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#Post#: 164604--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: CUBluejays Date: January 15, 2014, 9:44 pm
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I don't think I'd go that far, they both are likely a 1-2 WAR
player. Barney only had a BABIP of .227 last year, in his
previous 2 years he was .270 and .310, if he can back there he
is just slightly bad on offense instead of horrific. If that
happens they are about equal and a platoon at second, with
Barney as a defensive sub wouldn't be horrible.
Olt being healthy would be great, but I have a hard time buying
it.
#Post#: 164736--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: brjones Date: January 17, 2014, 8:14 am
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Cubs avoid arbitration with Valbuena. He gets $1.71 million.
#Post#: 164740--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: JR Date: January 17, 2014, 9:24 am
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[quote author=brjones link=topic=119.msg164736#msg164736
date=1389968052]
Cubs avoid arbitration with Valbuena. He gets $1.71 million.
[/quote]
This just reminds me why I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about
the idea of signing Tanaka as a lot of people here (and
apparently the front office).
Even if we sign him, we're going to have absolutely no offense
supporting him. Year 1 at the very least of his contract will
likely be a completely wasted year, and if you're investing that
kind of money in a starting pitcher, wasted years of wear and
tear on his arm isn't something that sets very well with me.
#Post#: 164742--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: davep Date: January 17, 2014, 9:43 am
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It probably have been better for the Cubs if Tanaka came on the
market next year. But he would probably get more wear and tear
on his arm from another year in Japan than he would get with the
Cubs this year.
Even if they sign Tanaka, they will have a middle of the road
team this year. But he will be signed for a great number of
years, and you have to start somewhere.
#Post#: 164743--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: JR Date: January 17, 2014, 9:52 am
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[quote]But he will be signed for a great number of years . .
.[/quote]
That honestly scares me more than anything.
#Post#: 164749--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: craig Date: January 17, 2014, 10:15 am
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[quote author=brjones link=topic=119.msg164597#msg164597
date=1389842903]
I saw that Olt claimed he is completely healthy today. If
that's true, best case scenario is that he's the third baseman
and Valbuena can take over 2B. If Olt wins the 3B job, Valbuena
>>>> Barney.
[/quote]
Things will play out, and the layout in April may be quite
different from June, and that from August. All potentially
fluid. I still think the best layout is to start Barney and
Valbu, with Olt in Iowa for a while. If that means Olt is
playing some games as non-3B (1B/LF/DH), and Christian
Villanueva plays some non-3B as well (2B/LF/1B/DH), that's fine.
(Might be quite good. Neither player is an overwhelming
starter prospect, so both might enrich their careers if they
showed they could be contribute as multi-position bench guys.)
The real question for both is whether they can hit enough to be
good regulars, or good subs, in the majors.
If Olt starts with Cubs in April and stinks, I don't mind that.
We're not going WS this year anyway, so I've got no problem with
"hey, let's just take a shot and hope we get lucky; assuming we
don't we're no worse than if we hadn't tried". That's true for
the team. But I just think that Olt is interesting as a
wild-card, and his changes of actually working out might be a
little better if he had a chance to settle in for a while at
Iowa. I know, I know: maybe if he's never going to make it,
going to Iowa and stumbling there won't help. And maybe if he's
going to be good, he'll be good right out of the gate in the
majors in April. But I think he's likely to get a little
better/longer opportunity if he could put up some excellence at
Iowa, show that last year means nothing, and have management
ready to give him an extended opportunity. Deeg mentions that
he's had a failure cup-of-coffee before, and he's 25. But age
notwithstanding, he's got very limited experience, none
successful above AA. I'm not sure it's fair to him to be ready,
or to have the mental resilience in the event that he goes
hitless for a weekend, or when he makes some solid contact but
the ball dies at the track in the face of cold, unfavorable
April conditions.
I know 3B is ideal position for both Olt and Villanueva. But IF
Olt were to come up as a productive offensive guy, I could see a
landscape where he'd get opportunities in LF. If Olt is up and
is just great from April on, at 3B, maybe it's easy. But, it
may not be clear whether either of Olt/Villanueva are long-term
regulars when Bryant decision is made. For example: Olt is
hitting pretty well, .240/HR's/.760 OPS, but Bryant is really
good. So maybe Bryant, the long-term given, gets 3B. Olt is
too interesting to write off but not great enough to be a
long-term given, so he goes into the "competition" mix in the
totally wide-open outfield landscape. Maybe he moves past both
Lake and Sweeney or maybe not, depending on his performance.
Ideally, over time, he might establish his offense as being well
worthy of being a long-term starter, whether in left or at 3b.
If so, could stay in left; could get swapped back to 3B with
Bryant going OF; or perhaps once he proved himself as a bat Olt
would be a really good trade value to a team that didn't have a
3b.
Presumably the whether-he-starts-in-april-or-not won't really
matter. If he's going to end up good, he'll probably end up
good whether he starts April in Iowa or Chicago. And if he's
going to end up bad, Iowa versus Chicago won't change that.
#Post#: 164763--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: brjones Date: January 17, 2014, 11:46 am
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Jerry Crasnick says the Cubs have agreed to a $5 million deal
for Schierholtz. That's more than I expected for him.
#Post#: 164765--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: brjones Date: January 17, 2014, 12:13 pm
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Russell avoids arbitration: $1.775 million.
#Post#: 164770--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: brjones Date: January 17, 2014, 12:29 pm
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It looks like there was no agreement for Samardzija, Wood,
Strop, Ruggiano, or Barney. They could still be settled, but
they will all file numbers for arbitration.
#Post#: 164798--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '14
By: brjones Date: January 17, 2014, 5:12 pm
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Theo apparently said that Strop has agreed to terms. That
leaves four arb-eligible guys without a deal.
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