Peavy isn't cure for what ails Cubs (Harden to DL)
Slowly working my way off the DL here. A big thanks to the docs and nurses (the unsung heroes of the medical profession) at Northwest Community Hospital for their great care during some outpatient surgery the other day. Hope to be back at Wrigley next Wednesday after clearance from the surgeon.
[UPDATE: The Cubs placed pitcher Rich Harden on the DL today to make room for Carlos Zambrano, who comes off the DL to face the Padres tonight. Harden has what the Cubs describe as a mid-back strain. They say he felt it in his last start and during his side session this week in St. Louis. Randy Wells will start Saturday in place of Harden.]
Pretty eventful week for the Cubs, who head to San Diego for a meeting (on the field) with Jake Peavy and the Pads. Even though Peavy turned down the Sox, I can't see him coming to the Cubs until this ownership situation is settled. So relax on this one. And it's high time somebody tells the Padres that it's really unfair to the players involved (on all teams) to have their names floated and "deals" announced before they happen. In the end, Peavy wound up looking like the bad guy in all this. Maybe next time, Padres GM Kevin Towers can go to Peavy beforehand and tell him what he's working on and ask him how he feels about it.
Let's get to the Cubs, everything from Soriano to David Patton to some of the godawful numbers the offense is putting up.
First of all, there's no way Lou is moving Sori to second base. Simply ain't happening. Soriano hasn't played second base in years, and he's a fielding and health risk there. Ostensibly, Lou wants to get Micah Hoffpauir in the lineup more. To do that, he can cut into D-Lee's playing time a little bit or spot Hoffpauir in right for Bradley now and then. Whenever the Cubs stop hitting, Lou goes off on these things where he thinks out loud. It makes for great copy, but most of it never happens, or the ideas last a day or two.
The other day, I blogged that the Cubs had to do something with Rule 5 pick David Patton, the reliever who hasn't relieved since May 9. I maintained, and still do, that it's unfair for Patton to be sitting in the big leagues when he could be working on his craft in the minor leagues, even if it means sending him back to the Rockies organization. I suspect this will come to a head sooner rather than later, from what I'm being told. In an ideal world, the Cubs would either get Patton through waivers or bite the bullet and send him back to the Rockies. From there, they could call up Jake Fox from Iowa and go with 11 pitchers. All by themselves, the Cubs have proven what folly it is to carry 12. They have 12 on the roster, but they're using 11 without benfit of the extra position player.
Let's take a look at some of those offensive numbers.
In order, they are batting average, on-base percentage, slugging and OPS
Fukudome: .317/.441/.504/.945
Hoffpauir: .314/.372/.557/.929
Theriot: .279/.348/.463/.810
Soriano: .265/.326/.543/.869
Lee: .239/.305/.393/.699
Soto: .206/.322/.275/.597
Fontenot: .195/.292/.364/.656
Bradley: .184/.317/.345/.662
What jumps out to me are Soto's slugging percentage (.275), everything about Lee, everything about Bradley (although he hit the ball hard last night), Fontenot's free fall and Theriot's OBP. Theriot's OPS of .810 is all well and good, but he hasn't walked since the May 14 game against the Padres at Wrigley. His value is in getting on base.
GM Jim Hendry isn't worried about the Peavy business right now and nor should he be. And he maintains to me that guys like Bradley, Soriano and Lee will hit. I think Bradley will come around, and Soriano will be Soriano. Lee, I'm not so sure. I think it is time to give Hoffpauir some ABs, but it's not going to come with Soriano playing second base.
More tonight as I keep an eye on Cubs-Padres at 9.
This is how they make room for Zambrano?
Bound to happen.
As was just mentioned...he's already coming around.
346/393/500/893 in last 14 days
326/396/581/977 in May
Everyone keeps saying they need more offense yet Patton is still on the team with a 12 man staff.
Bruce, in case you missed it, Rob Neyer quoted your post on keeping Patton around in one of his posts.
While Derrek Lee had a very poor start, it should be noted that in May his OBP and OPS are .396 and .977. You could argue that he has already "come around". Lou should still give Lee days off regularly, but I don't see Hoffpauir taking Lee's starting job from him any time soon.
Bruce,
Welcome back. Glad to hear the surgery was a success, and hopefully you have an enjoyable, relaxing weekend.
The Cubs. Starting to come around as the Hawks aren't looking too good right now.
You really can't expect much right now. Teams will continue to pitch around Soriano and either let him get himself out, or walk. That is, until Lee, Bradley, or Soto start hitting. None of these guys are doing jack, and it's beyond the bad start faze, and more alarming as June 1 approaches quickly.
I'm glad that Piniella is starting to press a bit with some of these guys. You can't wait forever for a guy like Lee or Soto to hit, especially if the backups (Hill and Hoffpauir) hit well when used. You ride their streaks as long as possible, and hope to get the regulars righted.
Everyone should truly realize how important Ramirez is to this team. He's the ONE guy that they CAN NOT lose. He's the "money" player who always comes up with the big hit, and they are missing that right now. We are also seeing that guys like Fontenot might not be ready for everyday roles. Started off red hot, and now has an average below Lee.
On the Peavy thing, I completely agree. IT's really getting old in baseball that all these guys get no trade clauses. You then get in situations where the union demands the player gets a LOT for waiving the clause, and you get this BS. HOw do you feel if you are Clayton Richard right now? It's ridiculous, and how can MLB NOT fine the Padres for continuing to do this? Only a very FEW players, if any, should get no trade clauses. Seems that the players get to dictate where they get to go, and that is not right.
