woodyk1
Well-Known Member
Check his career numbers. He is clearly regressing (as a pitcher).
I don't think his emotional issues will magically get better this year.Carlos Zambrano Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
Cub Offseason Moves/Rumors
- Thread starter ssckelley
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I don't think his emotional issues will magically get better this year.Carlos Zambrano Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
Reports coming out today that the Cubs have offered Sveum the manager's job. Guess we shall see.
Haven't heard anyone mentioning Reyes much. I know he is injury prone which is a big concern, but he could possibly kill two birds with one stone - give us the much needed speed we are lacking and also give us a legit leadoff hitter which we also desperately need. This would allow Castro to move down into a spot he can drive in runs and also let him move over to 3B or OF and improve our SS play. I haven't looked up Reye's fielding % yet but he has to be better than Castro. I know Castro is young and should improve, but man he killed us defensively last year.
Haven't heard anyone mentioning Reyes much. I know he is injury prone which is a big concern, but he could possibly kill two birds with one stone - give us the much needed speed we are lacking and also give us a legit leadoff hitter which we also desperately need. This would allow Castro to move down into a spot he can drive in runs and also let him move over to 3B or OF and improve our SS play. I haven't looked up Reye's fielding % yet but he has to be better than Castro. I know Castro is young and should improve, but man he killed us defensively last year.
tm3308
Well-Known Member
That's like saying "If acid didn't burn through everything, you could drink as much as you wanted to."
Seriously, Z is not likely to ever get his emotions in check. He is who he is: a headcase. Physically, he's got plenty left in the tank. But his head is always going to keep him from being as good as he could be.
He's past his prime.
ssckelley
Well-Known Member
Check his career numbers. He is clearly regressing (as a pitcher).
Carlos Zambrano Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
They are regressing a little but did you see how dominate he was down the stretch in 2009?
I don't think he will magically get better either but it will not surprise me to see him on the mound again this upcoming season.
woodyk1
Well-Known Member
How about getting his bat in the lineup on a regular basis? Can he play 1B?
thejumper5
Well-Known Member
Twitter just blew up with the news that the Cubs will announce Sveum as their new manager at 9 AM tomorrow.
hawkfarmer
Well-Known Member
WHAT?! There is a lot wrong with this. Reyes is going to be another terrible contract for whoever gets him. Soriano like. Also, Castro hit much better from the 1 spot than the 3 or 4 spot. Also he doesn't have the power to hit there yet. Also he's not a 3B yet. His defense will get much better.
Finally his defense did not kill the cubs las year. It wasn't great but the team wasn't going to win many more games if he made half as many errors or less.
I can agree the potential for another bad contract is there. Might depend on what it ends up being though, he hasn't signed yet so we don't know other than rumors being thrown about. I didn't say I wouldn't be hesitant, but you also can't be afraid and never add a guy because of Soriano.
Castro is not a leadoff hitter long run, I think 95% of baseball people would agree.
And yes, his defense did kill the Cubs. No he wasn't responsible for all the losses himself but his defense played a large roll in many. He led the league with 29 errors, I believe 6 more than the next closest man. SS is the most important defensive position on the field, you have to have a solid player there. The Cubs new brass has even said improving Defense is one of their highest priorities this winter as they gave up or were near the bottom in most unearned runs allowed. Do I think he'll improve... yes. How much I don't know. He did play 123 games in 2010 and didn't really improve last season defensively from the year before. He is 30pts lower than Tulowitkzi on Fielding % if that tells you anything. He could play OF though with his athleticism.
I would stick Barney there before Castro and you'd see the difference. Castro rakes though, so he'll be out there somewhere. Unless he improves dramatically on defense, my preference is just in another spot.
Sveum being sign does seem to open up the door for a little more Fielder talk I'd think.
hawkfarmer
Well-Known Member
You are saying that a 21 year old kid can't improve, just because he didn't the year before. A lot of his errors came on trying to make throws after making a play that most SS wouldn't have gotten.
