neely crenshaw
-
Posts
1,898 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Joomla Posts 1
Chicago Cubs Videos
Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking
News
2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
Guides & Resources
2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
The Chicago Cubs Players Project
2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker
Blogs
Events
Forums
Store
Gallery
Everything posted by neely crenshaw
-
It's really hard to have 400 fluky plate appearances. Now it's still possible for pitchers/teams to make adjustments to him
-
I don't think looking at Castro's career stats will fully show how is playing now or in the future. Obviously if there is no improvement, they are relevant. Not sure that what he did at 20-21 correlates. Now that being said, I could see him become a center fielder also. He gets a tremendous jump on pop ups, and certainly it would allow more focus on his offense. However, they aren't going to move him for Baez at least without some type of huge improvement. Baez is the exact same type of SS (great plays but has lapses, mental mistakes, etc), but not as good overall. I'm not sure we have anyone in the system that matches what Castro can do, or potentially can do.
-
selfishly I do not want them to take a high school kid at a pick as high as 4. It will take so long and the chance of missing is much greater. Looking back at the 2011 draft, the top HS kids taken are still in A and AA, while many of the college arms are in the league or very close. I just think if we take a kid that isn't going to be showing up until 2017 or 18 at best I think it's a missed opportunity at this point. I'd like it to be an arm, but looking at Bryant, he could be up right now helping if we choose. He certainly should be here in septemeber and full time next. If we take a near ready guy, we might see him next year-which as badly as we need help all over, seems like the way to go. There has got to be something there at 4, that is near ready but with a very high ceiling also.
-
Lake could be fine if we get to the point that he is our 3rd OF, and batting 7 or 8. He seems like he can hit .250, and post .750 ops. Right now he has to be somewhere in the top 6 in the order, which can kill you when he is on a bad streak. If we can put together a lineup that allows Castillo/Lake to hit 7-8, Lake can be very tolerable. Looking at playoff teams from last year, they all had regulars worse sometimes far worse that what we are getting from Lake. Jay was comparable, Upton was under .600 ops, The Reds LF situation was equally poor.
-
I wonder if there will be a re-write of the article proclaiming the Padres the winners in the Cashner-Rizzo trade? With an MRI due today and a very vague "elbow soreness" putting on the DL. It seems a bit more severe than soreness, if they felt the need to DL him before even having the MRI done. Cashner has skill, but this is the exact reason he was tradable in the first place.
-
I really didn't think this was possible but we could easily lose 110 games. Currently on pace for 108, trade Shark and Hammel, (or anyone else someone will take) and this stays beyond ugly all year.
-
It's a spectrum. Vizcaino is back, but he's a reliever and not because his stuff isn't good enough. Other guys may lose velocity, or have to adjust their repertoire to avoid throwing a certain pitch or pitch mix. Others still will just be the guys more prone to other injuries that don't necessarily require TJS. Taking Hoffman at a discount would make some sense at 19 or maybe even 13, but at 4 it's a very bad idea. Agreed, I was hoping/dreaming he might fall to 2nd round.
-
Checked out Veras stat line and thought wow, his season ERA isn't all that bad….then I realized it was his whip!! Nice to see Rizzo and Castro continue their solid play.
-
I don't know how we pass on one of the big arms if they are there. Everyone keeps talking injury problems but we have to have pitching. No matter what we do: trade for, sign or draft pitchers the same question marks are there. Kershaw was about as durable as we have seen and he signs a contract and gets hurt. Its a crap shoot but we can't avoid it forever. It seems like drafting is a much cheaper option than signing a big time free agent-plus we don't have to convince them to sign with us.
-
The mock draft I saw had us taking Gordon. I'd like to see them get Beede especially if they plan on dealing Shark. Developing your own Ace seems like a quicker, less expensive way to compete. Obviously after the Tanaka's signing and what Scherzer turned down, signing a free agent ace will be a huge expense. Trading for one would likely be as expensive in prospects. Is it possible that Hoffman might fall to the 2nd or even 3rd round because of TJS. The FO doesn't seem to fear TJS when it comes to upside.
-
Oakland was 3 games better than the Cubs in 2011. I guess I didn't realize The A's were mediocre at that time. It seems like we have been bad for so long that I took for granted the difference in the clubs! Still the Cubs are probably going to have to beat any offer to sign free agents. So we can point to whatever free agent we think would be a good signing, but that doesn't mean they'll sign with us. The guy I think you could point to was Cespedes. Young, big bat, cheaper big bat free agent with no draft pick attached. He was relatively cheap, his first two years were less than what we paid Zambrano to pitch some place else. He is still only at 10.5 mil a year now for 2 more years.
-
And it takes two to tango. We may want a number of free agents but they have to want us also. I would guess to take him away from a contender would have cost more than it did Oakland to keep him.
