Edmonds: Yes or no?
That's the question the Cubs are asking themselves right now. My Cubs people tell me they're having a healthy internal debate on whether to take a chance on center fielder Jim Edmonds, cut loose by the Padres. The Cubs will wait to see if Edmonds clears waivers, just as they did with Reed Johnson in spring training.
In 26 games, the former Cardinal batted .178 with 1 homer, 6 RBI and an anemic OBP of .265. The Cubs are asking themselves whether Edmonds has anything left in the tank, whether he's healthy and what kind of a fit he would be on the field and in the Cub's so-far harmonious clubhouse. For much of his career, Edmonds has been known as a prickly personality. The Cubs people who might be leaning toward taking a flyer on Edmonds say that on a good team and in a good clubhouse, Edmonds will be fine. And if the Cubs keep winning and Edmonds plays well, the personality issue will hardly matter.
Right now, the right-handed hitting Reed Johnson gets most of the playing time in center for the Cubs. Lefty Felix Pie has struggled for the most part. Entering tonight, he's batting .222 with 1 homer, 7 RBI and an OBP of .286. If the Cubs were to sign Edmonds, they could send Pie to Class AAA Iowa and let him continue working on his swing changes there.
It wouldn't be a shocker if Edmonds landed here.
Jim Edmonds appears to be through as a regular: San Diego was running him out there every day, and his numbers so far are actually worse than his mediocre past 2 seasons. Now, there are any number of cases where good hitters step down into part-time roles and get back some of what they've lost. Think of Gary Gaetti in '98 and Eric Karros in '03: those guys were big-time contributors to those post-season pushes -- and in their heydays, their bests were not as good as Edmonds's best. So the upside is pretty good; and if he remains a bust and gets cut, well, he didn't cost more or produce less than Pie has so far.
The thing is, would Edmonds accept a part-time role? I don't think even a straight platoon is the right thing to do here; at this point in his career, Edmonds needs even more conserving than most players if the Cubs are going to get any productivity out of him. I think the best treatment for Edmonds is to let him start against right-handers but put in Reed Johnson as a late inning defensive replacement in all games the Cubs are protecting leads, and likewise let Johnson finish up the last half of these nice laughers the Cubs have been giving us. But I don't know if Edmonds would buy into that; even if he agrees to it up-front, given his history he might well start agitating for more if his bat shows any signs of life.
And the reference to Gaetti should remind us of the hidden trap: if Edmonds signs and is a big part of a Cubs ride into October, there's going to be pressure to bring him back next year. I can accept that Pie might benefit more right now from playing every day at Iowa than occasionally in Chicago -- but the day is coming when he's going to have to play in Chicago to continue developing, and anyway if he goes down this year then he's out of options next year. The Cubs brought back Gaetti in '99 and made him a full-time player; he stunk, he'd been available in '98 only because he was through as a full-time player. The Cubs didn't bring back Karros, but later Hendry reportedly called that a mistake. That's a "mistake" I want to see repeated. I don't mind renting an old player for a part of a season, but I wouldn't like to see it develop into blocking a kid who could still be a significant part of the Cubs' future.
I don't care one way or the other how Edmonds would fit into the clubhouse. The bottom line is he can no longer hit. He started to decline years ago, and was terrible in 2007. He's been even worse in 2008 and there's no reason to think he's capable of bringing anything of value to the team. Furthermore, this offense is hardly desperate for help. By most measurements they are the best in the NL. It is exactly the type of lineup that can withstand letting a kid like Pie learn on the job. Perhaps if they were struggling to get men on base and score runs you could justify sending Felix down. But considering he's just as likely to hit against RHP as Reed Johnson, and that both are more likely to hit than Jim Edmonds, there's no good reason to keep Pie on the bench or AAA right now.
Can Edmonds even walk across the street these days ? And he was hitting less than the two guys the Cubs are playing now. Hendry is really not this stupid. Is he ?
Anyone remember Jeff Blauser ?
I loved to hate the guy in his hey day for the Cardinals, but he is way beyound that.
I'd rather see Pie struggle and work on his swing, than having Edmonds just play a bench roll. Besides, he being as old as Moses he cant even play defense anymore.
We have already seen the Fred McGriff tour..
Go retire , Jim........
Bruce,
As much as his showboating in the past has annoyed me, I think they should take a flyer on him.
Mike
We've already had one annoying, showboating outfielder in Chicago this decade; we don't need another one.
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