dew1679666265

I'll never understand a disinterest in analyzing particular parts of a person's job. GMs have strengths and weaknesses and I simply don't understand the thought that discussing those strengths and weaknesses is a bad thing. I heard you the first time, and it still holds no water. And I heard you the first time you complained about a legitimate discussion and it still makes no sense.

The discussion of trades has nothing to do with discussion of his overall job performance. It is a factor in it, but I can believe he's good at making trades but bad as a GM overall. I just don't get the idea that because he's been bad overall, we have to focus only on that and should not be allowed to break down where he's been good and where he's been bad.

I'll never understand a disinterest in analyzing particular parts of a person's job. GMs have strengths and weaknesses and I simply don't understand the thought that discussing those strengths and weaknesses is a bad thing.

I'll never understand a disinterest in analyzing particular parts of a person's job. GMs have strengths and weaknesses and I simply don't understand the thought that discussing those strengths and weaknesses is a bad thing.

I've not argued that the Trachsel trade was good. Only that it wasn't horrific as O_O stated. The only thing that made it bad, as you said, was that we targeted a mediocre pitcher. I've also not said a word about his "worthiness" as GM from his ability to trade. I wasn't making a comment as to whether he's a good GM, bad GM, whether he should remain or go after the year. I was responding to O_O's comment that he's generally overrated in his ability to make trades.

It'd actually just be 2-3 of them in the AL. Alex Gonzalez has a sub-.800 OPS and Jeter is at .753. It'd be a few more in the NL.

Just for the sake of doing it, I figured I'd put together a pair of all-star teams based almost solely on OPS. I included some guys on the bench with lower OPS' than others just to not have 10 first basemen on the roster, but I went highest OPS at each position. AL: NL: C - Posada C - Olivo 1B - Morneau 1B - Votto 2B - Cano 2B - Prado SS - Alex Gonzalez SS - Furcal 3B - Beltre 3B - Rolen LF - Hamilton LF - Manny CF - Hunter CF - Rasmus RF - Boesch RF - Ethier DH - Youkilis DH - Pujols BN BN V Martinez Soto M Cabrera Huff Pedroia Phillips Jeter Hanley Bautista Wright N Cruz Hart Wells Torres Crawford Willingham Thome Dunn M Young Adrian Gonzalez Konerko Tulowitzki That's with a 150 PA minimum. Might be too low, but it seemed like a good number.

This is exactly my stance. I'm fine with the ASG being "for the fans" and an exhibition. And if it is, then keep the fan vote and the "every team represented" clause. However, if it is "for the fans" and an exhibition, then take away the HFA stipulation. If the Cubs were legit World Series contenders, seeing Omar Infante out there trying to drive in the tying run in the ninth would not be a good sight.

I'm really not sure what Silva is worth. IMO, teams don't usually like to take risky players who have multiple years left on their contracts in a trade. At the same time, the Cubs shouldn't pay much of Silva's contract at the deadline. There's no reason for it. The Cubs are going to have to pay Silva 8 million between 2011 and 2012 (6 million for 2011 plus 2 million buyout in 2012). He's becoming likely to post an ERA under 4 for 2010. The Cubs will very likely be able to unload his contract in the offseason and pay no more than 2 million. And if he continues to pitch close to as well as he has for the rest of the year the Cubs could potentially do even better. As you said, I'm not sure we'd get enough to make it worth trading him at the deadline unless somebody was desperate. If a pitcher gets hurt or a team decides it really needs a starter at the deadline, Silva's value could skyrocket with the success he's had this year. Teams may be a bit more deliberate in the offseason and consider his previous struggles more, though he'll have less money owed him by then as well.

I forgot we included Renshaw in the deal. I guess my question was more nitpicking your wording. The Trachsel trade wasn't a good one, but I just don't see that it was "horrific." It was a pretty neutral overall deal, I thought, even considering we traded Renshaw. I do agree that he tends to hold onto players too long. You also make a good point about the Wuertz trade, dealing him wasn't a good idea. Hendry didn't get much for Mueller and Bellhorn, but were they really worth that much? Bellhorn was coming off an .886 OPS season, but before that his best OPS was .681. After that season he had one .817 OPS season and that was it. Jose Hernandez was a very similar player and helped us (however much he did in that trade) to get Aramis and Lofton. Mueller was better than Bellhorn, but still was a third baseman with a career .797 OPS. I don't know much about Verplancke, but I don't know that Mueller should have brought a significant amount despite the quality OBP. My main thought in liking Hendry's trades is that he very rarely gives up quality talent in a deal. Whether acquiring a good player or a mediocre player, Hendry generally gives up guys we don't end up missing. The best players he's traded are pretty much Nolasco, Wuertz and maybe Pie. Considering the talent he's brought in, that's really good. He does, however, have that heavy traditional streak in him that makes him like guys like Womack and Macias because they're considered "leadoff type" hitters and the scout in him ocassionally makes him like guys like Heilman. However, just about any GM is going to make questionable trades (Beane traded for Aaron Miles), but Hendry's good trades well outweigh his bad (both in quantity and quality).

I wasn't sure if you were or not, but wasn't sure since you referenced me pointing out his weak June. I'm trying to stay pretty middle of the road with Colvin. He's hard to figure out at this point - are his 2009 Daytona numbers the real him or his 2009 Tennessee/2010 Cubs numbers the real Colvin - and because of that, it's hard to make a declarative statement either way.

