Drew Doughty

Well, I guess a change of scenery could do no harm for a guy that is struggling. And he gets back to working with Gerald Perry, who he's had success under the past few years. that is actually a fairly good point, because it's not just his OBP that worries me; he's hitting far fewer line drives/groundballs and is hitting a lot more flyballs (so if you're citing past babip numbers: don't. he's not the same hitter he was when he was posting those numbers). him hitting flyballs is a bad bad thing. maybe getting back to a hitting coach he's comfortable with might help.

Jesus Christ. Can we stop looking at OPS and OPS+ for two seconds? Is it so hard to admit that (like most players) he's not a power hitter? He hits for average and gets on base at a high rate. Why is this so hard to understand? Because hitting for average and getting on base isn't all that a hitter has to do. He has been average or worse as a player 5 of the last 7 years.

Yeah, because trading a crappy catcher and a minor league relief pitcher for a guy who has been solid in 11 out of his 12 MLB years is always a bad idea. what is your definition of "solid"? He's been a below average hitter in 5 of his last 7 seasons, including an awful year this year. By all accounts he's not very good defensively. Based on what, the almighty OPS+? If you look at his average and his OBP, he hasn't been anywhere near below average. He's not a power hitter... most baseball players aren't. yeah, OPS+ sucks...batting average is clearly where it's at. If you want to look at one stat to determine how good a player is, go for it. OPS+ says that Jason Kendall has been barely, just barely, above average during his career. If you really believe that... well, I don't know what to tell you. Thing is, you have to consider the fact that kendall is at a position chock full of guys way below league average. That is not factored into OPS+. No dude, OPS+ is all that matters. Nothing else is important. NOTHING. i'm considering the fact that he's been a catcher. i said that over the last few years he hasn't been a good hitter. if he were a good defensive catcher, that would be acceptable, because his numbers hadn't been terrible. unfortunately, he is bad defensively and he is awful offensively so far this year. Looking at the league average OPS for catchers in the NL this year (699) and his last 7 years (including and starting with this season) he's been way below average, slightly above average, below average, well above average, well above average, slightly above average, and below average. factoring in defense he has come up far short of "solid".

he's actually got a pair of home runs this year! woo!

fine, his OBP has been above average the last however many years. Unfortunately you do have to do more than that to be an average hitter. And also unfortunately, his walk rate is way down this year. Coupled with his woeful average, he's not a very good player at this point in his career. He's not as bad as he was to start the year, but he's not very good either. Even in his "good" month, he posted a 326 OBP. And last year when he was bad in the first half and very good in the second half gives us the hope that he can turn it around and be at least decently productive. Sure, it's not a guarantee, but I like him as an option over Hill or Bowen at the worst. At the best, this is a solid trade. even during his bad first half last year he was still walking. His OPS was 100 points higher in the first half last year than it was in the first half this year.

fine, his OBP has been above average the last however many years. Unfortunately you do have to do more than that to be an average hitter. And also unfortunately, his walk rate is way down this year. Coupled with his woeful average, he's not a very good player at this point in his career. He's not as bad as he was to start the year, but he's not very good either. Even in his "good" month, he posted a 326 OBP.

i don't tihnk it's a travesty from a value standpoint, i just don't see the reason we're trading for a guy that still makes us bad offensively and defensively from catcher. it's another in a series of bad moves (or non-moves in the ridiculous wait to bring up Soto) made this year by hendry to "fix" the hole we have at catcher.

Yeah, because trading a crappy catcher and a minor league relief pitcher for a guy who has been solid in 11 out of his 12 MLB years is always a bad idea. what is your definition of "solid"? He's been a below average hitter in 5 of his last 7 seasons, including an awful year this year. By all accounts he's not very good defensively.

People need to look at who is being given up rather than the position. People would've called Marmol nothing a year ago if he was included in a trade. Young relievers have potential value espec. in an era of overspending and inconsistent FA relievers. Look at the LH'ers out of the pen this year... Eyre, Ohman, and Cotts. There's no guarantee he would provide production, which you can say for Kendall as well at this point, Preach it, UK. The other side of that argument is that we have gotten on Hendry for not selling high and buying low...now he does that, and we're on him about it. that's an awful argument. signing williamson was buying low. signing dempster was buying low. hell, signing miller the first time was buying low. trading for a catcher on the decline is buying stupid.

