He's played catcher his entire life and Maddon refuses to have him catch anyone but soft tossers. That speaks volumes.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

they can sign heyward, price, zimmerman, and cueto and i'll still think the offseason is a failure if dickhead ross is on the roster next year.

What is their outfield like if they move Schwarber? Coughlin?

Move Rizzo and let Babe play 1B

_________________

I always thought I could live with Dayan Viciedo playing LF if he hit, but it became pretty apparent that even when good, he was a problem. I guess I was ok with El Caballo there.

I felt bad for Schwarber last night. He looked shell shocked.

I think he is a try hard guy, so I guess I'd give him an off season to see his progress as a fielder. It makes an OF next year of Schwarber, Bryant and Soler a lot more troubling.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

yeah,and to top it off,the catcher they dumped hit 18 HR's .

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Yes.

And it's not his arm that they run on. It's the fact that he doesn't know how to track a ball and position himself to catch it.

That said, it's damn fun to watch him hit.

Also, I'll bet they try to move Cahill into the rotation next year as a 4/5.

_________________
You know me like that.

Babe is shorter than his listed 6'. That could be a problem (among others) with him at first.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I think you're way overestimating the difficulty in playing a decent LF

Soriano was a fucking trainwreck out there at first and became decent. MLB is filled with guys who couldnt hack it at their position playing LF. Schwarber has what three months in the OF?

Soriano was a former SS with lots of athletic ability.

Yes, I think he can avoid be a nightly train wreck, if that is what you mean. I do not think he can be average (which is what mediocre is). I think he will be a minus defender his entire life and they are simply avoiding the inevitable that he will be a full time DH before he hits the age of 30.

If you are asking "can they live with him out there?", I think that is yet to be determined.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

athletic ability has nothing to do with playing a baseball position.

But I think the Cubs will trade him off. His value has never been higher.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I know that's a popular opinion, but it's completely unsupported by any numbers. Soriano was often among the best leftfielders based on all the latest metrics. I believe there was a bias against him because he looked awkward with that silly hopping. Also, he was clearly afraid of the wall, but that's factored into the numbers and the fact is, from the time he moved to left he made far more plays than the average leftfielder.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

When you say a minus defender, what do you mean?

Most LF in baseball are negative by WAR or UZR measures.

He can be as good as most LF not named Alex Gordon or Starling Marte.

wrong and that is not just an opinion held by stupid me. Why does the organization talk about their SS being able to play anywhere on the field?

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

He looked lost and played a lot of routine balls into extra base hits. Sometimes the route would be so bad he'd save himself an error.

As you and I have agreed many times, the defensive metrics need a lot of work. He was a negative dWAR in most years on the Cubs.

I can't believe I just read that.

I mean runs will be scored against the team because of his presence as opposed to any other OF on the team

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

really? You know how many "athletic" players have been bad defenders? Athleticism will not fix an inability to track a ball. It also will not fix an inability to keep a glove down or timing. It can help...but it doesn't solve a bad baseball player.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Like most Left fielders

I've heard that opinion a lot more on the radio and I don't agree with it. I believe strongly that SS and 2B can't play the corner spots as well and vice versa.

_________________
Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

Do you know how many non "athletic" players have been good defenders? None

I think the idea is that a guy who is capable of playing short should be capable of playing anywhere on the diamond (except catcher which is a specialty position). Obviously there are different concerns at each position, but the thinking is that once the athletic shortstop gets comfortable he'll be okay anywhere. I agree with you that it may not always be true.

Today's players- at least the American players- don't have the same experience that guys in the past did back when kids constantly played ball in fields and sandlots. Now the top players come through highly structured systems and travel ball and rarely just play on their own figuring stuff out for themselves. I wouldn't call myself a ballplayer at all, but I would guess that I fielded more balls in pickup games and playing games like 500 than some guys who have made it to the big leagues in this era. Let alone, a guy like my father who played constantly as a kid and in hard ball leagues well into his thirties. and he wasn't an anomaly in his time. In the 30s and 40s American kids constantly played baseball. The Dominicans of today are like that.

I've said it before, and many disagree, but I really can't ever remember a guy who came to the big leagues as a bad fielder becoming a good one. Sometimes a guy can go a season getting lucky and making plays- most of these guys really are top athletes- but real improvement it just almost never happens. What you see is what you get. The big leagues is no place to learn how to field.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

I said this about Dayan Viciedo, who at least had an arm. He couldn't do it and it lost the Sox a lot of games.

No on another giant pitching contract.

I'm not against trading anybody (except MJ) but this talk of moving Schwarber seems mind boggling. Why would you let go of a young, under team control left handed power hitter? Those are a rare commodity in today's game. Just think about what Chris Davis is going to command in free agency?

I know he looked bad out in LF last night, and yes his defense will cost you some runs over the course of the season, but barring a major injury, his bat will more than make up for his glove.

As for what should be acquired, I'd be all in on Hayward. Let Fowler walk and insert Hayward into center and the leadoff spot. His defense and OBP capabilities would be perfect for this club. I don't see the downside, though that would mean Soler and or Almora are shown the door at some point in the near future.

Here's a summary of Bruce Levine's thoughts on the offseason (on Mully & Hanley):

1. Will not sign a $20-$30m per year pitcher
2. Samardzija a good possibility
3. Soler will be shopped to AL because of his defense and propensity for muscular injuries
4. Schwarber will be kept
5. Rizzo might be traded to make room for Schwarber

_________________

Not a fan of Bruuuuce in general, but this may be in the running for the dumbest thing he's ever said. Rizzo is Theo and Jed's boy. He's not going anywhere.

I'd keep Shwarbs in LF. He really didn't look that bad in the regular season. Not too many teams have 2 lh bats like Rizzo and Shwarbs.

_________________
favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Theo has already traded him once. I agree that he likes Rizzo, but I don't believe he's sentimental.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don

Theo traded him to Jed after Jed went to the Padres. Then they traded to get him when they joined back up with the Coo.

I know. And clearly Rizzo is the living embodiment of "The Plan"- a guy they believed in even when he looked terrible out there. But like I said, I don't believe Theo will let sentimentality get in the way of him building what he thinks is the best possible ballclub. They have more hitters than places to hide their questionable defense. Rizzo is a guy who could probably bring back a few good young pitchers. And that's probably a better way to find an ace than handing big money to a 30 year old on a six year deal.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Matthew, Tulsi, and Don