Stay afloat to Ramirez returns.
Bruce, are you hearing August for this Ricketts thing to be settled? If so, I can only assume that this will restrain Hendry for completing any large deals where they take any extra payroll?
That's been my understanding. But Hendry may have to go Ricketts if he wants to do something by the July 31 deadline.
Good to know that you are recovering well Bruce, and still able to keep up the blog for those of us that crave any sort of Cubbie news. I also want to add a comment about Ramirez. I fully agree that his loss is critical to the Cubs, especially offensively. I wonder, with the Indians putting DeRosa out on the trade market and rumored to be looking for major league ready pitching, if the Cubs might be interested in bringing him back to play 3B until Rami returns and provide a versatile utility man afterwards, or if they are comfortable now with some combination of Freel and Fontenot at the hot corner. What's your impression about that Bruce? I don't know if the Indians would have any interest in Cotts or Patton, and then there is Stevens, who was part of the DeRosa deal. With Cotts making $1.1M vs $5.5M for DeRosa, if the Indians would throw in $2M or close to it, that might be a good deal for the Cubs. There is also Hank Blalock, whom the Rangers are supposedly willing to deal for pitching.
Have not heard his name come up, and at this point, Hendry does not have anything even of that magnitude cooking. Interesting thought. Patton would have to be run through waivers because he was taken in the Rule 5 Draft. Any team could claim him. It not, the Cubs would have to offer him back to the Rockies, who probably would take him.
Another thought I had was maybe the Orioles would have interest in Jake Fox as a DH/1B, along with some pitching prospects in return for Aubrey Huff. Huff could play 3B with Ramirez on the DL, as well as backup 1B and the corner OF spots. That would get another LH bat into the lineup and when Hoffpauir plays1B to spell Lee, they could have as many as seven LH or switch hitters in the lineup at one time. Fox is a man without a position and his hitting talent is being wasted at AAA. Huff is making $8M this year in the final year of his contract, so the Cubs would want to send some payroll their way or get the Orioles to send cash along with Huff. Better still, is if Baltimore would include George Sherrill ($2.75M this year) in the deal. They could even out the money a bit by sending Kevin Gregg (Marmol to closer) to Baltimore. Something like Gregg ($4.2M), Cotts ($1.1M), Fox and a couple pitching prospects for Huff ($8M) and Sherrill ($2.75M) to replace Cotts as the lefty in the pen, and cash. That would be $5.3M to Baltimore (would have to be prorated since those are entire season salaries) and $10.75M in salaries to the Cubs, so about $2M in cash to the Cubs would even out the dollars. Then the Cubs could go with a six man bullpen so that everyone is actually getting enough work, having a bullpen of Marmol, Guzman, Heilman, Wells/Marshall, Ascanio, and Sherrill when Harden is back from the DL. The 14 position players would be Lee, Hoffpauir, Fontenot, Freel, Theriot, Miles, Scales, Huff, Bradley, Fukudome, Soriano, Johnson, Soto, and Hill.
Bruce, not sure if Im just imagining it but it seems like the Cubs work the count and hit much better at home than they do on the road. Do you have any numbers from this year as far as HOME vs ROAD? I expect the power numbers (HR, Slugging, OPS) to be better at home just because of the ballpark but what about OBP?
I'll have to look those up as far as team stats go, but at cubs.com or mlb.com, you can get the home/road splits for every individual player.
Thanks Bruce, didnt realize the home/road split stats were on those sites. I found team split stats on ESPN. They are as follows...
BA/OBP/SLG/OPS
HOME .254/.341/.413/.754
AWAY .244/.319/.409/.724
Oddly enough the Cubs have more HR on the road (24) than they do at home (22) but have fewer RBI on the road (82) as opposed to home (91). As of now the compared totals to the rest of baseball they are 21st in BA, 21st in OBP, 19th in SLG, 20th in OPS. Compared to the rest of the NL the ranks are 13th (BA), 11th (OBP), 8th (SLG), 9th (OPS). Lookin at this I cant help but wonder if Jake Fox will ever get his well deserved call up? If the Brewers can run out Mat Gamel and his 146 minor league errors in 437 games for a .881 fielding percentage, why cant the Cubs call up Fox and play him at 3rd?
Hope you have a smooth recovery over the Memorial Day weekend.
Gamel was brought up for Interleague play so he can DH. He only started 1 game there and happened to make an error. Time will tell if the Brewers give him more time there after the interleague play.
I think its a bit early to read anything into the home/road splits. Only 20 games on the road, but 12 of them have come against the better teams in the NL so far, STL and MIL. Then sprinkle in an Oswalt and a Dan Haren and its been a pretty tough road schedule so far.
While at home the Cubs have been fortunate enough to play Florida, SD, SF, Colorado.....
I thought Gamel was playing more regularly now especially with Rickie Weeks out for the season? If he keeps playin just hit it to him every time and take your chances. He is the definition of awful when it come to defense. I just got to thinking about the home road split stats because they played so well at home last week and then went on the road and got swept. While they have played some not so good teams at home, I still think the Cubs should be able to handle the Brewers and Cards. The Brewers can hit but cant pitch, and the Cards have Pujols and a mixed bag of other teams discards for their pitching staff. I just want to see more consistency from this team as they should be able to run away from this division once they get healthy and keep them at arms reach even if they arent. And I still think Jake Fox deserves a chance to show if he can hit at the major league level. He is tearing the cover off the ball in AAA, and we are getting absolutely no production from 3rd since Ramirez got hurt.