Baker outperforming DeRosa
Inspired by my feisty friends over at Another Cubs Blog, I decided to do a little comparing between Mark DeRosa and Jeff Baker since they joined their new teams.
http://www.anothercubsblog.net/index.php/site/comments/fontenot-baker-de...
It’s a pretty good comparison, because DeRosa has played 47 games since being traded from the Indians to the Cardinals, and Baker has played 46 games since the Cubs got him from the Rockies.
Shall we?
DeRosa
.244/.313/.425 for an OPS of 738. His OPS-plus is 93 and his BABIP is .273. With the Cards, DeRo has 8 homers and 19 RBI.
Baker
.328/.383/.500 for an OPS of .883. His OPS-plus is 126, and his BABIP is .420, which suggests a lot of hits are falling in and a lot of grounders are finding holes. He’s got 3 homers and 13 RBI for the Cubs.
If you’re into Weighted On-Base Average, or wOBA, which uses linear weights as each type of hit has a different value, DeRosa’s wOBA for the season combined is .336. Last year with the Cubs, the wOBA was .376.
Baker has a combined wOBA between the Rox and Cubs of .353.
Interesting stuff. What it means is that DeRosa has had an OK, but not great, season, especially for all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over his departure. It also suggests that Baker, an arb-eligible player, will play some sort of significant role with the Cubs next year. I’m not ready to anoint him the starting second baseman (and neither are the Cubs), but he could fill a DeRosa-type role for the Cubs next season.
Word coming to me from Pittsburgh is that Jeff Samardzija has joined the team from Class AAA Iowa. The Cubs will announce his recall a little later today, and Jeff may get a spot start down the line, as may Esmailin Caridad.
Speaking of the minors, Peoria opens its Class A Midwest League playoffs Wednesday at home against Cedar Rapids. Austin Bibens-Dirkx will pitch for the Chiefs.
Class AA Tennessee and manager Ryne Sandberg will open the Southern League playoffs Thursday at Huntsville. Jeremy Papelbon gets the start for the Smokies.
I'm fine with Carlos Marmol as the closer. He seems to be thriving in this role. Too bad Lou didn't make him the closer out of spring training. Gregg for sure won't be back with the team next season.
Wood was injured each year and how could you justify paying him to be your closer? Greg was a gamble and he is not the answer.
Who is the answer? Don't know. But Guzman should get a larger role, somewhere.
Harden maybe is moved if they want to cut salary. Whom else could you move. No one at least easily gets moved. I'd buy out Bradley and take my chances Soriano is healthy and productive. Team will have to win with starting pitching and hope they find a relief closer. If Ramirez is injured a lot this hinders offense a lot. Waiting on future Cubbies lower minors and free agent contracts on roster to expire.
Why is Kevin Gregg allowed on a pitching mound? That guy gives up more dingers then Homerun Howry! I would shut him down for the year!
MCK is reading my mind. After bringing a bunch of Triple-A relievers -- Stevens, Berg, Caridad, Samardjida and Patton -- up for the final month, why does Lou insist on using Gregg? Is he trying to justify his decision at the beginning of the year to make Gregg the closer? If so, he's looking more like an out-of-touch, stuttering old fool than he already has this year. Like Baker, Lou doesn't seem to want to give the youngsters a chance. Sit them on the bench for two weeks, then throw them out there and wonder why they fail.
They need to showcase Gregg for other teams so they can justify offering him arbitration and trying to get a couple draft picks out of him. It probably won't happen, but if he finished really strong someone might offer him a couple years.
Unless they are trying to showcase a closer that throws a straight 92, with no offspeed worth mentioning I don't think anyone is buying. He needs to play on the west coast where fly ball 450 foot homeruns go to die.
Bruce,
I'm surprised you failed to mention that Mark DeRosa is playing with a torn tendon in his wrist that will require surgery at the end of the season. He suffered the injury early in his tenure with the Cardinals and it has no doubt contributed to his less than stellar number since joining St. Louis. I like Jeff Baker as a utility man off the bench, but he is no Mark DeRosa when he is healthy. Thus your comparison is a bit flawed.
Bruce,
I'm surprised you failed to mention that Mark DeRosa has been playing with a torn tendon in his wrist that will require surgery at the end of the season. The injury was suffered early in his Cardinals tenure and no doubt has contributed to his less than stellar offensive numbers with St. Louis. While I like Baker as a utility man, he is not Mark DeRosa when he is healthy. Thus your comparison is a bit flawed.