-
Are you making a conclusion based on 66 at bats with RISP? Rizzo was worse when he was a rook, and almost as bad last year. 2.0 war is major league starter caliber. Last year we had 2 guys post that right? At least he is performing like a regular right now. So many where fired up about Valbuena and Schierholtz, and they posted a 1.6 and 1.3 last season.
-
He has 91 ab's how about we let him go a bit before we give up. Who was that prospect a few years back that posted a line of like .140 .281 .242 .523 in his first 50 games?
-
You have a guy that has a .365 OB% in the minors even with an awful 2013 when he was suffering from injuries. He hasn't been good but he is on a upswing, and is producing with his OPS. How about we see how this works out before we throw him out after 100 at bats. Since no one is coming up anytime soon, if he is the problem what is the solution? Play barney full-time at 2nd with his .234 ob% and .500 ops? or play Valbuena full time at 3b with his .676 ops which will certainly dive when he has to hit lefties, as he posted a .292 ob% and a .502 ops vs left handed starters last year. The problem isn't that Olt has a .257 ob% (which is bad) it's that he's one of our most productive guys even with that OB%. There's your problem. Regardless, 2 weeks ago he had a .209 ob% and .574 ops
-
exactly, hence the word "choice", the fielder simply made a choice to make a different play
-
He is currently 3rd on the team in Ops, it hasn't been pretty but he is. His game definitely has it's ebbs and flows for sure. His value to us will come when his production isn't the third best. If we can have his current production..maybe a little more consistent, improved defense and then add in 2or 3 solid bats to the lineup, his roller coaster is much more tolerable. For instance If Olt can be a bit better than serviceable, Baez and Bryant are what we hope they are, then we have something. You could have a line up of either 2-5 or 3-6 being Castro,Baez, Bryant and Rizzo- All potential .800+ Ops guys, and hopefully a couple of them go even higher. Olt, Castillo and Lake could then be spread around 2,6,7 or 8 depending on who else is in the lineup. Would not be too bad to trot out a 7 or 8 hole hitter like Lake or Castillo with an OPS of .750.
-
Olt's .257 OB% is terrible but to say he's the problem is crazy. First he has all of 91 at bats. Then, he does also sport a .719 ops-not great but better than Castillo, Valbuena, Schierholtz, Kalish, Sweeney, Ruggiano and only slightly behind Lake and Bonifacio. The only two players who you can say have definitely outproduced him are Rizzo and Castro. He is a young player getting his first real shot at the bigs, he is also on an upswing in May, with all of his categories improving: BA +.23, ob% +.45 SLG. +.85 OPS +.130 Certainly it's not where we hoped he'd be, but at least it starting to head in that direction. Even at his current rate he won't be far off of what Rizzo posted last season (with lower ob%, but higher slugging).
-
I don't think it can be used to predict improved W-L record. It would be nice to think it shows that but after a season and a third of this, it's a pretty good indication that our offense is what it is. Obviously we will be better this season because of better play by Castro and Rizzo BUT we also lost Soriano, and apparently Scheirholtz somewhere. We have very streaky guys that will have days like yesterday, and then be bad the rest of the week. When the day comes and Baez/Bryant prove to be solid dependable bats, we can then deal with guys like Lake and Olt being explosive but inconsistent. Even Castillo has over half of his hits in 6 games and 24 of his 34K's in 11 other games when he is batting .127, so he is a little all or nothing also.
-
The run differential is pretty easy to explain. Over the last two years we have good starting pitching and poor offense. Pitching keeps the runs down win or lose. On those days when our offense explodes we win by a lot (see:yesterday) but tend to lose by small margins. From last Monday we went 2-6, but won those 2 games by 19 runs and lost the 6 games by 15. unfortunately I don't see it as a case where the runs will even out and help us win more often. I just think we will remain remarkably inconsistent, probably just enough to drive whatever fans remain completely nuts.
-
offense is makes this game fun...
-
He's a place holder but he's better than the alternative until someone is ready. I think his career ob% is .320 which isn't good but we don't have many options. Everything above his career norms is a bonus. What we really need is for him to continuing playing above his norm, and then have a contender need a utility guy/middle infielder.
-
Well he has been about 1.6 War guy Anything we get above that is gravy. I have a feeling he will be a roller coaster like that all year but considering the options for us, I think WAR is skewed. On this team we should a WACR- wins above the cubs replacement. Sending out more of Barney, Sweeney, Ruggiano, and even Lake wouldn't help much. At least he keeps those guys from hitting against their weaker side. With what those guys might post just not being a negative war is probably a win….
-
all players do that, every great hitter has those days.
-
5/9 Cubs (Hammel) at Braves (Teheran) 6:35 CSN
neely crenshaw replied to soccer10k's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
Can someone tell me again how close we were to getting Teheran a few years back?! I need a little more salt in 2014 cubs baseball wounds.