2019-20 MLB Hot Stove thread

[CSF77]

Joe treated the players as individuals. Theo wanted more of a team mentality. David was on board with it.

It is simple as that.

Joe won. That is what mattered. The lackings were more so on funding a winner. They spent on under performance and lack a quality farm to replenish.

 

[anotheridiot]

Well they are both wrong

He is a little worse at CF. But it is. Not this void going on.

As a hitter it was him leading off that slumped him. It had nothing to do with playing CF.

So he was not better at all.

Like I've said. They might as well push Happ out there as the starter. He has produced after returning from his AAA stint.

The thing I'm looking at with Happ is his BB and SO rates.

Last year his walk rate was over 15% and his strike out rate was at 36%. But this was also when he was pushed in to the lead off and became more passive at the plate.

Now on returning his walk rate went to 9.6% and his SO rate fell to 25% . Now looking at the big pix he went from 51% of the time sitting down or sitting on 1B to 36% of the time on returning.

So he was putting it into play more in a hitters role.

This netted him 1.5 fWAR in 156 PA's.

Now I really don't see any reason why not every day him now. The issue was more so wrong peg for the slot vs anything else. But that was status que for Madden who really didn't get the concept of hitters production in roles and it falls on Theo for being too cheap to Target a legit lead off.

He led off 32 games and hit .147. So that is 1/3rd of the time. Did he only lead off when he played center?

He hit . 200 or under against Cincinatti, Miami, Los Angeles, Oakland and Philly. Maybe those were the games he led off?

As far as the other post, Theo wanted Joe to manage like Council managed. Every game is game 7 of the world series, every game mattered, not 30 minute rule to think about how bad you sucked and then find a party to forget about it. Theo wanted Joe to act like the games in April mattered, he wanted a fast start, he wanted immediate sense of urgency.

We got hippie.

I am truly confident that Theo will get what he is looking for from Rossy.

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

I didnt know you could fire someone who didnt have a contract with a team

Pedantic and trivial. Kudos.

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

I love it, at this point some of y'all are beating your old dead horses with the "Maddon was a terrible manager, he was weak in every area you can be weak in, no wonder we fired him!" chant.

I want to hear y'all on that same soapbox when the Angels are appearing in the World Series in a year or two and the Cubs are finishing fourth in a weak NL Central.

-Doug

p.s. -- I don't think you're being fired when the GM and President both say that, had the team gotten into a funk with a different manager, they would be trying to hire Joe today. Has nothing to do with the manager, just with the team getting burned out on a given manager's approach, and needing a change. dvd

Whether Joe was fired or not isn’t really the point. He deserved to be fired. We are one missed meatball away from losing game 7 of that World Series. And it was all because Maddon misused Chapman to exhaust him in a 7-2 and then subsequently a 9-2 game.

That’s not the only reason though. The guy sticks with what’s not working for months and months.

Lots of people forget that early in 2015 we kept losing 1 run games and that’s why we were hovering around .500. The reason we kept losing one run games is because Maddon kept hitting our worst hitter 4th. He hit Castro 4th for the better part of 3 months despite the fact his OPS was like .500.

I could sit here all day and list 1000 moronic decisions from Joe. He’s gone, and thank the lord.

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

Anyone remember him sticking Farrell out there in St Louis for back to back walk offs when there were better options in the pen both nights? Wonder if losing those 2 games cost them the division. It’s probably not even in Joe’s top 500 dumb decisions.

 

[CSF77]

He led off 32 games and hit .147. So that is 1/3rd of the time. Did he only lead off when he played center?

He hit . 200 or under against Cincinatti, Miami, Los Angeles, Oakland and Philly. Maybe those were the games he led off?

As far as the other post, Theo wanted Joe to manage like Council managed. Every game is game 7 of the world series, every game mattered, not 30 minute rule to think about how bad you sucked and then find a party to forget about it. Theo wanted Joe to act like the games in April mattered, he wanted a fast start, he wanted immediate sense of urgency.

