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Hairyducked Idiot

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Everything posted by Hairyducked Idiot

  1. Hairyducked Idiot
    He's certainly not. The majority of baseball fans may get off on being withholding, but there's a sizable minority who think the HOF should be a bit bigger.
  2. Hairyducked Idiot
    I posted this on another site about Torreyes: Player Age Level KRate BB Rate AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS Player A 19 A+ 10.6 4.9 299/334/388/722 Player B 18 A 6.3 4.6 356/391/457/848 Player B is Torreyes (fueled by a 375 BABIP) Player A is Starlin Castro (with a 331 BABIP) I'm not saying Torreyes will be in the majors in two years like Castro, but they both possess a great contact tool. Torreyes may have a better contact tool than Castro if you believe that his strikeout rate can indicate that. Maybe someone else can provide some insight there. I also was impressed that his slugging was so high, but I guess that is also impacted by his high BABIP. My main point is that I'm excited about Torreyes I really wish someone could come up with a good contact comp for Torreyes. Even guys with supposedly great contact tools struck out twice as much as he did at comparable levels.
  3. Hairyducked Idiot
    2011 was the year a lot of long-time Cubs caught up with their reputations. Soriano's defense has probably dipped below average now, and it's only going to get worse. He had some bad BABIP luck last year, but he's definitely no longer *that* good of a hitter. If we don't find a taker, and I doubt we will at any price, I'm fine with just waiving him. I've got Sappelt in a dead heat with him in terms of value for next year, and Sappelt has more upside in the near and long term. Soriano's not really useful off the bench, either, so you might as well not waste the roster spot.
  4. Hairyducked Idiot
    Did we ever find out definitively if Pena's deferred money went on the 2011 or 2012 payroll? Last I heard, I thought that is was to be paid in 2011 and it was just deferred to be a one time after the season payment. Levine reported that it was being counted against 2012, but not in a definitive enough way for some to be completely sure.
  5. Hairyducked Idiot
    I think this statement misunderstands some of the players we've acquired. A guy in A-ball is not guaranteed to reach his potential, of course. But a young guy with solid AAA MLEs is just as safe of a bet as a regular MLB player.
  6. Hairyducked Idiot
    From the moment Theo and Jed came on board they have preached about how poor defensively the Cubs have been and how they wanted to change that. And Hawpe actually makes Soriano look like a fantastic LF by comparison. There is absolutely zero chance that the front office would ever seriously consider Hawpe for an outfield role. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. You can keep talking about how they might, but it is in no way realistic even in the slightest. 1B, maybe. I can see a confluence of circumstances that might, however unlikely, allow Hawpe to be the stopgap until Rizzo is ready. But the idea that we might ever acquire Hawpe to play the OF is about as likely as luring Barry Bonds out of retirement. And that's not hyperbole. I'm really digging the fact that pretty much everyone we've acquired this offseason has been at least a slightly above average defender. Stewart, Sappelt, Rizzo.
  7. Hairyducked Idiot
    I dunno, maybe I'm just drinking the kool-aid, but I think we're a lot closer than some people think, and a lot better. I was expecting the front office to come in and bludgeon the problems away with cash, but they've been much better than that. During the compensation talks, I kept arguing that guys right on the cusp of being regular major leaguers, either AAAers or guys with very little service time, were the most valuable asset in the game outside of true stars. In just a few months we've added Wood, Sappelt (who I think is still being quite underrated) and Rizzo that all fit in that category and could easily lock down key roles for a long time. I'd feel pretty bullish for 2013 about Sappelt, Jackson, Castro, Rizzo and Soto in the lineup and Garza, Wood and Volstad (as a No. 5) in the rotation. That leaves three lineup spots and two rotation spots to be filled, and given the sheer amount of resources we have and the quickly-amassing track record of the front office, I think five spots to be filled is very doable.
