11 replies to this topic

[Oswego Chris]

Baseball is like no other game....your line-up can looked stacked going in(see the 2002 Cubs(McGriff, Sosa, Alou)...and you can struggle....and then sometimes you can win with a pretty garbage lineup...2010 Giants(albeit with stud pitching)...but even a kool-aid drinker like myself is a bit disappointed at what the Theotles have done so far on the offensive side of things....here is how I would assess our current hitters

Starlin Castro- the only hitter with true upside, and the only hitter who would start on most MLB line-ups

Soriano- sadly, more than likely our next best hitter

Bryan LaHair- very small sample size, but I would put him next

Geo Soto- decent for a catcher...would be a great 8th hitter...if we already didn't have a roster full of them

Ian Stewart- How often do players numbers improve when they leave Colorado?

DeJesus, Byrd, Barney, Baker, Johnson- Great players....to have as 4th and 5th outfielders and back-up infielders

DeWitt- why was he not non-tendered?

I really expected more of an overhaul than this...maybe they have one or two moves still up their sleeves...

hard not to think this is just a bunch of crappy crap crap...

thoughts?

[Robbo]

You're not crazy. It could be a struggle at the plate this season. Hoping Soto's up-down trend continues and he has a .380 OBP and 25 HR's. Maybe Campana's new 10 lbs. of muscle will allow him to finally hit one that can get out of the infield.

Some other non run producing Cubs teams in the recent past...

'92 - only managed 593 runs
'80 - only 614 runs - someone call Dick Tidrow and find out why his teammates couldn't hit that season.

[FratRat]

ORL Chris, is this veiled contempt over the non-Fielder signing? I'd like to have seen him in a North side uniform as well but I just don't see it.........who would have protected him in lineup?

[Oswego Chris]

I never expected Fielder and finished this before I knew of his signing....he's a DH....

[dabynsky]

It is sad that a lineup containing a 38 year old Fred McGriff, 35 year old Moises Alou, and Todd Hundley counts as a stacked lineup in the past fifteen years for this franchise. Though my memories of that team certainly aren't helped by Don "first inning sacrifice bunt" Baylor being the manager.

[Tommy]

I've gotta hope that Sveum and Bosio make the big difference. These are mostly younger players - anything can happen, and a lot of these kids were very high draft picks, so the potential is there. Maybe a change of scenery will bring that out of them.

LaHair - Awesome minor league player that has never gotten a chance. Rizzo will be coming shortly thereafter, and I think everyone is excited about him.
Barney - decent avg., good defense. We could do worse.
Castro - stud, hopefully the D improves with the new manager.
Stewart - 10th pick overall in the 2003 draft. Kid has untapped potential. Maybe Wrigley and Sveum bring it out of him.
Soto - He's an even year player and this is an even year. AND he's in shape!
Soriano - didn't he cure his hop last year? That would be a huge improvement!
Byrd - Lost a ton of weight, and he was decent last year as our only all-star. Maybe later in the year we see Jackson, and there's plenty to be excited about there.
Dejesus - Coming off a bad year, but 2 years ago he had a .318 avg and .384 obp.
Garza - Guys only getting better.
Dempster - Guy has had issues with his kid. Maybe his focus is back this year. His ERA shot up over a full point last year. Just needs to get back down to where he was the prior 3 years.
T. Wood - 2 years ago 3.51 ERA and 1.081 WHIP. Can he rebound?
Maholm - 3.66 ERA, 1.29 WHIP is respectable. Young and could still improve.
Volstad - 16th pick overall in 2009. Change of scenery may help him.
We all can agree our middle relief should be improved.
Marmol - I gotta think he was overused last year. Bounce back to what he did 2 years ago? Possible.

