Early roster cuts and today's lineup
The Cubs sent infielder-outfielder Jake Fox and outfielder Sam Fuld back to the minor-league camp this morning. More cuts will come later today. Fox hit .350 and slugged .633 this spring, but he's a man without a position. Maybe Jim Hendry can deal him to an AL team, where he can DH a little and play some first base. Fuld had a much better spring this year than last. He batted .250, but had an OBP of .370.
The Rockies come up from Tucson today. Cubs go like this:
Soriano, LF
Theriot, SS
Lee, 1B
Bradley, RF
Ramirez, 3B
Johnson, CF
Soto, C
Miles, 2B
Gaudin, P
Gaudin is 2-1 with an 11.17 ERA in 5 games, 3 starts, this spring. He's given up 15 hits in 9 2-3 innings while striking out five and walking six. Lou didn't exactly give him a ringing endorsement when asked where he fits.
"Yeah, he's a possibility for the middle," Lou said. "Let's hope he's got good stuff today. He's been throwing very well on the side."
Ted Lilly was throwing a simulated game this morning on the back field. Rich Harden may go up to 6 innings tomorrow in a Triple-A game down at Fitch Park.
Lou has led the majors in lineups 2 years now, don't see him changing...so fukudome will last 5 games at most at number 2.....in a row!
Fox would be an IDEAL 25th man. He can play 1b, the corner OF spots, be the 3rd or emergency catcher, and even play a little 3b in a pinch, AND he would be a great RH threat off the bench.
The problem is that the Cubs roster is a cluttered convolution of pieces that ALMOST fit, further complicated by the perceived need for a 12 man pitching staff.
If the Cubs had a collection of 4th and 5th slot starters, a good case could be made for keeping 12, but they don't! The Cubs have one of the top starting rotations in the game. A staff that should average 7 IP per game. It's stupid to think that it's going to take a 7 man relief staff to cover 2 or even 2+ innings per day. I generally agree with the notion that relief pitchers need roles, but it is also true that relief staffs must be molded to fit the rotation. With a strong starting rotation, besides a closer, the club needs a LH & RH set up pitcher, a spot starter/long relief man and two others (preferably one LH & one RH) and have ALL of them prepared to go 2 innings, using FEWER relief pitchers per day. It's not Rocket Science, but today's managers are predisposed to stay in the "rut of current thinking"!
The club will be an infielder short and have outfielders and relief pitchers falling all over each other looking for PT or IP.
The solution is an 11 man pitching staff, AT LEAST until May 1st AND biting the bullet on Fukudome, who is a bust NOW, and won't be any better later. With those moves made, the Cubs would have room for Fox AND an infielder and have a MUCH improved TEAM!
Jake Fox has a position - Designated Hitter. As one scout described him, "If he worked very hard on his defense, he might be able to improve it to slightly less than brutal".
I agree, I'd rather see 11 pitchers and six position players on the bench. Even if they cut Gathright and figure on Hoffpauir as the 5th OF option, that's Johnson, Hoff, Hill/Bako, and Miles, leaving only two spots with a six-player bench. They really need one more middle infielder, preferably one who is a threat to steal some bases and can be a defensive replacement. A RH power threat like Fox would fill out the bench pretty nicely, but a five man bench isn't going to cover all their needs.
The point was that the Cubs shouldn't have to sacrifice or choose between Hoffpauir or Gathright. Lou just needs to wake up to the fact that 12 pitchers are NOT needed, at least to start the season, and Hendry needs to admit his mistake and move Fukudome off the roster, even if he has to buy him out. After all, what good is spending $140M to go for the series, and risk losing because Fukudome is taking up valuable space on the roster? Play or go, the money is spent. Give it to him early if that's what it takes, and give the roster spot to someone that can actually help us win.
We all see Hoffpauir's talent and what he adds to the team; but Gathright makes an important contribution as well. He covers SO much ground in the OF and if Lou thought he could hide Fukudome behind a bunt or two a game in the 2 hole to keep his average from sliding out of site, how bad could it be with Gathright, who is so much faster that he could turn some of those sacrifice bunts into hits or safe on an error? And how nice it would be to have Gathright to call on late in a game when a pinch runner is needed to steal a base, or score from 1st or 2nd?
