SABR Gamer

Why aren't you locking this damned thread! I secretly want this thread to cross the 300 page plateau. That way we can say we talked about nothing for 300 pages. Hey, If thats the case than let me help the cause! Apple Sauce Pancakes cuddly pink stuffed animals nutella and peanut butter

Why aren't you locking this damned thread! I secretly want this thread to cross the 300 page plateau. That way we can say we talked about nothing for 300 pages. Hey, If thats the case than let me help the cause! Apple Sauce Pancakes cuddly pink stuffed animals

Why aren't you locking this damned thread! I secretly want this thread to cross the 300 page plateau. That way we can say we talked about nothing for 300 pages. Hey, If thats the case than let me help the cause! Apple Sauce Pancakes

Why aren't you locking this damned thread! I secretly want this thread to cross the 300 page plateau. That way we can say we talked about nothing for 300 pages. Hey, If thats the case than let me help the cause! Apple Sauce

Have you looked at his stats? If he could come anything close to his 2005 he would be 3x the hitter Theriot is, and they are equal in the field, Lopez may even be better. I'm not sure where you get the idea that Lopez is the defensive equal of Ryan Theriot, but defensive systems that use play-by-play data (which BP doesn't) like PMR and Fielding Bible's +/- seem to agree that Theriot is solidly average while Lopez has been one of the worst fielding SS's in baseball over the last several years. His awful defense was pretty much the justification for the Reds trading him in the first place, despite a very good year at the plate in 2005. He is clearly not a SS. Not sure how he would perform at 2B. Offensively, at his best, he seems like a poor man's Brian Roberts. He's a switch hitter with speed, so you can see why Jimbo might like him, but I doubt he'd be an upgrade over DeRosa. He also seems to have a bit of an attitude of problem. It sounds like he is going to sulk on the bench if he doesn't get to play every day. BP had Theriot as a -6 SS last year, and projects him to be -4 this year, that's not average. Lopez was -12 last year, and was as high as -5 in Cinci, and they project him to be -4 this year. Neither are great options, and Lopez will make up for it a ton more than Theriot will with the bat. Once again, I'm not sure why you would trust BP's defensive stats which estimate how many plays a fielder should make based on a variety factors (pitching staff, balls in play, baserunners, etc.) over newer, more advanced systems that actually use batted ball data. Not to say these metrics are infallible, but they seem to agree with the general consensus that Felipe Lopez is a third baseman playing shortstop. Likewise, Theriot, if you watched him last year, seemed to make all the plays he was supposed to make. That pretty much jibes exactly with the data. Not to mention that he was one of the better SS's in baseball at converting DP opportunities. He was not gold glove caliber and his defense might not be good enough to overcome his bat, but he was not a poor fielder. Whatever, he just doesn't impress me with any part of his game and I don't know how it would be that hard to replace him, hell I have practiced with the guy and no part of his game stood out when I was playing with him, I don't understand how he is a major leaguer that has no real threat to his job security. He's decent, and I think off the bench he could be pretty good but playing every day he could be a major weak spot. I just wish that they would give DeRosa a chance to play SS and trade for Roberts, or trade for an every day SS. How many of the other major contenders have a weak spot as big as the Cubs at SS? Not to mention we are also taking huge risks by going with rookies at CF and C, basically three eighths of our lineup could potentially be black holes. I doubt Soto will be bad but you never know.

FTW x Infinity / Infinity +1 Divided by Infinity and then +1? So were at FTW+1? Ok. God, I wish the season would start !! No kidding.

No because he was talking about how the Brewers add Braun to the other "two" MVP candidates they have.

FTW x Infinity / Infinity +1 Divided by Infinity and then +1? So were at FTW+1? Ok.

"included two guys capable of winning MVP awards, first baseman Prince Fielder and shortstop J.J. Hardy." The second name makes me LOL. Mark DeRosa I guess is capable of winning an MVP. OPS+ J.J. Hardy - 100 Mark DeRosa - 102

FTW x Infinity

The Brian Roberts Thread

Nowhere. All I was saying is that I would trade Pie but ONLY if we had a good replacement for him.

I <3 DeRosa. He knows he is a better player than Theriot and I'd like to see him start at SS with Roberts at 2B.