Last year to this year:
Ryan Dempster: could rebound
Matt Garza: maybe gets better
Carlos Zambrano replaced by Travis Wood - I think that's a win. Clubhouse cancer for someone more stable.
Randy Wells maybe bounce back, maybe replaced in rotation by Maholm or Volstad. Either way, he did not have a good year last year. Expect improvement from one of these 3 places.
Casey Coleman/Rodrigo Lopez - seriously, we can't do worse.
Middle relief should be better
Carlos Pena replaced by Bryan LaHair - this could be tough defensively, but there is a chance we see an increase in offensive production. (long shot)
Barney to Barney - should be about the same.
Castro - hope for the same.
Ramirez to Stewart - this could be tough, but again, it's about potential with Stewart. And Stewart is better defensively.
Soto to Soto - again, it's an even year.
Soriano to Soriano - can't be any worse I wouldn't think.
Byrd to Byrd or Jackson - He's in better shape this year than last, and he won't be trying to heal from being hit in the head.
Fukudome to DeJesus - probably lose some defense, but if Dejesus can return to his 2010 form, it's an upgrade offensively.
Quade to Sveum - That's gotta be worth a few wins.
Riggins to Bosio - Come on - this could be the biggest difference maker. Sure, I don't know anything about Bosio, but I trust the FO.

All I'm saying is now is the time to be optimistic. I really don't think it's as bad as most people think. I definitely think this team will be improved.

[dabynsky]

I am not sure we lose any defense going from DeJesus to Fukudome. I always thought Fukudome was pretty good defensively, but the metrics I saw always seemed to indicate a below average defender. DeJesus isn't a bad defender in right by any means either.

I agree with your assessment that the offense isn't as bad as people are making it out to be, but it certainly could be very ugly if several guys don't rebound this year.

[Tommy]

I am not sure we lose any defense going from DeJesus to Fukudome. I always thought Fukudome was pretty good defensively, but the metrics I saw always seemed to indicate a below average defender. DeJesus isn't a bad defender in right by any means either.

I agree with your assessment that the offense isn't as bad as people are making it out to be, but it certainly could be very ugly if several guys don't rebound this year.

Yeah, I can't argue with that Dab! But you have to admit, whatever we might lose in offense, I would think we'll more than make up in pitching, right? The thing that excites me is we've got so many starters that they don't all have to rebound.

And I agree with what you said about Dejesus, but I think the popular opinion is that we'll lose something on defense because he doesn't have the arm that Fukudome does. I'm actually really excited about seeing Dejesus play for us this year!

[dabynsky]

I am not sure we lose any defense going from DeJesus to Fukudome. I always thought Fukudome was pretty good defensively, but the metrics I saw always seemed to indicate a below average defender. DeJesus isn't a bad defender in right by any means either.

I agree with your assessment that the offense isn't as bad as people are making it out to be, but it certainly could be very ugly if several guys don't rebound this year.

Yeah, I can't argue with that Dab! But you have to admit, whatever we might lose in offense, I would think we'll more than make up in pitching, right? The thing that excites me is we've got so many starters that they don't all have to rebound.

And I agree with what you said about Dejesus, but I think the popular opinion is that we'll lose something on defense because he doesn't have the arm that Fukudome does. I'm actually really excited about seeing Dejesus play for us this year!

I agree that the pitching should be better, but I guess the difference between my opinion and that of the OP of these two threads is that I am less optimistic about the pitching and more optimistic about the offense than he is. Certainly it will help to have the depth the Cubs now have, and I am hopeful that Dempster can prove that he is still a decent option as a 2 starter. That said I think the improvement is mostly going to be not having guys like Doug Davis eating innings.

[Tommy]

That said I think the improvement is mostly going to be not having guys like Doug Davis eating innings.

HAHA! Right on to that! Hey, love the profile pic, btw! lol

[FFP]

I wonder if Baseball Ops sees something in how some of these guys hit mediocre pitching. Almost all of their new hires (and keeps) are patient hitters, and have relatively high p/pa. A whole team like this gets the Cubs into opposition's bullpen earlier (by about 2/3 of an inning), where the hitters might perform differently.

(Ya, know, this irrational optimism is the easiest thing to transfer from my years rooting for Boston.)

[Tommy]

(Ya, know, this irrational optimism is the easiest thing to transfer from my years rooting for Boston.)

That's awesome.