I still don't get the "his errors" killed the cubs. no, pitching and inept hitting killed the cubs, not Castro's errors. I also agree that the future for Castro is deeper in the lineup and as a power hitter. However, he's 21 and hasn't fully matured yet. Currently he is good in the 1 hole as he hits for average, takes some walks and is fast.
Also not saying be scared of guys just because of Soriano. I'm saying be scared of Reyes caused he is often injured and is a selfish player (took himself out so he could win the batting title). he's also getting older and his speed won't always be there, check any player who had speeed.
he's looking for a 5 year deal at the minimum which he will get from somebody, I just hope it is not the cubs.
Ok, please read closer my previous post. I said he would improve but not sure how much. Listen, he has a LLLOOOONNNNGGGGG way to go to "improve" and get with the upper tier of defensive SS. Can he get there? Up to the Cubs to decide but IMO they need to decide soon if he can or move him.
You need to look at stats if you don't think his errors and the teams lack of Defense killed them.
You say "inept" hitting. You must be the kind of guy that just wants the 27 Yankees and there is no other way to win a game. That's fine, home runs are popular. But, They were actually 8th in the league in runs scored and 7th batting average. Good enough to win games with any pitching and defense. However, the one area they suck offensively? Stolen Bases =15th in the NL and BB 15th. OBP they are 10th, they could improve here too. Reyes would up all these dramatically which ups the runs scored. He had more SB and Walks and higher OBP in 30 less games than Castro. What I'm saying is, our offense isn't as inept as you might think it was looking at the stats. We need a true leadoff man and we need to replace Ramirez's production too. The Cubs and all teams look to the future and projectability, you even said Castro's future is not in the one hole so it makes no sense to not plan for the future and where they project him.
Defensively...THIS IS WHERE WE ARE INEPT! We were last in team defense, committing more errors and giving up more unearned runs than anyone.... ANYONE! This makes an already bad pitching staff even worse. Defense isn't sexy but it wins games, its hard for people to see that. The Rays had the 2nd worst offense in the AL but #1 defense and pitching. Look at the Giants the years before.
Pitching , we agree 100% . INEPT
For what its worth, Reyes is 28 by the way too. Right in his prime according to Epstein himself. If the Cubs think he is 100% healthy and 5 years is all, heck yeah they at least need to kick the tires. He fills a major void in the lineup... to fix our 3 worst offensive categories potentially with one player is something you have to consider. Defensively he is better too, not a gold Glover by any means but better. If the Cubs are putting as much premium on defense as they've mentioned then I could see them passing for sure. Barney is our top in house choice. You'd be surprised how many more wins we could have with 2 new solid starters and a 3B and SS who could field the ball. Whole left side was a joke last year.
This is why I love baseball though, you can second guess and go round and round like no other sport.
As far as Reyes is concerned, the guy is a cancer, and would be a bad contract. I have tried to talk myself into it, and I can't. Castro can and I suspect will keep making improvements at shortstop.
As far as the hitting is concerned. The number of run scored and batting aveage look okay, but the clutch hitting wasn't there. We need a couple of guys in the line-up who everyone fears like most contending teams do. Look at the playoff teams and you will see what I mean.
I agree we need to imporve defensively but Castro is worth the risk at SS IMO.
We all agree the pitching must imporve!
As far as the hitting is concerned. The number of run scored and batting aveage look okay, but the clutch hitting wasn't there. We need a couple of guys in the line-up who everyone fears like most contending teams do. Look at the playoff teams and you will see what I mean.
I agree we need to imporve defensively but Castro is worth the risk at SS IMO.
We all agree the pitching must imporve!
hawkfarmer
Well-Known Member
Ok, please read closer my previous post. I said he would improve but not sure how much. Listen, he has a LLLOOOONNNNGGGGG way to go to "improve" and get with the upper tier of defensive SS. Can he get there? Up to the Cubs to decide but IMO they need to decide soon if he can or move him.
You need to look at stats if you don't think his errors and the teams lack of Defense killed them.