He has a 304 career SLG and a 328 career OBP and a mediocre 74% success rate on the basepaths despite his great speed; which is barely a break even point for costing the team more than helping. He was great last year at stealing, but that's ALL he was good for. And who knows if that is just a fluke or not.
And there is no chance Fukudome is being cut and handed $36 million. This is a guy that had a near .400 OBP for his first 340 plate appearances and then was miserable for 250 plate appearance. That is not a bust...yet. Giving up on a possible 400 OBP (not to mention $36 million) for a guy that is no better than a base stealer if just ridiculous.
And Hoffpauir...to me he's a Darlye Ward. When it takes 3 full seasons in AAA to finally learn to hit, it doesn't tell me he's the next Carlos Pena. Over expose Hoffpauir and watch how fast everyone jumps off the bandwagon.
The Cubs don't NEED for Gathright to have a high slugging % and he is just as "hideable" in the two or 8 hole as Fukudome will be. The Cubs have an almost everyday OF w/Soriano & Bradley in it. They WILL need more than one Defensive replacements for this OF. He runs better and covers more ground than Fukudome, too. As for his base stealing, some guys NEVER get it, at least he has, which is more than can be said for most wannabe base stealers. So lets see, he covers more ground than Fukudome, is a better and more DEPENDABLE base stealer for that late inning situation, he is as good, if not better bunter, and he costs almost nothing. At least he is useful. The Fukudome of the last half of last year, and seen in the WBC against less than Major League Pitching, is just expensive roster fodder as substantiated by the fact that NO TEAM wants him.
Hoffpauir is just a late bloomer, like oh let's see....Derrick Lee, Larry Biitner, Don Kessinger, Ozzie Smith are just a few that leap to mind. And in his corner are a LOT of major league scouts, coaches & managers....and Hendry could trade him in 5 minutes. I'll take their analysis over yours!
Derrek Lee?? He had 400+ at bats at 22 years old and an 875 OPS at age 24.
Larry Bittner? Guy had 2 years where he was a league average hitter.
Kessinger, All star at age 25 (not that he deserved it with those numbers).
Ozzie Smith, runner up ROY at age 23.
Micah Hoffpauir: 29 years old with 73 career at bats. Took him 3 seasons in AAA. MAYBE he's a late bloomer, or maybe he'll get exposed after there is a scouting report on him. I lean that way.
Back to Gathright. Don't you find it odd that he couldn't even get at bats on the Kansas City Royals? 2007 he was caught 8 out of 17 times on the basepaths. He's got a .311 career OBP.
What's going to happen with Milton Bradley goes down and you guys have cut Fukudome and handed him his $36 million? Gathright is now GOING TO START?!?!?!?! Absurd.
Derrick Lee was so wonderful at age 22, with his 400+ ABs that he couldn't get more than about 1/2 that the following season. For a 1b he was all field and no hit and almost annually on the trade watch list. It took him 3 more years of ML experience before he actually began to pull his weight at 1b....I wonder how Hoffpauir would be doing NOW if he had gained 3 years of ML experience while hitting in the low 200s???
Larry Biitner was a clutch performer for the Cubs in those two years, but look how long it took him to blossom...even then he was kind of pushed out by poor management before he had a chance to see how much more he could have done.
Kessenger, great guy, wonderful teammate, but with the benefit of several years of ML experience it wasn't until 69 when he began showing the consistency that began to earn him the respect he got around the league. By the way he was in his late 20s by then.
Ozzie....all field and no hit OZZIE didn't even begin to blossom as a complete ball player until he was 30 years old, and THAT TOO was with the advantage of YEARS of ML experience, when he really hadn't warranted it!
How self-serving, if not factual, is your memory, but don't give up...You'll EVENTUALLY bloom, too~
You are comparing apples to oranges. A 29 year old blossoming in AAA after three seasons is nowhere near the same as D. Lee at 25 blossoming after 3 seasons in the major leagues (or any of those other guys who "blossomed", if you even want to call it that since they were pretty mediocre hitters).
