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

[Yawkey Way]

telling you right now, Jason Bay would not be a great leadoff hitter. Yes he can take pitches and has a good eye, but he is a dead fastball hitter. Since being moved into the 4-hole, he's seen less fastballs and his average has plummetted down to .279 as of last night. He sees more fastballs with runners on base where pitchers can't fool around on the edges, and that's where he does the most damage.

 

[celtsxpatsxsox]

telling you right now, Jason Bay would not be a great leadoff hitter. Yes he can take pitches and has a good eye, but he is a dead fastball hitter. Since being moved into the 4-hole, he's seen less fastballs and his average has plummetted down to .279 as of last night. He sees more fastballs with runners on base where pitchers can't fool around on the edges, and that's where he does the most damage.

I dont think putting Bay in the 4 spot was what hurt his average. He is a career .282 hitter and he was batting in the 4 spot while he was on his hot streak when Youkilis was on the DL.

 

[zack54attack]

Trade for Adam Jones. Solution solved.




lol.

 

[FirstTimer]

Fukudome continues to slump. Avg down to .266. Hitless since like June 10th

 

[FirstTimer]

The Cubs just seem to be destined to lose. When they put together a solid ball club, they screw it up by seasons end. Other seasons (most seasons) they make the wrong decisions and screw it up before it even matters.

A lot of it has to do with the fanbase. The owners have little incentive to put an amazing product on the field year in and year out. People show up to Wrigley and drink no matter what. Cubs fans have turned Wrigley into more of a frat house than a ball park.

Also, the Cubs aren't consistantly good. it hurts them. Make the playoffs consistantly enough and eventually the breaks go your way. Prior to last season though through out the teams history Cubs would have a good/decent year make the playoffs then finish 4th the next season. They've just never been able to string winning seasons together the way a lot of other teams have.

 

[FirstTimer]

This is why I thought it would be great if Mark Cuban would have become the new owner of the Cubbies. The current ownership just takes the cash from the great ticket sales and tv deals but they dont reciprocate and spend the majority of that. Cuban would have done that. Whether or not he would have improved the team is up for debate but he certainly would have tried spending his way to the top.

For the record, not a Cubs fan. They are the lovable losers though.

Well the Cubs do have one of the highest payrolls in baseball so we do spend the money, the problem is we have never been able to learn how to build a consistant winner. It doesn't help though when you don't have any prospects pan out etc.

 

[FedEx227]

And that Cuban stuff is bull. Mark Cuban is a business man, first and foremost. Everyone thinks that magically he's the owner and he's just going to pile millions of dollars into the Cubs organization. That's not true. He's a business man, he wants to make money.

What he did with the Mavericks was created billions of dollars of additional revenue by building a new arena, naming rights, etc. This allowed him to spend a decent amount of money on the team thanks to new revenue streams not before seen from Dallas.

Wrigley and the Cubs are pretty much at their limit. What additional revenue streams can you add to Wrigley outside of naming rights? There's really not much else as you already have sponsored bleachers and dugouts. Thus, Cuban would be hard-pressed to make the payroll any larger then what you have right now which is already in the top 3 of the league.

 

[RainboUnicorn]

A lot of it has to do with the fanbase. The owners have little incentive to put an amazing product on the field year in and year out. People show up to Wrigley and drink no matter what. Cubs fans have turned Wrigley into more of a frat house than a ball park.

Well the Cubs do have one of the highest payrolls in baseball so we do spend the money, the problem is we have never been able to learn how to build a consistant winner. It doesn't help though when you don't have any prospects pan out etc.

That's kind of a contradiction of yourself. I wouldn't say they don't try because since they do have one of the biggest payrolls they obviously do. Look what Hendry did this offseason. We needed a left handed bat and he went out and got the best left handed batter in the AL (1st in on base percentage). It's the team.

 

[FirstTimer]

That's kind of a contradiction of yourself. I wouldn't say they don't try because since they do have one of the biggest payrolls they obviously do. Look what Hendry did this offseason. We needed a left handed bat and he went out and got the best left handed batter in the AL (1st in on base percentage). It's the team.

Actually it's not.

Only until the last few years or so have the Cubs gone out and tried to spend a lot of money. Hell this past offseason coming off a 97 win year they cut guys to save some slary before signing Milton. Even still though this team could tank and be awful and Wrigley would sell out. They spend money to placate the masses. The whole needing to be more lefthanded crap is bull. That team won 97 games being right handed. Their pitching, defense, and offense all tanked in the postseason. They needed another bat in general. It could have been a RH or LH. Didn't matter.

 

[Senser81]

That's kind of a contradiction of yourself. I wouldn't say they don't try because since they do have one of the biggest payrolls they obviously do. Look what Hendry did this offseason. We needed a left handed bat and he went out and got the best left handed batter in the AL (1st in on base percentage). It's the team.

Bradley had a career year last year (albeit in the Rangers bandbox), but it was still a huge gamble to sign him. First, he's a liability in all areas other than hitting. So, if he has a cold bat, he's worthless. Second, he's a proven headcase. I could picture a team like the Brewers or the A's taking a chance on Bradley at a relatively low salary, but why the Cubs would choose to sign Bradley is beyond me.

 

[FirstTimer]

I have no idea why we didn't go after Dunn. Sure the guys strikeouts a lot but it must not be that big of a deal to them if we are willing to have Soriano lead off. Dunn you could write in as a RF or LF, even a little bit of 1B and he's a lock to go for 40 HR's. He's lefthanded if you want to go down that line of BS too. Instead you spend an extra year and an extra 10 million on a guy who isn't a power guy, has an injury history, and was DH'ing last year in a bandbox.

Hated this move from Day 1.

 

[FedEx227]

People hate Dunn for whatever reason because they only care about batting average and strikeouts negating the fact that he's one of the best all-around power hitters in the game and has a ridiculous OBP every single year.

 

[FirstTimer]

People hate Dunn for whatever reason because they only care about batting average and strikeouts negating the fact that he's one of the best all-around power hitters in the game and has a ridiculous OBP every single year.

I'll take .250 40 HR's and 100+ RBI's any day of the week. I don't give a shit how much he strikes out.

 

[FedEx227]

Well the point is... the guy gets on base and walks more than pretty much any other player in the league. I love people that still think batting average means anything.

Yeah, he strikes out a lot and doesn't get a lot of hits... but his career averages:

.247/.382/.512, 40 HR, 97 RBI, 131 OPS+

 

[FirstTimer]

Well the point is... the guy gets on base and walks more than pretty much any other player in the league. I love people that still think batting average means anything.

Yeah, he strikes out a lot and doesn't get a lot of hits... but his career averages:

.247/.382/.512, 40 HR, 97 RBI, 131 OPS+

Yeah it's really odd that a guy with such a high stike out rate walks so much. So I guess he has a good eye at the plate but just tends to swing and miss at a lot of pitches. Scary to think what he could do with those if he was able to make contact. I don't see Dunn play a ton but I don't recall him having a lot of WTF swings at bad pitches.

 

[FedEx227]

Yeah, basically if it's in the zone, he's going to swing as hard as he possibly can. If it's out of the zone he's going to take. It's pretty odd, but very effective.