goofball in baseball can recognize that Jones can't/has never been able to hit lefties. This is despite having capable lefty mashers at his disposal(Murton/Restovich) 4. His players are not held accountable for their play publicly. 5. His teams have been laughably bad fundamentally for going on 3 seasons. 6. His approach on hitting is directly responsible for the offense being the worst offense in baseball by a wide margin. 7. His approach on hitting and the pushing of an aggressive demeanor at the plate has caused several young players to not only not improve, but get worse on his watch. 8. He has thrown his young players under the bus to deflect any blame whatsoever from himself. It's obvious that Hendry has done a feeble job of putting a decent product on the field for the $95 million he's spending, but clearly Baker has done enough to prove that he has mismanaged this team into oblivion.

The season is over. Anybody with any sense would be playing the guys who have a chance to help this team in the future, both to get a better idea of how they handle major league competition and to allow them to work through the struggles. No kidding, the season is over. Any moron(or anyone with any sense) can recognize that. I would also agree that Cedeno could be a good player in the future, but every indication is that he cannot hit lefties. I made the point because Baker obviously is still trying to win games this year, so there is justification for playing Perez if you're goal is winning today's game. Since there is no hope for this year, who cares if he's in there against lefties now, I agree. Maybe he'll become Vlad Guerrero against lefties with another 100 at bats of experience, who knows? However, if Perez and Cedeno are both on this team on opening day next year, all things remaining equal(i.e. their splits remain as they are now), these two should be platooned.

And how many teams passed on Albert Pujols how many times? The MLB draft, moreso than any other draft, is extremely difficult to get right. Yes, I've been disappointed in the Cubs player development, especially at the offensive end. But Harvey was the consensus choice amongst scouts and others at the time of the pick. Hear, hear! He still might be converted to a pitcher. May!? It's going to happen. I have him getting converted before the 08 season, Outshined says it will happen before next season. Not a bad idea. He certainly can't hit, and he's got a rocket arm. If they do in fact do this, kudos to the Cubs for realizing it isn't working and trying something else.

There are so many severe platoon splits on this team that running guys out there blindly every day is pretty counterproductive. Jones can't hit lefties, for example while Murton can, and vice versa.

Especially with a lefty on the mound. Perez shouldn't be let within 100 feet of the field against righties, but against lefties, he should actually be in there. VS LHP Cedeno .177 .210 .208 (with 1 XBH the entire SEASON in 96Abs) Perez .328 .332 .517 I dislike seeing Perez in there as much as the next guy, but playing Cedeno against lefties is like throwing away ABs. The same thing happened last year as well in his limited time, so I don't think it's a sample size coincidence. I'm all for developing guys, but I think Cedeno has proven he struggles against lefties. Play him against righties, it amounts to most of the time anyway. At least we can use Perez in situations where he actually does something positive with the bat if we're destined to be stuck with him. By the way, here's the numbers against righties: Cedeno: .303 .325 .418 Perez: .185 .211 .239 If you're interested in scoring runs, I think it's easy to see that these guys should be platooned.

Well...at least they made him break a sweat...was it a 91 pitch complete game tonight?

And how many teams passed on Albert Pujols how many times? The MLB draft, moreso than any other draft, is extremely difficult to get right. Yes, I've been disappointed in the Cubs player development, especially at the offensive end. But Harvey was the consensus choice amongst scouts and others at the time of the pick. Not a good excuse, in my opinion. If the draft is a crapshoot, the Cubs are definitely coming up with much more than their share of misses, and I think it has everything to do with their overvaluing of athleticism and raw tools. Just because a kid can hit a ball 450 feet in battting practice and throw a ball on a line from right field doesn't mean he's worthy of the 5th or 6th pick in the draft, especially when he's coming off major surgery and had a tendency to get fooled on bad pitches in high school.