We got hippie.

I am truly confident that Theo will get what he is looking for from Rossy.

Heyward put up 1.9 fWAR.

As a lead off his value as a hitter was less than 1/2 the value of a MLB player.

His over all was 101 wRC+.

So he had 589 PA. 147 of them was at 1/2 his value. The rest (442 PA) were league avg or above.

So that is a dramatic change backed by hard fact vs hear say.

 

[SilenceS]

Pedantic and trivial. Kudos.

Congrats on using plus words.

 

[CSF77]

Cubs Nearing Deal With Steven Souza
By Jeff Todd | January 24, 2020 at 1:21pm CDT

The Cubs are closing in on a deal with free agent outfielder Steven Souza Jr., per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). If completed, it’ll be the Chicago organization’s first MLB contract of the offseason.
Souza was previously cut loose by the Diamondbacks. The Arizona organization decided against tendering him and paying a projected $4.125MM salary in Souza’s final year of arbitration eligibility.
This news helps explain the Cubs’ decision to open a 40-man spot today. Adding Souza will not really change the pitch of the austerity-themed offseason, but it does represent a notable commitment that could potentially have an intriguing butterfly effect.
Souza, who’s looking to bounce back following a 2019 season lost to injury, has played almost exclusively in right field during his five seasons in the majors. That has been the primary domain of high-proced Cubs veteran Jason Heyward, who could also appear in center.
There’s now a bit of a crowd in the outfield picture. Kyle Schwarber has spent most of his time in left and figures to do so again. Ian Happ has been seen as an option up the middle but could be utilized in a variety of manners (including in the infield). Albert Almora is a possible platoon partner for Heyward or Happ. Star third baseman Kris Bryant has also spent time in the corner outfield in recent seasons.
At a minimum, the addition of Souza makes it tougher than ever to envision Nicholas Castellanos returning. Even sans Castellanos, the roster may yet be pared through trade — with Bryant still the most intriguing possibility.
Souza won’t necessarily be assured of a significant role — or even a roster spot out of camp. He’s not only working back from a serious knee injury, but needs to prove he can rebound at the plate. Souza managed only a .220/.309/.369 batting line in 272 plate appearances in 2018, another injury-limited campaign.
The Cubs obviously hope that Souza can rediscovery the form he showed back in 2017, when he was an effective performer for the Rays. He turned in .239/.351/.459 slash with thirty long balls and 16 steals over 617 trips to the plate, easily representing his best season in the bigs. Souza was even then prone to strike out in about three of every ten plate appearances, but drew walks at a healthy 13.6% clip and made plenty of good contact.
Souza has also graded as a plus defender and baserunner at times. When he put it all together in ’17, he was a 3.8 fWAR / 4.1 rWAR performer. Anything approaching that level of production would make this signing a slam dunk for the Cubs, though that’s probably also a low-likelihood outcome given Souza’s more recent track record.

 

[TL1961]

better than what or who offensively with a .215 average? Maybe we need to do this one at a time, its too much information for your little head.

I am not splitting OFFENSE based on DEFENSIVE position!

Pay a -fucking-tention!

He is a better offensive player than you said, and he is better defensively than your initial post would have one believe.

JFC, are you that slow?

 

[TL1961]

Did you work there yesterday? Yes
Do you work there today? No
Did you quit? No

You were fired.

 

[TL1961]

Heyward isn’t worth his contract. But we are stuck with it.

We aren’t stuck with Almora Jr and his 66 OPS+ leading off and starting too often.

We fired Joe Maddon primarily to get rid of that crippling stupidity.

There are people on this forum who literally wake up and head to the firum in order to post a daily complaint about Heyward's contract.

It's not nearly as bad as many make it out to be. He's a great defensive out - oops - Right fielder, and baserunner and is a solid vet that was absolutely an asset in the 2016 WS winning season.

Is he Mike Trout? No. Not by a long shot.

