Jim Hendry and the 2009 Cubs...is he trying to build a loser?

[Yawkey Way]

How can you sit there and say you've given up on the team, dont watch the games, and call it a wreck when it is June 10th and your still in position to fight for the division.

 

[zack54attack]

Bradley needs to step it up.


The Cubs were looking at Milton Bradley and Raul Ibanez for RF. They picked Bradley over Ibanez. And look what Ibanez is doing. He would have filled in perfectly to help make up for ARAM's number loss.

 

[LC AAU]

How can you sit there and say you've given up on the team, dont watch the games, and call it a wreck when it is June 10th and your still in position to fight for the division.

I never said I've given up on them, it's almost painful to watch games now.

 

[MRN]

Well first of all if anyone could have predicted Ibanez would blow up like this, I think every team would have wanted him. Secondly, how can you hate on Hendry for his decision? Bradley and Ibanez had pretty much identical stats last year. Bradley was 30, Ibanez was 36. Who would you choose?

Someone who isn't a troublemaker, Bradley has had trouble everywhere he has gone.

I would've taken Bradley if I knew he was going to be trouble-free, but that just won't happen.

 

[FirstTimer]

the Derek Lee argument is really tough because he's hit more than 20 homeruns every year since 2000, so it's not too say he hasn't always been a good hitter. But I do think his time is running out in the power slot, he's not really a #3 guy.

Meh, I'm ok with not having a gigantic power guy at the #3 hole, especially with ARam hitting behind him and Soriano leading off. In a perfect world I'd see the Cubs lineup generally look like this:

Theriot
Fukudome
Soriano
Ramirez
Bradley
Lee
Soto
Fontenot
(Pitcher)

Their perfect number 3 guy is Adam Dunn, like you said, who can create that left right matchup, consistently mash on the ball, and have A-Ram protecting him. Lee is your perfect number 5 hitter. After all Lee's .OBP is always great for a power type hitter, why not stick him in the 5 spot where you know you will have consistent production.

No argument there.

I think they need to make a trade with San Diego, but not for who you might think. I feel that they should make a play on Adrian Gonzalez. I know theres no DH but i think you can find somewhere to put Lee, don't quote me but hasn't he played the outfield before?

Nope. Never played OF. The power hitting 1B from the division you are thinking of is Albert Pujols. He played some OF years ago for St. Louis

Gonzalez is a home run hitter in petco park, and at 26 years old and under contract for 3 more years at a good price, he's the guy you want in that line up. Trade for Gonzalez, sign Bobby Abreu, and maybe look to sign a reliever/starter. Thats the route i take this year and heading into next year if i'm Jim Hendry.

We'd have to give up Vitters most likely. Not sure we could swing that deal, plus then you have no place to put Lee.

 

[RainboUnicorn]

I stopped reading the original post when you implied that Mark DeRosa was bad last year.

That guy was a huge key for us last year. He played at 4 different positionsthroughout the year. He didn't put up superstar numbers but he still hit a solid .285 and had 87 rbi's. He had his best offensive season of his career. You are high if you think he wasn't a key for us last year.

The thing that pisses me off the most about the DeRosa trade is that I heard a few weeks before that the Padres wanted DeRosa in a trade for Peavey and the Cubs wouldn't give him up (I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure).

Lee is playing alright right now but if he starts to struggle again I could see the cubs trying to trade him before the deadline. Get some value out of him. Then put Hoffpauir at first. Hoffpauir is a stud we can't let him go.

We need Ramirez back!!

 

[Senser81]

I stopped reading the original post when you implied that Mark DeRosa was bad last year.

You must have misunderstood. I said that Miles had been bad this year, and he is even worse when you consider how well DeRosa played for the Cubs last year at 2nd. My point was that 2nd base went from a position of strength to a position of weakness for no reason other than Hendry's idiocy.

 

[FirstTimer]

I stopped reading the original post when you implied that Mark DeRosa was bad last year.

That guy was a huge key for us last year. He played at 4 different positionsthroughout the year. He didn't put up superstar numbers but he still hit a solid .285 and had 87 rbi's. He had his best offensive season of his career. You are high if you think he wasn't a key for us last year.

The thing that pisses me off the most about the DeRosa trade is that I heard a few weeks before that the Padres wanted DeRosa in a trade for Peavey and the Cubs wouldn't give him up (I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure).

Lee is playing alright right now but if he starts to struggle again I could see the cubs trying to trade him before the deadline. Get some value out of him. Then put Hoffpauir at first. Hoffpauir is a stud we can't let him go.

We need Ramirez back!!

The player the Cubs wouldn't give up in the Peavy trade was 3B Prospect Josh Vitters.

 

[FirstTimer]

You must have misunderstood. I said that Miles had been bad this year, and he is even worse when you consider how well DeRosa played for the Cubs last year at 2nd. My point was that 2nd base went from a position of strength to a position of weakness for no reason other than Hendry's idiocy.

I guess my question would be was it Hendry or was it the coaching staff saying DeRosa was expendable because Lou liked Fontenot at 2B? Miles wasn't brought into start. He was brought into be a sub. In the end Hendry has the final say on lettin De Rosa go but I can't help but think that he was pushed into doing so by the coaches liking Fontenot a lot.

 

[Senser81]

I guess my question would be was it Hendry or was it the coaching staff saying DeRosa was expendable because Lou liked Fontenot at 2B? Miles wasn't brought into start. He was brought into be a sub. In the end Hendry has the final say on lettin De Rosa go but I can't help but think that he was pushed into doing so by the coaches liking Fontenot a lot.