You say "inept" hitting. You must be the kind of guy that just wants the 27 Yankees and there is no other way to win a game. That's fine, home runs are popular. But, They were actually 8th in the league in runs scored and 7th batting average. Good enough to win games with any pitching and defense. However, the one area they suck offensively? Stolen Bases =15th in the NL and BB 15th. OBP they are 10th, they could improve here too. Reyes would up all these dramatically which ups the runs scored. He had more SB and Walks and higher OBP in 30 less games than Castro. What I'm saying is, our offense isn't as inept as you might think it was looking at the stats. We need a true leadoff man and we need to replace Ramirez's production too. The Cubs and all teams look to the future and projectability, you even said Castro's future is not in the one hole so it makes no sense to not plan for the future and where they project him.
Defensively...THIS IS WHERE WE ARE INEPT! We were last in team defense, committing more errors and giving up more unearned runs than anyone.... ANYONE! This makes an already bad pitching staff even worse. Defense isn't sexy but it wins games, its hard for people to see that. The Rays had the 2nd worst offense in the AL but #1 defense and pitching. Look at the Giants the years before.
Pitching , we agree 100% . INEPT
For what its worth, Reyes is 28 by the way too. Right in his prime according to Epstein himself. If the Cubs think he is 100% healthy and 5 years is all, heck yeah they at least need to kick the tires. He fills a major void in the lineup... to fix our 3 worst offensive categories potentially with one player is something you have to consider. Defensively he is better too, not a gold Glover by any means but better. If the Cubs are putting as much premium on defense as they've mentioned then I could see them passing for sure. Barney is our top in house choice. You'd be surprised how many more wins we could have with 2 new solid starters and a 3B and SS who could field the ball. Whole left side was a joke last year.
This is why I love baseball though, you can second guess and go round and round like no other sport.
Our hitting is terrible in clutch situations, that's why it is inept. yeah they scored runs and hit for a decent average, but not when they needed to. they lost a lot of games when they just couldn't score.
As far as defense goes, yes castro made a lot of errors, he will improve. Jeter had 56 in a season in the minors, guess he turned out ok. It's like you said the defense was terrible, but if youthink getting reyes and moving castro to third is the answer to all the cubs defensive problems you are not intelligent.
also, do you know why Reyes played in 30 less games, because he was hurt. Yeah that is exactly what the cubs need another guy to put on the DL.
And I'm not saying Castro needs to be a lead off, no I think he'd be a better 2 or 3, but he doesn't have to power to be a great 3 hitter yet.
The pitching was the biggest issue by far, we can agree on that, but you can't look at whole season statistics to tell the whole story.
also, when you argue that Castro is so terrible as a SS why put him at 3B? doesn't make sense and he has too good of infeld range to be an outfielder
tm3308
Well-Known Member
This. Reyes is a good player to have around if he's the final piece. But even then, you only have maybe a 3-year window before things will go sour with him. You can't afford to try and build the franchise around him. He's just not that kind of guy, which makes him the exact opposite of what we need right now.
You don't need to take things out of context. I suggested third but I believe I also suggested OF which he is probably most suited for. I don't recall saying yes he needs to be at 3B no questions asked. Call me unintelligent and name call (its what most posters do on HN) for having a fun baseball discussion if it makes you feel good, but you are just as guilty of being unintelligent if you somewhere read that I think this is the answer to all the Cubs defensive problems as you state I said. I thought I was pretty clear Reyes would give us some things we need offensively but defensively he wouldn't be a huge upgrade but better. I also said the Cubs needed to feel like he was healthy and worth the risk which you missed too I guess. Bottom line is Castro will be a great player, but he needs to dramatically improve on defense, its 1/3 the game.
As far as the other poster saying he is a cancer etc., I don't know that nor do any of us. He isn't Milton Bradley or Z, I have never heard of a teammate having a problem with him so those assumptions are kind of dumb. If he is a cancer, the Baseball Ops people will know.
tm3308
Well-Known Member
He may or may not be a cancer, but he's certainly not a leader, which is all I care about. I don't want a guy like that at shortstop, nor do I want the club to count on them to be the face of the franchise.
