Today, in multiple reports, the Philadelphia Phillies have been strongly connected to free agent third baseman, and soon-to-be-former Cub, Aramis Ramirez. The Phillies feel they need a big bat, and are apparently willing to sacrifice the defense at third in exchange for that offense.
If true, where does that leave current Phillie 3B, Placido Polanco?
Well, the Phillies would probably shop him, lest they have a very expensive utility player on their hands. And one team likely to show at least a little interest is the Chicago Cubs.
Indeed, Phil Rogers says you can add Polanco to the list of Cubs third base options.
Polanco, 36, is set to make $6.25 million in 2012, with a $5.5 million mutual option for 2013 (with a $1 million buyout), so acquiring him could be an expensive one-year move. His offensive numbers have waned considerably in recent years – OPS+ of 101, 90, 94, 85 over the last four years – though his defense remains solid.
One rub with Polanco, as pointed out by Rogers, is Polanco’s recovery from post-season double hernia surgery. He’s expected to be ready for Opening Day, but injury recovery becomes increasingly difficult as a guy ages, and, whether he’s “ready” by Opening Day says nothing about whether he’s “ready to play well” by Opening Day.
The Cubs are also exploring deals with the Padres and Rockies for Chase Headley and Ian Stewart, respectively, and, given their age profiles and contract situations, you’ve got to believe those two would be a preference over Polanco. Frankly, I’d much rather the Cubs handed the position over to DJ LeMahieu, for example, than pick up Polanco as a starter.
pass.. wow, none of the rumors so far are very impressive except for Headley. I still believe we have a lot of surprises coming our way with what “Hoystein” does this off-season.
Do we know what kind of hernias? Lots of them can be corrected with minimally invasive surgery… which even old people almost always heal from quickly.
Pass. Give me Headley!
Wait, that doesn’t sound right.
BAHAHAHAHAHAA *sniff* too good…
Ba duh bump!
Just read that Soriano rumors are picking up steam over at MLBTR.
hahahahaha i just LOL’ed
Polanco is not what he used to be. That God it was one of Rogers’ rumors, so I can totally disregard it.
Don’t want Polanco!Would rather they spend 6.25 million somewhere else!!
Brett, is there a radio/internet radio station talking all day about the Winter Meetings? My google search proved unsuccessful.
Good question. I’m sure MLBN radio is (I believe that’s a Sirius/XM station). I’m following via Twitter, Facebook, MLBN, and the Web.
Thanks, I will just stay tuned in here. The suspense about a blockbuster deal is killing me!
Get on twitter and there are quite a few people you can follow to keep you up to date.
Speaking of that I just got a new tweet!
Yep, I am in on twitter and watching MLB.com live winter meetings interviews with GM’s. Nothing new on MLB.com
Follow me @Kansas_Cubs_Fan
I follow back!
Ok, but I don’t tweet much- mostly just read others tweets!
http://www.mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?topic_id=7270758
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?topic_id=6261176
Anyone that suggests Polanco as a real option at third are nothing more than, “cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers,….”
…I concur with Phil. Give me Headley!
Bushwackers?? worst tag team of all time!
Blasphemy!
now if you’re talking “Demolition” or “The Hart Foundation”.. well, I’d be on board.
Uhhh the Rockers. Duh!
Strike Force?
The Allied Powers and then Ill raise you Money Inc brother!
Power and Glory!!!
This debate is awful. Everybody knows it’s “Legion of Doom”.
You went the easy way Jeff. If you want to play that way then: The Four Horsemen!
How can you say that when The Iron Shiek & Nickoli Volkoff still on the board?
hmmm… I’ll see you’re Money Inc, and raise you the British Bulldogs and the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers.
Thats easily trumped by the Fabulous Freebirds!
don’t make me bust out the Conquistadors!
me and my kid had our picture taken with the Iron Sheik last year…..nice guy, does have trouble speaking and moving though
Ouch! I’m sure all those years of wrestling has those guys in pretty bad shape.. that’s cool though!
What do you think of signing Kelly Johnson at 2B and then let DeWitt, Barney, and LaMahieu handle 3rd?
The 3B that are availible aren’t really all that special although i don’t mind Headley. It will just cost us a little more to get him than any of the other 3Bs out there and i don’t know if that would be all that worth it compared to my above idea.
And why hasn’t Kelly Johnson been talked about that much, especially as a fit for the Cubs?
AAA team, were good!
But would Headley, Polanco, or especially Stewart be that much of an upgrade? Especially considering that Kelly Johnson would probably be a better offensive player than any of them, he plays good defense at second, he should be a good value dollar and year wise, and also considering what we would have to give up for the upgrade at 3rd.