Combine his current major weaknesses with the philosophy of this organization, and you have a young kid with the odds stacked against him. The organization doesn't exactly have a good track record of encouraging plate discipline. If you don't think it's "sound logic" to come up with that assertion, then I guess we'll disagree.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but I cannot for the life of me find a position player in this system who has any potential to be an impact player in the majors. Perhaps I'm being short sighted? Over at least the past two drafts, and maybe more, we have been drafting players with no ability to get on base, and certainly no power. I looked at the college stats of a lot of the guys the Cubs have drafted over the past two years, and even in college, all they did was hit singles. Why does this regime feel that things like athleticism, hustle, character and overall red-ass-ness should take precedent over an ability to actually hit? This organization is littered with guys who slug .275-.375. I seriously can't find anyone worth getting excited about. Pie is tanking, and in my opinion has always been less than a complete prospect due to his on-base issues. He's also been caught stealing more than he has been suceesful, so even his speed is raw. Right now, he's a poor man's Corey Patterson (circa 2005). With the current staff's track record, let's just say assuming he would improve is a stretch. Ryan Harvey is helpless in high A ball. He had a sub .300 OBP in the Midwest League. But he's athletic!! Good thing we passed on Maholm, Danks, Ian Stewart, Milledge, Brian Anderson, Quentin, Conor Jackson, Chad Cordero, Chad Billingsley, Daric Barton, David Murphy and Saltalamacchia(not to mention Murton and Aardsma) to take this kid. Seriously, are there any position players in the system worth getting excited about? Fuld and Fox are doing ok in Daytona, but they are old for that league. I won't even bring up Dopirak, MontanezMaybe I'm being too harsh, but this organization's bass-ackward approach to offense has rendered it's system devoid of any impact players. If anyone needs organizational soldiers who slug .275, make outs at a record pace, but really really have a desire to win, I guess we've got the market cornered on those guys. If we don't draft them, we trade once marketable major leaguers for them (Spears, Lewis) Viva Hendry!!

My suspicion is that if we hire Piniella, we are going to end up on the same road we have traveled with Baker. Proven mediocrity, aggressive singles, sacrifice bunting up the ying yang when we already make outs at a record pace, etc.

He's been on that show before, and he's been critical. He made the point made on this board 47,000 times that a team that doesn't walk and doesn't hit extra base hits needs to pound out 12-15 hits just for a decent 4 run output. Singles are pretty much useless by themselves, etc. Although it's obvious that he has to bite his tongue due to his marching orders, you often hear him pepper his play by play with sabermetric type observations...I have a feeling that if allowed, he would pound the Cubs, and would be thoughtful and effective in doing so. I like Len a lot.

I don't think they overmphasize pitchers who strikeout 1 guy an inning. Look at the college stats of the pitchers they've taken in the last two drafts. None of them fooled anybody. I don't think there's a single one who averaged more than a strikeput per inning. They just got done putting together a $7Million package for Jeff Samardjza, and he struck out only 61 guys in 97 innings while giving up 103 hits in his senior year in a weak baseball conference. But hey, he's tall. They are going to let Wuertz and Hill wallow away in AAA despite the fact that nobody down there can make contact off either of them. What they do overemphsize is height and "projectability". If this organzation made decisions(especially in the draft) based on a performace related metric like strikeouts per 9, we'd all be better off.

No player is too expensive for the Cubs. They throw money around like it grows on trees. They are paying more than $2M a year for Neifi Perez and Glendon Rusch. They are paying $4M apiece for two non closing relievers. They're paying more than $5M for a right fielder who should be a strict platoon player, and a guy that nobody else was interested in paying close to that rate for. They just put together a $7M package for Jeff Samardijza, who was about the 4th best pitcher on his own college team, as well as a $1M+ signing bonus for an 11th round high school pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery. If moves like these start to cost them the ability to afford anyone of value, let alone Carlos Zambrano, there ought to be a Frankenstien style mob on it's way to Clark and Addison looking for Hendry's carcass.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/cubs/cst-spt-cubnt29.html What he has done since June 1st, and for that matter, what he does for the rest of the year is irrelevant. His horrific play during the first two months of the season is one of the biggest reasons that the rest of the season is now garbage time. The fact remains that the guy never walks. Throw in the possibility that he's lost at least a step from home to first, seriously cutting into his infield hits, and you have a guy who's overwhelmingly likely to repeat his performance again. Just because he's had a period of competence(if you can call it that) when the Cubs are 20 under .500 and hopelessly out of the race does not mean that you resign this offensive cipher/out machine just because he's a good guy who tries hard and wants to come back. The first two months of the season(when things actually mattered) told you all you need to know. We've all already emptied our stomachs at the thought of our GM giving up 2 great arms for a guy that any Triple A hack could have out-produced...let's not get all excited just because a couple of his grounders have found holes this month. If Mike Kiley is actually suggesting that an extension is a good idea, then I have to question whether that's really been him submitting all those game stories for the Sun Times, because he sure hasn't been paying attention to the games.