Oh please let the Roberts deal happen, PLEASE. I am a HUGE Pie fan, BUT I think that this year is one of our few chances with this core group of players, maybe only, to win the World Series, I might put him in the Roberts deal if we could get Crisp or Figgins. Crisp/Figgins+DeRosa+Roberts > Pie+Theriot+DeRosa EDIT: Long term view I really would hope we could keep Pie, but I'm all about winning the World Series NOW at any cost.

Yeah but I think Z never looks really as chubby as Cabrera did and I have never seen Z look as good as Cabrera does now. Cabrera looks like he's in awesome shape. Another difference is Z has never had that much motivation, going from Florida to Detroit is huge.

I wasn't kidding, this is an outstanding signing for Detriot, especially if his new body is here to stay.

Cabrera is gonna make Kirby Puckett look like Juan Pierre. I don't think that will happen. Puckett was a big dude. I thought I heard Cabrera went on a diet this offseason...he probably gave it up after a week, though. Cabrera lost a lot of weight and looked like he was in great shape when he got to camp, he was serious about the diet.

Have you looked at his stats? If he could come anything close to his 2005 he would be 3x the hitter Theriot is, and they are equal in the field, Lopez may even be better. I'm not sure where you get the idea that Lopez is the defensive equal of Ryan Theriot, but defensive systems that use play-by-play data (which BP doesn't) like PMR and Fielding Bible's +/- seem to agree that Theriot is solidly average while Lopez has been one of the worst fielding SS's in baseball over the last several years. His awful defense was pretty much the justification for the Reds trading him in the first place, despite a very good year at the plate in 2005. He is clearly not a SS. Not sure how he would perform at 2B. Offensively, at his best, he seems like a poor man's Brian Roberts. He's a switch hitter with speed, so you can see why Jimbo might like him, but I doubt he'd be an upgrade over DeRosa. He also seems to have a bit of an attitude of problem. It sounds like he is going to sulk on the bench if he doesn't get to play every day. BP had Theriot as a -6 SS last year, and projects him to be -4 this year, that's not average. Lopez was -12 last year, and was as high as -5 in Cinci, and they project him to be -4 this year. Neither are great options, and Lopez will make up for it a ton more than Theriot will with the bat.

Have you looked at his stats? If he could come anything close to his 2005 he would be 3x the hitter Theriot is, and they are equal in the field, Lopez may even be better. PECOTA (Weighted Mean) - FULL PT NAME - VORP - WARP Lopez - 24.1 - 4.8 Theriot - 6.4 - 3.1 Based on this, and that we probably don't need to give up much to acquire Lopez, we pay very little for 2 extra wins. That's a pretty good "point" in my opinion. I would be for this move if he was going to replace Theriot as the every day SS.

Funny, sad, and true.

I agree, the Cubs need to identify and give more chances to players that are getting younger instead of wasting their time on guys like Hill that are not. Name a player that is getting younger. Name one. Yeah, sub 4 era, 28 years old, why waste time with a pitcher like that? What a ridiculous statement. OMG, you're right, I can't name any player that is getting younger! And now that I think about it not even any human on the planet getting younger! Thanks for explaining that to me. Or maybe that was my point. Next time I will try one of those cute little eye rolling smilies and you might catch on. It was clear that you were being sarcastic. The eyes shouldn't be necessary.

I think it's because at first they both played on teams where they were blocked at SS, and then after a while they their skills at short stop were just forgotten. BP on DeRosa back in 2001, just after his first season of real PT in the majors, "he's not an offensive disaster and can definitely play shortstop", I think he is capable of being an every day SS, and coming into last year he was just as qualified if not more qualified than Theriot to be a regular SS, and that's what we are doing now. If the alternative is Theriot, then I don't see how you can make an arguement for not letting DeRosa at least try, not only offensively where it's obvious, but I also doubt that Theriot is really all that much better at defense at short than DeRosa. Well, maybe not Roberts, but at least DeRosa. After looking it up, I found Roberts was given a shot to be the SS his first year, but then the O's chose to play him at 2nd, but I still think DeRosa could be the SS.

SS DeRosa? Or Robers. Roberts used to be a SS, both of them started as SS in the minors. DeRosa has 349 games played at SS in the minors.

Fixed

And how did it feel? Pretty darn rewarding. I didn't know how much I was missing out.