Well 1 worthless bat gone. Jesus that Barret trade was horrible! Pretty much a DFA. At least Hendry can admit he's wrong. Then why is Izturis here, with Cedeno hitting everything in sight at Iowa?? Same with Jones and Pie?? Patterson and Murton deserve to be up also. Patterson? I like him, but he's not a better option than Derosa or even Fontenot at 2B right now. still, Murton, Cedeno, and Pie should all at least get a shot to start on the major league team right now. and that's disheartening.

YES!

how can you hate matt vasgersian? he's da len of the nl west. No, he's the moron of the NL West. I'd take anyone of the other West broadcasters over him, except perhaps the soul-sucking Duane Kuiper. how the hell can you hate the guy? what does he do that's so aggravating? vin scully is the only guy in the west that's better than matt vasgersian, and he's the best broadcaster in MLB period.

how can you hate matt vasgersian? he's da len of the nl west.

Wait, so you say that getting DeRosa "was a buy high move" then suggest Ray Durham. You know, the same Durham who had a career year in 2006. Oh, and Durham is three years older and was going to cost a few million more than DeRosa. So how was getting DeRosa buying high but Durham wouldn't be? because durham had already put together a solid career. derosa was a bench player before last year. it may have been buying high, but in all likelihood you were going to get a good player out of it. Giles was the only buy-low guy available last year, and he was non-tendered long after Derosa was signed. Plus, he was nearly a sure-fire thing to go to San Diego.

for what it's worth, i'm leaning more toward abuck on this one. i don't think the derosa signing was indefensibly bad at the time (though i may have said something else otherwise, and probably did in an overreactionary way), but I do think Durham was a better fit for the Cubs.

thanks for putting in cubspeak but, at the same time, all that other stuff is rather flukish. if derosa continues to outperform durham for the entire season, then i think you have to give some credit to hendry for preferring derosa to durham. i dont think so. because if durham plays like he normally does the rest of the year and derosa plays like his career avg the rest of the year, derosa will barely outperform him. Durham is having the worst year of his career and has the lowest obp since his rookie season. We can all agree that DeRosa has exceeded expectations this year. DeRosa's numbers are the expected numbers for Durham. If Durham crashes and burns next year again, then Ill say good job hendry. This really isnt that big of a difference. DeRosa wasnt too expensive like Soriano. It just probably wasnt the best move. If DeRosa even matches Durham offensively, he'll be way more valuable than him for 2 big reasons. 1) DeRosa is making a couple million less than him 2) DeRosa's ability to play 3B and RF has allowed the Cubs now to get better lineups in every day by getting both DeRosa and Fontenot in the lineup when either Ramirez or Floyd gets a day off. Durham would have to be significantly better offensively in order to offset those advantages, and considering his age/DeRosa starting to prove last year wasn't a career year, that becomes less and less likely. again, that's dealing with now, not when Derosa was signed. Of course the Derosa signing looks good now that we know he can play several positions well defensively and has proven that last year was probably not a fluke.

it might be now, but it certainly wasn't at the time. why in the world would someone think that durham was washed up in winter 06?

apparently he sprained something in his finger, i only walked in at the end of the conversation the brewers radio crew was having. he's having a MRI on monday.

Obviously not, or he would be performing this year. probabilistic outcomes. actual outcomes. 20/20 hindsight

You're really being asinine here. Show me a stat that shows that he isn't forcing ground balls "like he used to". Fine, you don't want to use G/F, but he is on pace to to force 336 ground ball outs this year. His career in that stat 2004 - 356 2005 - 350 2006 - 288 how about groundball percentage? 55.5 in 2004 52.3 in 2005 49 this year he's not getting ground balls like he used to.

i don't think it's a good idea to buy low on him, because he's not a true "buy low" guy. he's still going to be sought after as a free agent, in all likelihood. he might have cost himself a few million dollars, but he'll still probably get paid a lot of money.

wtg lopez. dont' toe that line again, though.

awesome. walk people in front of prince fielder. brilliant strategy!

and for the first time since opening day, i'm actually going to listen to the entirety of a baseball game not played by the Cubs. come on rockies, keep making sheets work. hopefully lopez pitches slightly better than he did against us.

...geaux rockies/brad hawpe?