Is he some pain the butt knucklehead like Milton Bradley that we need to rid ourselves of? Of course not!

 

[TL1961]

Whether Joe was fired or not isn’t really the point. He deserved to be fired. We are one missed meatball away from losing game 7 of that World Series. And it was all because Maddon misused Chapman to exhaust him in a 7-2 and then subsequently a 9-2 game.

That’s not the only reason though. The guy sticks with what’s not working for months and months.

Lots of people forget that early in 2015 we kept losing 1 run games and that’s why we were hovering around .500. The reason we kept losing one run games is because Maddon kept hitting our worst hitter 4th. He hit Castro 4th for the better part of 3 months despite the fact his OPS was like .500.

I could sit here all day and list 1000 moronic decisions from Joe. He’s gone, and thank the lord.

Castro hit 4th in 20 games.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Souza, eh? I'd rather have Castellanos, who hits for average and has doubles power. Souza's best season was with a .239 average? I get that the .351 OBP is useful, and he sort of fills a lead-off role. But he's more of a platoon player; I don't like mixing lead-off and platoon.

I'm guessing Ricketts is pushing him because, as damaged goods, he can get him a ton cheaper than he can get Castellanos. Sigh.

-Doug

 

[CSF77]

Souza, eh? I'd rather have Castellanos, who hits for average and has doubles power. Souza's best season was with a .239 average? I get that the .351 OBP is useful, and he sort of fills a lead-off role. But he's more of a platoon player; I don't like mixing lead-off and platoon.

I'm guessing Ricketts is pushing him because, as damaged goods, he can get him a ton cheaper than he can get Castellanos. Sigh.

-Doug

They can't afford him.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

They can't afford him.

They could afford him once they move KB. This makes it sound like the Cubs have been informed that the decision on the grievance will not happen for another several months, so they are being forced to proceed with the League office blocking a Bryant trade for as long as they possibly can. Seriously, why else has Castellanos not signed elsewhere? He's stated his first desire is coming back to the Cubs, and the Cubs have told him to hang on while they try and trim payroll. This is playing out as if Cubs would go for Souza only if they've been told they will not be allowed to trade Bryant, that the league will wait on the grievance decision until after the 2020 season unless they cancel trade talks. It all adds up.

Again, why does the League office think it is in anyone's interest to be actively blocking a Bryant trade? Whose agenda does it serve to force the Cubs to keep Bryant because his draft value is being externally suppressed through this lack of decision on the grievance? If this was *any* other industry, many clubs would be getting in on a class action suit against the League office. As it stands, baseball's special legal status means they can't do that, but still.... someone has to have the ability to find out why they're dragging their feet on this. They certainly know they are impacting competitive league balance by inhibiting a trade that could spread the talent around.

-Doug

 

[JP Hochbaum]

Gotta love conspiracy theories.

 

[Spunky Porkstacker]

What would be MLB's motivation to stall a decision on Bryant's grievance?

 

[CubsFaninMN]

What would be MLB's motivation to stall a decision on Bryant's grievance?

Very good question, since they give every appearance of doing so...

-Doug

 

[CSF77]

Seriously, why else has Castellanos not signed elsewhere?

Because his Agent is Boras and he is not getting a offer that fits his ego.

That is why. There is no Cub hold out. The Cubs have moved on with attempting to sign Souza.

So the reality is Ozuna got stuck with a 1 year offer. That affected Nick's market. To add to it Nick is a shitty defender. So now teams are looking at him as a DH 1B and that is not worth the demands.

 

[CSF77]

Anyways. Theo pretty much addressed this in the process of hiring David.

He said that they have a winning culture in place and when they bring in talent that culture will be there already.

3 times this has been a issue. They signed Q and they went into a winning steak. Then Hamels then Nick.

So that is where the problem lies. They needed a boost just to be competitive. And that is what Theo and David are going to be focusing on this season is accountability and performance.

The guys that they have have to be good enough or they will end up selling. About it on that front.