Didn't see the TA thread until you pointed it out. I guess Womack walked too often. For the record, they're facing a lefty tonight. Jones is playing, Murton is sitting. Cedeno is playing (batting 6th!!!). Who in their right mind would bat a guy hitting .167 .205 .202 sixth?

Baker lately has been lamenting his current situation by saying he doesn't have his team, too many kids are playing, players need to perform on the field, etc, etc. he also said that his job is to prepare his players before the game. That's a load of crap, obviously. His #1 job is to put the players he has in the best position possible to be successful. Although Hendry's performance has been dismal in getting good return for a $90+ million payroll, Baker is to blame for trotting out lineups that had little or no chance to succeed. He claims to have no idea why the Cubs have stunk so badly against lefties. If Baker had any idea what a split is, he would know the following: Jacque Jones is hitting .208 .230 .375 against lefties, yet he continues to blindly trot him out there every day. He hits righties very well(.324 .357 .555), but needs a platoon partner. A 5 year old could figure this out. Matt Murton is hitting .333 .410 .493 against lefties. Any chance we'll see this platoon, now that Nevin has emerged as a reasonable power bat capable of manning the other outfield spot? Sitting Murton and his .231 .297 .301 against righties is a good idea, but he should definitely be in there against lefties. Neifi Perez is actually a marginally useful player when he bats right handed. He's at .306 .308 .429 when hitting righty, but .207 .223 .272 when hitting lefty. Conclusion: Perez should never, ever see the field against a right handed pitcher. Unfortunately, Baker has seen fit to play him in 41 games against lefties. Meanwhile, Ronny Cedeno is hitting a solid .328 .344 .450 against righties, continuing his reverse split that has been evident last year and throughout his mnor league career. Against lefties he's at .167 .205 .202, which might be the worst split I've ever seen. The problem is that Perez plays more against righties than he does against lefties, suggesting that Baker has no idea of what his players are even accomplishing. Cedeno should play every day against righties, Perez every day against lefties. Since Perez can bat lefty and Cedeno doesn't, and this requires a modicum of thought, Baker probably would never consider it. Juan Pierre should have a seat in favor of Womack against lefties as well. He's at .208 .252 .250 against lefties. Against righties, (.273 .319 .381) he barely justifis a lineup slot. Womack isn't much better, but he's an upgrade against lefties. (.286 .333 .286). Womack's actually shown a willingness to walk since he's gotten here, something that I'm sure Baker and the Aggressive Approach Gestapo will soon beat out of him. If Baker took 10 minutes to look this stuff up, here's what his lineups should look like against either pitcher: Lefties 1. Womack CF .286 .333 .286 2. Murton LF/RF .333 .410 .493 3 Lee 1B .364 .533 .455 4. Ramirez 3B .209 .303 .448 5 Barrett C .277.340 .574 6 Nevin LF?RF .188 .278 .500 7 Perez SS .306 .308 .429 8 Walker 2B .208 .326 .292 9 Pitcher Righties 1. Pierre CF .273 .319 .381 2 Walker 2B .329 .388 .425 3 Lee 1B ..317 .412 .610 4 Ramirez 3B .262 .311 .465 5 Jones RF ..324 .357 .555 6 Nevin LF ..343 .361 .629 7 Barrett C .318 .380 .486 8 Cedeno SS .324 .344 .450 9 Pitcher These aren't great lineups, but they are certainly better than what Baker has trotted out there. Look at the righty lineup. There aren't really any holes, provided Pierre picks it up somewhat and Ramirez gets hot(which I expect at some point) If Baker would only pay some attention to splits, and how his players are actually performing, he could fashion at least a league average lineup. I guess his response would probably be something like, "Statistics lie, dude."

Spews a lot of BS?? I think Gammons is fantastic. He reports what he hears, and he is well respected and liked by most if not all GMs. They tell him the truth and he reports it. I really hope Peter makes it through this. I really look forward to his viewpoints, and his general opinions on baseball are consistent with most of us on here. I know you probably weren't trying to be disrespectful, but the guy just had an aneurysm, and he's the best baseball writer we have, by far. I think he deserves comments better than an opinion that he spews a lot of BS and that he looks older than his age.

I'm guessing they'll trade whatever is left of the farm system for Jeff Francouer. Then they'll "teach" him to focus on making contact, rather than swinging so darn hard and trying to drive the ball. That way he'll have the sub .400 SLG to go with the .250 OBP. But he can catch the heck out of the ball and would improve the team's athleticism and flexibility.