I don't think that Lou has ever liked Fontenot. He seems to loath playing him.

 

[FirstTimer]

I don't think that Lou has ever liked Fontenot. He seems to loath playing him.

See I'm not sure though. He spoke pretty highly of him in the offseason(not that I would expect him to bash on him) but has kept playing him even with the slump he was in to start the year.

Who knows really outside of Lou..but in the end sure the Cubs miss DeRosa but they miss Ramirez and Bradley(even though he is playing) more.

 

[FedEx227]

Thing is Soriano in the spring agreed to at wherever Lou wanted him to. He should be batting somewhere around 3-5. Not 1. Then again for the last two years he has carried the team at times from the leadoff spot and helped the team win 97 games last year...Tough call..

The other thing with Soriano and the leadoff spot is this... and it's something Soriano knows and the Cubs brass knows. His production will be severly stunted as he'll likely be seeing a lot less fastballs in another part of the lineup, especially the way the other star Cubs have been playing.

With Soriano in the leadoff role, he is prone to getting those first pitch get me over fastballs that he's great at hitting out of the ballpark, you take him out of that 1 hole and instantly there is no reason for him to see first pitch fastball, or any fastballs for that matter.

Soriano is not very good at breaking pitches, plain and simple. Statistics and pitch f/X back that up, he's never been comfortable with them and tends to swing and miss on a great deal of them. Thus, why would you ever want to move out of the leadoff role or into a slot where you're likely to see a ton of breaking pitches and not many fastballs?

 

[Yawkey Way]

If this is the case, why is Soriano of any value to a team. If your relying on a batter who cannot hit a breaking pitch, but also cannot get on base as a leadoff hitter, which is currently your job, your team is not going to go anywhere. That's like hitting Jason Bay at #1. This relates back to my point earlier about Soriano being overrated.

 

[Senser81]

If this is the case, why is Soriano of any value to a team. If your relying on a batter who cannot hit a breaking pitch, but also cannot get on base as a leadoff hitter, which is currently your job, your team is not going to go anywhere. That's like hitting Jason Bay at #1. This relates back to my point earlier about Soriano being overrated.

He's overrated, but the Cubs would be pretty bad without him, especially this year. For a team of sluggers, they have no one who can consistently hit for power like Soriano. Steve Balboni was a limited 1st baseman, but if you took him off the 1985 Royals then you lose almost all your power. Its kinda the same thing with Soriano...you put up with all his other shortcomings for his HRs.

 

[FirstTimer]

The other thing with Soriano and the leadoff spot is this... and it's something Soriano knows and the Cubs brass knows. His production will be severly stunted as he'll likely be seeing a lot less fastballs in another part of the lineup, especially the way the other star Cubs have been playing.

With Soriano in the leadoff role, he is prone to getting those first pitch get me over fastballs that he's great at hitting out of the ballpark, you take him out of that 1 hole and instantly there is no reason for him to see first pitch fastball, or any fastballs for that matter.

Soriano is not very good at breaking pitches, plain and simple. Statistics and pitch f/X back that up, he's never been comfortable with them and tends to swing and miss on a great deal of them. Thus, why would you ever want to move out of the leadoff role or into a slot where you're likely to see a ton of breaking pitches and not many fastballs?

But if the Cubs had a true leadoff guy who could steal bases in front of Soriano he would see those fastballs.

Yawkey good point.

 

[RainboUnicorn]

You must have misunderstood. I said that Miles had been bad this year, and he is even worse when you consider how well DeRosa played for the Cubs last year at 2nd. My point was that 2nd base went from a position of strength to a position of weakness for no reason other than Hendry's idiocy.

My bad. I got worked up because that trade still pisses me off

 

[RainboUnicorn]

The player the Cubs wouldn't give up in the Peavy trade was 3B Prospect Josh Vitters.

Okay thanks I was wrong

 

[FedEx227]

If this is the case, why is Soriano of any value to a team. If your relying on a batter who cannot hit a breaking pitch, but also cannot get on base as a leadoff hitter, which is currently your job, your team is not going to go anywhere. That's like hitting Jason Bay at #1. This relates back to my point earlier about Soriano being overrated.

Don't worry I definitely think he's overrated, especially as a White Sox fan, but as FirstTimer said, if Aramis was healthy and Lee was still hitting or even if they had a legit leadoff man and could put Soriano at the two... Soriano's shortcomings would seem non-existent.

I've always liked Soriano as a player but felt he was very overrated and just does not adjust his game enough to adapt to anything but being a power hitting, low OBP, fastball loving leadoff hitter which isn't very valuable. If he could hit breaking balls or had a legit leadoff hitter in front of him he'd be dangerous or at least more dangerous then they is right now.

 

[FedEx227]

Exactly. Bay would be a great leadoff hitter, if he didn't have 30-40 HR potential, thus it would be a waste.

That's part of the problem with Soriano is you aren't guaranteed to get 40 HR power out of him if you move him out of the leadoff role, he's shown to be more comfortable there and pitch f/X has shown that when he's not there people pitch him breaking balls like their going out of style.

 

[FedEx227]

Lee is playing alright right now but if he starts to struggle again I could see the cubs trying to trade him before the deadline. Get some value out of him. Then put Hoffpauir at first. Hoffpauir is a stud we can't let him go.

A 29-year old stud? There's a reason he was in AAA for a majority of his career.

Also, I somehow doubt people are lining up to acquire an oft-injuried, clearly over-the-hill, $14 million dollar man in Lee.