Nope! But I’m getting paid to hype the team! Ya, right.
I still think K Johnson and Pena would be a productive short term stop gap
while the Cubs rebuild. Moving Castro to 3rd and Barney SS makes a lot of sense.
Kelly Johnson might have some power, but he strikes out a whole lot and his defense isn’t very good. With an OBP around Darwin Barney level, I don’t think he’s worth it. I think having DJ, Barney, Flaherty, and DeWitt will offer a much better option there.
Johnson is generally thought of as a poor defender at 2B – that’s probably the main reason his name doesn’t come up much with the new crew in charge.
A team That has most major pieces in place and is trying to make a serious championship run should go after placido. A good player but not the right piece for the cubs.
Give me headly too
Yea that sounds right
Rosenthal reports that the Cubs have met with Pujols’ agent, Dan Lozano. Rosie doesn’t have the details, but, this meeting was to be expected. Could be something, could be nothing. Lozano is expected to meet with the Marlins later.
Where is Katie?
I’m here. I actually had to earn my paycheck in a meeting today. What’s up?
No, No, No we dont need him, hes getting to old and if the phillies dont want him why would we want him. We need power
Katie is a him?
What about a trade with Houston for Lee, Bret Myers, prospect or 2 for Soriano Soto and Marmol
Carlos Lee? No thanks.
1 year of Lee for 3 years Soriano and 20 mil?
Brett Myers would be interesting on the cheap, but that’s about it.
$7.25M for 1yr of a 3B coming off double hernia surgery doesn’t even sound good.
BTW, this is the best news I’ve heard today!
http://tracking.si.com/2011/12/05/report-chicago-cubs-receiving-interest-in-alfonso-soriano/
please please someone take this albatross off us!
UZR absolutely adores Polanco’s defense at 3b. He’s not young so he’s not a sexy pick, but he’s the best of the stopgap options I’ve seen floated around, by a long shot.
mlbtr reports that cespedes wants 2 times what chapman signed for. they say that would come out to 60 mil. do you think he is worth that much?
Well, if that 60 mil comes over the 7 years a team would have control of him, that comes out to $8.57 mil/yr. Not adjusting for inflation, the $/WAR ratio is about 5 on the market, so he’d only have to produce 1.7 WAR/yr to be worth that contract.
In other words, he could produce less than Darwin Barney last year (2.0 fWAR), and still be worth his contract
So yea, absolutely worth it
I’m not so sure. The problem is there’s a significant chance that he produces zero WAR. I know everybody’s pencilling him in to MLB lineups, but the reality is he’s never had consistent exposure to pitching above A-ball quality. At 26, that’s awfully late to be learning to consistently hit a AA breaking ball.
Whether he’s worth the risk or not is ultimately a scouting call. The workout videos are nice, but someone needs to see his swing and make a judgment.
For what it’s worth, Goldstein says the lifestyle adjustment will be a bigger challenge for Cespedes than the baseball adjustment.
when teams visit Cespdes for workouts in the DR, are they taking their own pitchers (MLB guys) down there to throw some 96mph & MLB breaking balls to Cespedes?
i can’t imagine him getting a major league deal without seeing mlb pitching so maybe that was a stupid question
I don’t think that happens. I imagine they can control the workout a little bit, but I doubt the pitching he’s facing is anything close to big-league pitching.
interesting. 6-7yrs/$60M is a bargain if his hitting translates, especially with established mlb OFs getting $15-20M/yr
Brett, or anyone who might know…I assume we must have guys working on multiple fronts right? At least Jed and Theo must be…and maybe Randy Bush…I think most teams would have to do this with all of the variables involved…..
Could you imagine the day when Hendry did this all by himself. Other teams must have laughed at us.
Hey Hawkeye, I’m an OU fan, live in Tulsa. I guess we’re fellow Insight Bowlers!
Hey EQ76 I’m up In Wichita, Ks.
That’s not far man! The wife and I actually went up to see the Cubs/Royals this past summer.
I had planned on going but just couldn’t get away for it.
My friend ended up taking his girlfriend who couldn’t pronounce Fukudome’s name.
EQ76, there are a lot of us Hawkeye fans on this site. Unfortunately, I am worried we won’t give you much of a game…
I dunno, after watching my team lose to OSU, we might not be that great either! I do have some gratitude to Iowa, you guys produced Stoops for us.
Yes. Lower level folks also meet with other teams’ reps and agents, but obviously, the authority lies with Theo and Jed.
Polanco would make sense..Vitters is close to being ready..Maybe 2012 close…Although some may have him slated for LF…Wouldn’t be surprised to see Byrd moved and Brett Jackson and Vitters patrolling CF and RF with DeJesus in RF..