This is basically what I'm getting at. It could be detrimental to his career if a majority of fans start expecting something he can't deliver. He can be a valuable player, I'm just hoping people don't start expecting more than he can deliver because of this torrid start - as fun to watch as it's been.

I have no idea what the Cobs could get in return for Colvin, but they need to be shopping him around to find out. He's not the sort of player a team needs to jealously guard. By the way, on a note completely unrelated to dew's post, whatever happened to Jeff Francoeur? I'm not against shopping him around to see if somebody will blow you away, I just doubt his value is really high right now.

I'm trying not to sound "anti-Colvin" because I'm not. I like him and think he can be productive, I just think it's better for his development right now to keep him in more limited, favorable matchups instead of playing him every day. Give him a chance to build some confidence while continuing to work on his approach.

IIRC, Lou and Larry had a previous relkationship. I believe Larry was Lou's pitching coach for the Reds. There is some recent precedence with the Cubs for requiring even an experienced manager to keep a coach with time remaining on a multi-year contract. Dusty was stuck with Larry even though he clearly would have preferred Dick Pole as pitching coach. I'm hoping a manager just decides to keep Larry around since he's easily one of the best pitching coaches in the game.

Definitely. Tyler Colvin will never "work on his approach" enough to be a reliably good hitter. The question is, will the return be good enough to overcome the value he's likely to provide to us? He could make a good 4th outfielder and maybe an average-above average starter in time. Could we get more than that in a trade?

I don't know that he'd bring in enough to warrant trading cheap, potential production. If we could package him with someone, maybe so. However, it'd probably be better to keep him.

Those numbers were off baseball-reference. What he did today may have bumped them up significantly without b-r counting them yet. Yeah, BR hasn't updated their stats to include today yet. Makes sense. They don't update immediately.

Now that he's in the majors I wouldn't be in favor of sending him back to the minors while he's productive (which he's dropped off significantly in June). However, I think leaving him in AA or AAA this year would have helped his development simply because he could have worked on his approach better there (and I believe Von Joshua focuses more on approach than mechanics, while Jaramillo focuses more on mechanics than approach) while facing lesser pitching. Now, however, I'd keep him in the majors and work him into good matchups to try to keep the confidence up. In the meantime, Lou and Rudy can work with him on his approach and hope he can develop a little bit more patience. If his July numbers don't improve over what he did in June, I might consider moving him to Iowa in August to work there a little bit.

Those numbers were off baseball-reference. What he did today may have bumped them up significantly without b-r counting them yet. I'm enjoying what he'd done this year and I think it's indicative of what kind of player he's likely to become. I don't see much of a sign that he'll be a very patient hitter at any point, but I think he's blossoming some really nice power. That said, I don't see anything wrong with breaking down his numbers a bit. I like Colvin, but I actually would prefer to see him in the minors this season in order to continue developing under much less scrutiny. I hope that his huge success early on won't raise expectations to an unrealistic point.

That's probably right, though Lou did keep Rothschild around. I'm hoping the reputation they have around the league prompts the new manager to keep them. I'd bet there'd be a bit of encouragement from Ricketts to not have to eat Jaramillo's brand new contract after the first year.

I mentioned this before, but it's showing a little stronger now that as he gets more playing time, his numbers have gotten worse. Mar/Apr: 53 PA - .935 OPS May: 30 PA - 1.033 OPS June: 75 PA - .780 July: 14 PA - .429 OPS (irrelevant, but I included it anyway) The months he's gotten the most PAs, he's been worse. I think the reasoning behind that is the success is driven by the good matchups. As he's gotten more ABs, he's gotten worse - by quite a bit in June. It could just be sample size issues, it could be that he's not ready to be a consistent contributor yet, I'm not sure. That said, he's 24 (25 in September) and there's no reason to write him off. The power thus far this year is unsustainable (most likely) but he's shown very good power in the minors at times (14 HR in just over 300 PAs last year in Tennessee). He's really hard to figure out, especially recently. Last year in 129 PAs at Daytona, he had a .250/.326/.357 line with a .076 IsoP. However, in 330 PAs at Tennessee he posted a .300/.334/.524 line with a .034 IsoP. He has a .043 career IsoP. I don't think he'll be a real patient hitter at any point, but he appears to have pretty solid power.

thank god omar infante got a well-deserved spot Votto: .988 OPS/.425 wOBA Infante: .721 OPS/.320 wOBA Wow.

The problem is, while he's very good at coordinating trades and working the phones, the returns he gets in a number of his trades have me concerned. Sure, he's pulled off some good ones (Gorzelanny, Harden, Nomar), but he's also pulled off some really horrific ones (Trachsel, Juan Pierre, Izturis). How was the Trachsel trade a horrific trade? He dealt two AAAA fillers likely with little to no value for a mediocre pitcher. It didn't make a lot of sense, but he didn't give up all that much. He really hasn't made all that many bad trades. The Maddux and Pierre deals are easily his worst and I can't think of too many other particularly bad ones. His good deals far, far outweigh his bad ones.

Hendry's always been slow to trade away players. Even guys like Sosa and Bradley who it was obvious were going to be traded took the better part of the offseason each time. Between his patience and some of the big contracts he'll be trying to move, I wouldn't expect that much movement before the deadline. Basically this is why he needs to be fired before any rebuilding does occur. I don't understand what you mean. Why does his speed at trading players matter in whether we rebuild successfully or not? He'll deal the guys he gets good offers on by the deadline anyway.