He's just slowly letting his skeleton become molecularly infused with adamantium like Wolverine, haven't you heard? He was going to wait until the offseason but he heard the war in Afghanistan was escalating so he needed it sooner. That's how he does his offseason conditioning.*
*waiting to hear that from a DeRosa fan
...It was right on because the Cubs have a guy in Baker who is six years younger than DeRosa and showing no signs of breaking down (DeRo will hit birthday No. 35 before next season begins, and three teams _ Cubs, Indians, Cardinals weren't enamored of him as a second baseman.)
And careful. The Cubs have been accused of using injuries as excuses.
For the last 6 weeks, Baker has been outperforming DeRosa.
That doesn't excuse Hendry from failing to have a backup plan at 3B, or a competent hitter at 2B for most of the season.
It also doesn't mean that Baker will sustain it, but I hope that he does.
It's amusing that Hendry was obsessed with getting more left-handed at 2B in the off-season and a righty ends up being the starter. Just further proof that the "balanced" line-up is overrated.
Let's be careful on Baker and not expect too much. He's yet to show he can hit right handers consistenly over any extended periods of time. He's probably done enough of it this season (420 BABIP helps) to get a chance next year at playing time against righties, but I hope there is a back up plan.
He's a player that will provide 2010 lineup & defencive flexibility. Hope the Cubs don't blow this too..
On DeRo, here's all the consternation. The Cubs had him in the fold at a reasonable $5.5M and let him go without PROPERLY replacing him in a TIMELY manner. If Baker had been here opening day (even better, at Fitch Park/HoHoKam mid-Feb), the DeRo move would not have been a big issue. Then again, why replace one RH hitter with another unless it's a big salary and/or performance advantage, since the Cubs were TOO RH'd according to Lou.
I believe minor leaguers obtained on 12/31 were a prelude to a Peavy deal ASSUMING ownership hurdles would be cleared by ST (we all know what happens when you assume something). When it was clear finances for Peavy would not be in place by ST, guess what? The Cubs ended up trading for Heilman a month later, 1/28.
When Rami went down 5/8, there was no everyday replacement player. THAT's what PO'd a lot of people, myself included. The Cubs not only lost his production (remember he was doing WELL at the time of the injury), they lost his impact on other players in the lineup.
AND this whole too-right-handed line-up is a crock. THEY didn't HIT Dodger pitchers, period! AND who was the best [Cubs] RH hitter in the NLDS? DeRo. Let's not forget Demp walked the universe in game 1 and every IF'er made an error in game 2; at home! Those count too. They were down 2-0 going on the road. Then in game 3, it truly was the inability to hit. But face it, they didn't have much a chance anyway.
The last time I checked I believe all 3 pitchers that we recieved in return for him had above average seasons in the minors this year. Stevens even made it to the bigs.
Baker has been one of the few bright spots this year, and although I am a DeRosa fan, I didn't gnash my teeth when he and Wood left...However, I think you are leaving a little out of the equation by just comparing offensive stats.....The fact that he can play effectively at a handfull of positions opens up the teams options..A-Ram goes down, plug in DeRosa and try to defensively hide Fox elsewhere...Milton not cutting it right for whatever reason, play DeRosa...Soriano shut down?? DeRosa in left, Fuld/Johnson in CF, Fukodome and his silly swing in RF.......Love your stuff, Bruce, but we miss this guy more than I thought...My vote is for Baker AND DeRosa.......
I do think the ship has sailed on DeRosa. I don't see him coming back. One thing the Cubs seemed worried about was his ability to play second base. I'm not sure how much time he saw there with Cleveland or has seen there with the Cards without looking it up.
No doubt the Cubs missed him, or maybe more accurately, they missed a guy like DeRosa who could do all the things you mentioned. We asked day in and day out during spring training about depth at third. Well, we saw what happened.
Bruce, DeRosa has played a single inning at 2B this season, with St. Louis. None with Cleveland (courtesy baseball-reference.com).
You say you asked about depth at 3B this spring and I recall Lou making a comment about worrying about depth at that position and at C, two positions the team felt at that time they could not lose either starter for any period of time. (Little did they know.....)
