Cubs Sign Dioner Navarro

[Rice Cube]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/cubs-sign-dioner-navarro.html

Details as they come. He used to not suck, right?

 

[Rice Cube]

Stats and crap:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/p...urce=direct&utm_medium=linker-www.typepad.com

Probably better than Clevenger. Switch hitter.

 

[Rice Cube]

Muskat says the Cubs were expected to issue an official release later on today.

Navarro will either be, or compete with whoever else the Cubs drudge up for, the backup catcher.

 

[Rice Cube]

$1.75MM according to Heyman. Meh, but not that terrible.

 

[dabynsky]

Nice veteran backup for Castillo. I will have to look at the numbers to see what he has been up to recently, but would seem like an upgrade over previous backup catchers.

 

[Jntg4]

The piece we've been missing since 2008, feeling really good about this upcoming season

 

[X]

The piece we've been missing since 2008, feeling really good about this upcoming season

you've made your sarcastic point. gonna do this w/ every single signing the Cubs make? Or still holding out for us to sign Fielder, Hamilton, Braun, Beltre, Sabathia, Felix, Votto and Posey?

 

[Rice Cube]

you've made your sarcastic point. gonna do this w/ every single signing the Cubs make? Or still holding out for us to sign Fielder, Hamilton, Braun, Beltre, Sabathia, Felix, Votto and Posey?

I thought that was Captain Obvious' schtick.

Oh wait, I see what you did there.

 

[Jntg4]

you've made your sarcastic point. gonna do this w/ every single signing the Cubs make? Or still holding out for us to sign Fielder, Hamilton, Braun, Beltre, Sabathia, Felix, Votto and Posey?

We're a BIG MARKET team so we should spend BIG on BIG FREE agents only small market teams REBUILD

 

[Rice Cube]

They still haven't confirmed the terms of the deal. Hmm.

 

[Rice Cube]

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121115&content_id=40302400&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc

There's only this. One year, $1.75MM. Not sure if he'll be pretty much guaranteed the backup job. Still seems like an overpay. Sad that we have to argue the merits of giving a crappy catcher almost two million dollars :lol:

 

[dabynsky]

Well if it is in fact guaranteed then he is guaranteed the backup spot which does seem like a reach now looking at his numbers, still say he is better than what we have had the past few years but that bar is set really low. If it is a split contract that pays him 1.75 million if he makes it then it is a much, much better deal.

 

[Rice Cube]

I don't know the full terms but the way they describe it suggests it's a straight-up major league deal for the full guaranteed amount. Since he's a free agent there's no real market discount. If you believe in WAR$ then at about $6MM a win, Navarro needs to just not suck a little to be worth the money and gets a boost as a catcher. Cubs Stats Brad said he was a pretty crappy defensive catcher though so I don't know why they decided to throw so much money at Navarro. Le shrug, still a piddling amount so it's but a minor annoyance.

 

[dabynsky]

I don't know the full terms but the way they describe it suggests it's a straight-up major league deal for the full guaranteed amount. Since he's a free agent there's no real market discount. If you believe in WAR$ then at about $6MM a win, Navarro needs to just not suck a little to be worth the money and gets a boost as a catcher. Cubs Stats Brad said he was a pretty crappy defensive catcher though so I don't know why they decided to throw so much money at Navarro. Le shrug, still a piddling amount so it's but a minor annoyance.

I thought he was at least decent defensively. I am just going by things I've read, but that is the first thing that I remember suggesting he was bad defensively. Though Clevenger wasn't exactly stellar behind the dish either.

 

[Rice Cube]

Who else was on the catching free agent list? Was Hank White still available?

I could imagine giving one of them $1.75MM instead. But maybe everyone else would've cost more and this was the new bargain price in the market.

 

[dabynsky]

I would have preferred Hank White to Navarro if that was an option.

 

[Rice Cube]

Catchers
Rod Barajas (37)
Henry Blanco (41)
Russell Martin (30)
Mike Napoli (31)
Mike Nickeas (30)
Miguel Olivo (34)
Ronny Paulino (32)
A.J. Pierzynski (36)
Humberto Quintero (33)
Brian Schneider (36)
Kelly Shoppach (33)
Chris Snyder (32)
Yorvit Torrealba (34)
Matt Treanor (37)
Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/04/2013-mlb-free-agents.html#OoJmWkIUzDdIuHjY.99

 

[Rice Cube]

Didn't realize Hank White was that old already. But he has been around forever so I guess that shouldn't be a surprise.

 

[X]

We're a BIG MARKET team so we should spend BIG on BIG FREE agents only small market teams REBUILD

overpaying FA's is what got us into this mess in the first place. Ask Soriano, Zambrano, etc. Gotta build up the farm a tad bit. We're not competing in 2013. 2014, maybe, 2015, most likely...not in 2013.

 

[DewsSox79]

overpaying FA's is what got us into this mess in the first place. Ask Soriano, Zambrano, etc. Gotta build up the farm a tad bit. We're not competing in 2013. 2014, maybe, 2015, most likely...not in 2013.

:clap:

If you have neither a farm or major league assets the only thing you can really do is rebuild thru the draft and possible "flip" type players. The cubs farm is not that great and the major league talent outside of garza (which value has dropped) is just not there to move to get young players back. As for just spending big, i mean this FA class is horrible and teams are going to overpay(jntg should see Torii Hunter). At the surface we see "big market" which is true, but there comes a time where the big market has to make changes. Also its not like the cubs havent been spending the last decade either. So yes, I pretty much agree with your take specifically for the cubs situation.