All those guys had a good 1000+ at bats against *Major Leauge Pitching*.
Find me a 29 year old with less than 100 career plate appearances in the Majors that suddenly become good enough to play everday. I guarranty the list is minute.
In fact Texas has a guy in Nelson Cruz they are starting this year that I'll give the benefit of the doubt to before Hoffpauir; who can't even really play a position either.
Possible, absolutely. I'll be ecstatic if he can have a Darlye Ward 2007 type year.
Oh, finally, I'd love to see evidence of this line:
And in his corner are a LOT of major league scouts, coaches & managers....and Hendry could trade him in 5 minutes.
**EDIT**
Don't get me wrong, I hope I'm way off. I just don't get Cub fans that are ready to trade Lee to give the starting spot to Hoffpauir, and I'm not saying that's you, just Cub fans in general.
The Cubs optioned reliever Jose Ascanio to Iowa and sent infielder Bobby Scales and reliever Jason Waddell to the minor-league camp. In a procedurual move, the Cubs outrighted outfielder Richie Robnett off the 40-man roster. The 40-man is at 38. The spring roster is at 37.
Our old pal Matt Murton bats cleanup for the Rox today. He's batting .350/.409/.550 this spring with 2 homers and 4 RBI.
...without jersey numbers for the players.
12 (formerly worn by Dusty Baker and Shawon Dunston)
2 (Leo's old number)
25 (Don Baylor and maybe Derrick White in 1998)
21 (Jason Marquis' old number)
16 (maybe Gene Hiser's old number)
9 (Todd Hundley after he got rid of 99)
18 (Denis Savard, er, Glenn Beckert or Jose Hernandez)
7 (Todd Walker)
57 (Antonio Alfonseca)
Dennis Lamp, baby!!!!!
http://www.cubsbythenumbers.com/cubs-all-time.html
Dickey Noles! Spent a night in a Cincy jail in 1982 for being drunk, as I remember...
What about R. Wilkins and Tyler Houston - Thanks for ruining my day Bruce.
He messed up a play in Cleveland in '99 and called us back over and said, "And tell Riggleman I'd make the same play again." I'm sure he would.
What a class act Tyler was
No Dwight Smith love?
Shout-out to Dwight.
Who had more neck jewerly? DW or Mr. T?
I know Shawon Dunston was accused by his teammates of having a Mr. T starter kit.
?
Bruce--Just got back from a weekend in Vegas. I picked up a sheet at the casino and see the over/under for Cubs wins this year is 92-1/2, second to Boston and the yankees at 94-1/2. I was very tempted to take the under considering a few question marks, but the crappy NL Central kept my money at bay.
I also heard that Fukudome had 3 total hits, 7 ks, and 7 bbs in the WC. he also didn't play last night. Wow. I know he had a HORRIBLE spring last year, and turned it on when it mattered, but I'm really starting to think this 48 million dollars may bite hendry.
I'll be interested in seeing how much patience Lou has with him, even down here. Could get interesting.
I would put him there. Considering he loves the heater and with Lee/Ramirez/Bradley hitting behind him, he could be a DEADLY 2 hole hitter. Plus if #12 got on base he would have that nice hole on the right side to pull through.
Theriot is too streaky for me, and Fukudome should never bat higher then 8th. This way he has no pressure and offense from him would be a bonus.
I can't see Lou staying with anything, even as he protests that he wants to get and stay "constant." Fontenot may end up there, and that might not be a bad idea.
at 6? I hope Lou doesn't roll with that in the regular season or Aram will be seeing a few more IBB's.
I wouldn't read (no pun intended) too much into it. However, it will be interesting to see how Fukudome does in the 2-spot and how long Lou stays with it.
And I sure hope Hendry can get some decent value if he indeed finds Fox a new home.
Hendry's had a hard time trying to move him, so you might end up with an A-ball prospect for Fox. But who knows? He might come up and help the Cubs at some point.
Hence the more reason I hope he stays at AAA with the Cubs. Not that I want to impede his advancement or career, but .............
Which means spring training is thankfully winding down...