Cubs to DL Baker, call up LeMahieu
Posted by Bruce on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 23:18
Cubs people confirmed late Sunday night that they'll place infielder Jeff Baker on the disabled list Monday and selected the contract of infielder DJ LeMahieu from Class AA Tennessee. LeMahieu is expected to be at Wrigley Field in time for Monday's game against the Astros. Baker has been bothered for a week with a groin injury.
LeMahieu, 22, was the Cubs' second-round pick (behind outfielder Brett Jackson) in the 2009 draft. He played for LSU's College World Series champion in '09.
At Tennessee this year, LeMahieu has a hitting line of .358/.386/.492. He has 15 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers and 27 RBI.
The Cubs will have to take a player off the 40-man roster to make room for LeMahieu.
LeMahieu fits the description of "born to hit .300 at any level." A good thing. Not patient enough. A bad, and Cubbish thing. Has a chance to become a legit big-leaguer. Possibly a starting 2B somewhere. No to 3B, not enough SLG. Also could be a good utility guy.
He should play often while he's up. But it's not fair to Quade to say he won't....just off not being in starting lineup first game he's up. Jeez, people, let's always try to be fair to everyone, Quade included.
LeMahieu very easy guy to root for. Went out of his way to help my friend's son with his hitting.
LaMahieu is a pretty big guy. He is 6'2", but kind of slightly built. He could be a guy who develops into a decent power guy if he can add some solid muscle. Seems to be a guy who barrels alot of balls.
I'll be back with a new blog later. Here's the lineup:
Fukudome, RF
Barney, 2B
Castro, SS
Ramirez, 3B
Pena, 1B
Soriano, LF
Campana, CF
Soto, C
Lopez, P
I see Ryno has his team (Lehigh Valley) in first place with a 30-19 record, managing a team he had no familiarity with prior to spring training.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=l_sta&lid=117&...
Gotta chance to see today's line-up:
Castro SS
Barney 2B
Snyder 1B
Soto C
LeMahieu 3B
Montanez LF
Fukudome RF
Campana CF
Oops, just a tease line-up card from Q-ball; he wanted to see Hendry's reaction as a joke.
A good article on Sandberg:
http://www.toledoblade.com/Mud-Hens/2011/05/10/Mud-Hens-shut-out-by-Lehi...
Another Darwin Barney, only not as good defensively. And it's not like he's going to play over Barney or Ramirez.
I guess they want to get as many people on the big league roster as they can that are allergic to walks. Next up, Josh Vitters!
Bobby Scales would've been the better selection. No one gives a crap if he just sits the bench.
This will be fun for ya. You should not have to think too hard - what two qualifications do the following list of MLB players each have in common:
- Robin Yount
- Kirby Puckett
- Lou Brock
- Bill Mazeroski
- Roberto Clemente
- Tony Gwynn
- Ernie Banks
- Brooks Robinson
Imagine the Jeopardy song playing in the background as you prepare your response.
Since Booz does not want to play. These are all HOF'ers with career walk rates less than 8%. I also would have accepted - who are 8 players who would never made it to the major leagues if Booz were the GM.
Moral of story - quotas are bad. Almost always have good intentions and almost always fail. Being selective a critical skill in hitting - sometimes it can lead to higher walk rates, other times to higher BA. You may be shocked to know that the HOF'ers had a much higher career BABIP than the average non-HOF player. BABIP is not completely random.
Sorry, comparing any of those guys to DJ and Vitters isn't really worthy of a response. I've NEVER said a player couldn't be successful with a low walk rate.
That you would not promote any of these guys until they got to a certain walk rate, which is I'm sure you will agree now, a very bad suggestion.
And you're a big guy, you can handle nuanced comparisons. This is not Dan Quayle comparing himself to Jack Kennedy. Nobody knows for sure how either of these two guys will do in the major leagues. Josh Vitters was the #3 pick in the draft, better than most if not all of the HOF'ers I referenced. So please don't fall back on the easy counter that - "OH - you're comparing someone to a HOF, I don't even have to listen anymore."