  8. Hairyducked Idiot
    Epstein/Hoyer have been on the job less than three months, right? In that time, they've managed to fill the horrific organizational hole at 1b and flip Sean Marshall for a middle of the rotation starter and two useful parts. Meanwhile, they've got to have eleventy bajillion dollars to spend. I'm pretty sure they can do a lot of magic in 15 more months.
  9. Hairyducked Idiot
    As far as big extensions to pitchers go, Zambrano's wasn't great, but it really wasn't bad. We got real value from him.
  10. Hairyducked Idiot
    The more I think about what it means to be a successful 21-year-old at AAA, and what it usually means to be a 25-year-old pitcher who has never put together a full starting season, the more I love this deal. Then you consider that we actually picked up a legit prospect in the throw-in swap, and I think this is another excellent trade. Not quite on the level of awesomeness of the Marshall trade, but up there. Epstein/Hoyer seem to have an incredible knack for finding teams that have assets that aren't as valuable to them as they should be. Wood and Rizzo are really, really nice pieces, and they weren't going to be helped much by their big league home parks. Plus, Rizzo was blocked, and Wood was just being Dustied in favor of Bronson Arroyo. This offseason isn't taking the direction I expected, but once the decision was made to rebuild, we've been doing it brilliantly. The front office is living up to the hype and then some.
  11. Hairyducked Idiot
    With where the Brewers are in the success cycle, there is no realistic haul that would make it worthwhile for them to trade Braun.
  12. Hairyducked Idiot
    That's not unnerving at all. The difference between a 21-year-old in his first look at a league and a 29-year-old in his third is absolutely huge.
  13. Hairyducked Idiot
    I was ecstatic about the Marshall trade and the Nomar trade. I was pretty angry about the Ramirez trade. Bobby Hill was going to be our leadoff man for a decade, or something. I'm happy about this deal, but it's not like you can get something on the level of the Marshall trade every day.
  14. Hairyducked Idiot
    2 words: hush money. That explains where all the budget money has gone.
  15. Hairyducked Idiot
    That was pretty nice of Theo to let Jed do an interview like a real GM.
  16. Hairyducked Idiot
    I consider Wood on a very different level from the other three. Wood is a legit quality major leaguer right now, no reservations. LaHair, I just don't know what the upside here is. Maybe he hits .280/350/450 or something crazy like that, but even then it's not like we'll get anything for him at the deadline. Then he walks. He's the purest definition of a stopgap. Stewart is terrible and I hope he gets mouth cancer so he doesn't have to be in the lineup anymore. Volstad is kind of the most lottery-tickety of the bunch. I could really see him being a useful BOR guy, or he could just be terrible and made to go away.
  17. Hairyducked Idiot
    Na *might* be a fourth outfielder. Cates is a legit, if long-shot, prospect. We definitely got the better end of that swap.
  18. Hairyducked Idiot
    Still $102.6, by my estimate. The Zambrano deal was almost exactly neutral.
  19. Hairyducked Idiot
    LaRoche is slower and worse defensively. LaRoche with plus defense? I'll take that.
  20. Hairyducked Idiot
    If Castro takes a step forward, and we give Sappelt at chance at LF (which I think we should), we could be a *really* good defensive team in 2013.
  21. Hairyducked Idiot
    Who is playing 2B? The still-underrated Darwin Barney?
  22. Hairyducked Idiot
    Sounds like Mark Grace..... I said he has some power.
  23. Hairyducked Idiot
    His super-awesome AAA numbers came with a .369 BABIP, and his terrible MLB ones came with a .210 BABIP. He has some power, he can take a walk, and he plays good defense. I don't think he's going to be a superstar, but he should project to be a pretty good player long-term.
  24. Hairyducked Idiot
    Nothing? Got it. "Swing is too long" is universal fan code for "He didn't hit well in his cup of coffee."
  25. Hairyducked Idiot
    Whenever Theo and Jed decide to unload the war chest, we are going to have an insane amount of money to spend, with cheap young players at a bunch of positions already in place.
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