Remember Casey McGhee? He would've been Ramirez's backup at third had Hendry not let him go to Milwaukee for a mere $20,000. Steve Stone reported this on the Score this morning. Yet another BAD decision by the Great Jim Hendry.
that's why i don't buy that "they have no one in the minors", "weak system", "he's in class A", talk.......you never know unless given a chance......under Baker and Lou a kid has no chance.......the Cards had a kid jump from A ball to the majors, his name is Pujois.........
But under Lou, a kid named Theriot took the shortstop job away from veteran Izturis. A kid named Soto came up for the stretch drive in '07 and won Rookie of the Year in 2008. A kid named Wells is in the running for that same award this year. Two years ago, a kid named Marmol emerged under Lou in the bullpen. There are instances where the Cubs have failed in this regard, but blanket statements are neither fair nor accurate.
you're correct......i was talking more in terms of position players......Baker wouldn't give Theriot a shot,
Lou did along with Soto.......that's why you're the best.....you tell it like it is........
Dusty pretty much buried him after Ryan made a baserunning mistake near the end of the 2006 season. The Riot, as much as anybody, was glad to get a fresh start in '07.
He didn't learn much from the experience, apparently . . . .
...was reported when it happened last year. We talked with McGehee when the Cubs played Milwaukee and he had a good game against them. As good a year as McGehee has had, and he's a nice kid, I don't remember a hue and cry when he was let go.
That's because there was no hue and cry when McGehee was let go. He's doing a nice job but, once again, he wouldn't have made up for low production at 2nd base, left field and catcher. This is similar to fans wanting to get rid of Marquis and are now upset that he's having a career year in Colorado. That's 20-20 hindsight.
How much is Fox anchored to Lou's bench? Bradley goes out with a tight hammy, there's a lefty on the mound and Hoffpauir takes his place. Wow!
Jeff Baker has done a good job so far. But he only has 145 at bats as a Cub. Trying to extrapolate part time stats to full time performance is what got the Cubs in trouble with Fontenot. His part time stats of 2008 have not been duplicated in 2009.
Why is there no chance to move Aaron Miles? The first year of his contract is almost over, so a team only pays for him in 2010. Texas is in the wild card race and they lost Michael Young. There have been rumors that Philly wants to solidfy their roster with an experienced back up infielder. We need to get rid of our nonperforming contracts when the opportunity presents itself.
Hard to imagine anyone looking to Aaron Miles to solidify their playoff roster when he has 5 RBI in ~150 ABs. I will say he stands his ground when turning double plays, but that's about all he has contributed this season.
I haven't heard any rumblings regarding Miles. I'm sure they'd jump at a chance to move him, even if they had to eat money.
Way to go for the silver lining, Bruce! Looks like Bobby Scales is getting the super-sub treatment late in the season as well. Too bad the super-regulars who should have been performing at that level did not.
DeRosa will be in the playoffs for the third year in a row, thanks to Albert and Carpenter and the boys. He might even get a ring out of it. So he'll end up with the last laugh. Any of the super-subs we mentioned could have been the fictional "replacement player" in Baseball Prospectus' VORP system, and they all would have outperformed Aaron Miles.
Yeah, a lot better out of Soriano, Soto and Fontenot and a little better out of Theriot and old DeRo wouldn't have been a topic.
There's good reason for the anodyne, "Better to trade someone a year too early than a year too late."
I worried a good deal about the Cubs effectively replacing DeRosa with somebody who couldn't play third base. That indeed hurt, but in retrospect they had a lot more problems than that would have solved...
Bruce, as always you're miles ahead of the other baseball writers in town. Great analysis!
So is the Aaron "4-3" Miles era most likely over at the end of the season? The guy has one more RBI than Dempster in 98 more ABs :(.
Baker does seem to be in the same mold as DeRo so it will be interesting to see what happens this offseason. There are a lot of quality 2B / SS free agents that will be on the market so if they can snag someone for a one or two year deal and have Baker coming off the bench of giving guys days off then hopefully they pull the trigger on that option.
He's got one more year left on a two-year, $4.9 million deal. They might have to put salt and pepper on that one and just eat it. Blanco gives them a nice, cheap, option for a backup infielder. And if you sign a starting second baseman and put Baker in a super-sub role, that leaves Miles out again.
could've rescued this season. LOL!