I said that about Vitters and Ha.
Then I replied to a question of yours saying:
"Batting averages are too fluky in the minors. But there would be a point somewhere that leads me to believe that they would need to see better pitching in order to improve...kind of like Castro in AA. He was just too good for that league and the only way to challenge him was with a promotion."
So, no. I did NOT say I wouldn't promote any of those guys until they had an 8% walk rate.
Your exact quote:
"I'd like the Cubs to tell both Vitters and Ha that they will not be promoted until they hit an 8% walk rate over a 200 at bat span."
That's the comment I was reacting to. No promotion for Vitters or Ha until they hit a walk quota. I guess I extrapolated from your response that if a quota is good for two high potential players, its good for more in the organization. Glad to see you are running away from the suggestion now. Kind of like Mitt Romney and his legacy piece of legislation in Massachusetts.
from you putting words into my mouth by saying:
"That you would not promote any of these guys until they got to a certain walk rate, which is I'm sure you will agree now, a very bad suggestion."
Not ANY of these guys.
TWO guys.
2.
To.
Too.
Dos.
I don't know any other iteration of the word 'two', so I hope that will do.
You would put a quota on just Ha and Vitters - Why? Your extensive scouting? Very curious to hear how those 2 got picked out of the supercomputer...
You're not doing anything to convince us you still think a walk quota on ANY player, particularly Vitters and Ha, would be a good idea. Running away from my words is OK, don't run away from your own.
Because he can't do anything else to contribute to the team.
He's not the best defensive 3B of all time like Brooks Robinson.
He's not the best defensive 2B of all time like Maz.
He's not the best defensive RF (arguably) of all time like Clemente.
He's not a gold glove centerfielder like Puckett and Yount.
He's not like whoever else was on your HoF list, because he contributes in one area and one area only, his bat, and his results in AA are not pretty.
Maybe his bat sucks in AA because he keeps swinging at pitchers pitches, making weak contact, getting himself out. And maybe, just maybe, when he's forced to take those pitches, he'll get more HITTABLE pitches that he can take advantage of.
Here's a little Jay Bruce quote from the weekend.
“I’ve been making better decisions, which is one of the big things,” Bruce said. “It’s cliché and all that, but it’s the truth. Swing at pitches you want to swing at and don’t swing at the pitches they’re trying to get you to chase, and you’re going to have a lot easier time up there.”
I'll stop bugging ya. What's interesting about the Bruce quote of course is that nowhere does the word "walk" or "base on balls" appear. There's little of note that's productive in being micro-focused on one statistic. Walks tell a part of the story and that's it.
All
Like Barney, LeMahieu is a winner. Came from a championship college team, plays the game hard, studies game situations intently, positive attitude, and confident of his abilities to help the team win. Yep, give me more players like these two, better role models than the vets milking out their contracts.
Great guy to have sitting the bench instead of seeing live pitching.
If he were here to play, I'd like the move.
Barney has always been known as an average bat, solid defense. Just a good all around player.
D.J. has a plus hit tool. Very average D.
They both don't walk a lot and neither will strike out much, but that is all they have in common. Different style of players.
They are both completely dependent on batting average. They'll live and die based on their babip.
If the Cubs only had a manager who would play prospects. I guess I keep forgetting the Cubs are contending for the NL Central title.
My bet is Caridad gets DFA'd off the 40-Man.
Get them a couple weeks in the majors where they're not expected to do much. Let them enjoy themselves and soak it all in. Give them a taste of what they're working for. Then send them back down until they prove they are ready to be starters.
I would expect Lemahieu to get 3-4 starts at most, primarily against lefties while he's here, unless Barney goes into a slump. Then he'll go down to Iowa, not Tennessee, to play until September.
this is how Hendry thinks.....my depression deepens.
I agree 100 percent that youngsters need to play. If Quade only wants a bench player the Cubs should've brought up Scales from Iowa.