No Excuse for Not Trading Schwarber in off Season

[Ari Bear]

If you get 25+ HR's from Schwarber each year you can probably live with the errors in the field. The thing is, last year the Cubs were damn good. They ran into a historically hot Milwaukee team and everyone forgets how many games the Cubs won and just see the quick playoff exit. They did this with a few hitters (Bryant, Willson) struggling.

Right, and he hit 29 one yr and 26 homers last yr as a non full time player. If he starts fully like Baez, Rizzo and Bryant. Kyle would hit 30-40 hr year and and probably drive in 80-100 runs and his fielding last year wasn't all that bad either and also he had several assists at the plate too. I think the Cubs need Kyle.

 

[Ari Bear]

Did you see his belly start to hang over his belt.

Yeah. Babe Ruth's belly hung over his belt as well.

 

[CSF77]

Did you see his belly start to hang over his belt. In 2 years he will look like a southside Chicago softball player from the 60s

I feared for the 3rd base ump's family today.

 

[Omeletpants]

Yeah. Babe Ruth's belly hung over his belt as well.

Cause Schwarbie is just as good as Ruth and if Ruth is fat so can he.....lolololo. Yours is the worst post of the year

 

[CSF77]

Cause Schwarbie is just as good as Ruth and if Ruth is fat so can he.....lolololo. Yours is the worst post of the year

Chucky ain't a weak boy. Almost tossed Javy like a rag doll.

 

[beckdawg]

I'm not getting bogged down in this discussion on Schwarber being traded. But people need to realize Schwarber isn't a bad defender in LF anymore. Since 2018 he's +12.3 UZR/150(3rd in majors behind gordon and Dickerson) and +2 DRS which is 8th in the majors behind the previously mentioned 2 plus Eddie Rosario, Brett Gardner, Ozuna, David Peralta, and Benintendi. Now I don't really think he's 12 UZR/150 good but even if you go with the +2 DRS he's more or less a tick above average. He's not a giant liability out there. It's plausible that as he ages he will become one but you deal with that down the road plus chances are if you keep him long term you may eventually move him to 1B.

I just don't think his defense is a valid argument anymore. He's more than fine there. You want to argue his ability to hit LHP is a flaw have at it. You want to argue his K rate still is an issue again that is a valid concern IMO. But this constant knock on his defense is fucking stupid. He was a catcher for most of his career and only had 1-2 years of experience in LF when he came up. Of course he was going to look bad. He put in the work to get better and has. So people need to adjust their view on that because the facts changed.

 

[CSF77]

I'm not getting bogged down in this discussion on Schwarber being traded. But people need to realize Schwarber isn't a bad defender in LF anymore. Since 2018 he's +12.3 UZR/150(3rd in majors behind gordon and Dickerson) and +2 DRS which is 8th in the majors behind the previously mentioned 2 plus Eddie Rosario, Brett Gardner, Ozuna, David Peralta, and Benintendi. Now I don't really think he's 12 UZR/150 good but even if you go with the +2 DRS he's more or less a tick above average. He's not a giant liability out there. It's plausible that as he ages he will become one but you deal with that down the road plus chances are if you keep him long term you may eventually move him to 1B.

I just don't think his defense is a valid argument anymore. He's more than fine there. You want to argue his ability to hit LHP is a flaw have at it. You want to argue his K rate still is an issue again that is a valid concern IMO. But this constant knock on his defense is fucking stupid. He was a catcher for most of his career and only had 1-2 years of experience in LF when he came up. Of course he was going to look bad. He put in the work to get better and has. So people need to adjust their view on that because the facts changed.

He is struggling right now. If he was hitting .300 this thread doesn't exist.

100% Troll bait

 

[chibears55]

He is struggling right now. If he was hitting .300 this thread doesn't exist.

100% Troll bait

If he was hitting 250 it wouldn't exist..lol

 

[Omeletpants]

People fall in love with the occasional long ball. In reality he is a chunky, shorter version of Dave Kingman

On a very talented team like the Yankees, he would be tolerable. But on an average talent team like the Cubs you need more from a corner OF

 

[SiDe WaYs]

But he isn’t chunky. Cecil and prince fielder are chuncky. Kyle isn’t.

 

[Omeletpants]

But he isn’t chunky. Cecil and prince fielder are chuncky. Kyle isn’t.

He has put on every pound he lost last year. In 3 years he will be the Pillsbury doughboy

 

[beckdawg]

He has put on every pound he lost last year. In 3 years he will be the Pillsbury doughboy

You're really caught up on dudes weight. Who cares? He's listed 6' 235. Edwin Encarnacion is 6'1 230. Nelson Cruz is 6'2 230. Alex Gordon is 6'1 225. It's not like Schwarber is 250+. And Schwarber is an athletic big guy. Gordan has 25 triples in 6490 PAs(1 per ~260 PAs). Cruz has 13 in 6447(1 per 496). Encarnacion has 10 in 7522(1 per 752). Schwarber has 5 in 1331(1 per 266). So dude is more akin to Gordon than Encarnacion/Cruz.

 

[Omeletpants]

You're really caught up on dudes weight. Who cares? He's listed 6' 235. Edwin Encarnacion is 6'1 230. Nelson Cruz is 6'2 230. Alex Gordon is 6'1 225. It's not like Schwarber is 250+. And Schwarber is an athletic big guy. Gordan has 25 triples in 6490 PAs(1 per ~260 PAs). Cruz has 13 in 6447(1 per 496). Encarnacion has 10 in 7522(1 per 752). Schwarber has 5 in 1331(1 per 266). So dude is more akin to Gordon than Encarnacion/Cruz.

Schwarber made it his goal to get in the best shape of his life and lose weight because he thought it would help. If we agree that being in better shape will ultimately lead to better performance then you have to ask "what sense does it make to add those 20 lbs back on"? Means that he has given up on that discipline and commitment. This guy is a professional athelete and he knows that adding 20 lbs is not helpful

Fast forward 5 years and he will look like John Kruk does now

 

[truthbedamned]

Schwarber made it his goal to get in the best shape of his life and lose weight because he thought it would help. If we agree that being in better shape will ultimately lead to better performance then you have to ask "what sense does it make to add those 20 lbs back on"? Means that he has given up on that discipline and commitment. This guy is a professional athelete and he knows that adding 20 lbs is not helpful

Fast forward 5 years and he will look like John Kruk does now

No...He doesn't

 

[Omeletpants]

No...He doesn't

I said will in 5 years

 

[truthbedamned]

I said will in 5 years

Let me know in 5 years whether you are right....Even though Grimsom and His buds desperately hope we will be dead by then.

 

[beckdawg]

Schwarber made it his goal to get in the best shape of his life and lose weight because he thought it would help. If we agree that being in better shape will ultimately lead to better performance then you have to ask "what sense does it make to add those 20 lbs back on"? Means that he has given up on that discipline and commitment. This guy is a professional athelete and he knows that adding 20 lbs is not helpful

Fast forward 5 years and he will look like John Kruk does now

Kruk hit .316/.430/.475 at age 32. I mean i get the point that you obviously want to be in good shape all things being equal but I'd rather he just hit well. Sandoval looked like a freaking panda bear for most of the time he was a good hitter but he got the job done.

And just being low body fat doesn't necessarily mean you're better either. I mean obviously you don't wanna go out there looking like Bartolo especially at Schwarber's age but you don't have to be chiseled out of granite to be a good baseball player. That's the endearing thing about the game.

I believe in the past you've griped about players like Schwarber not going the other way. I think we can both agree it's probably better he work on that in an offseason than going out and becoming super fit yeah? To that end I present to you his pull rates for 2018 and 2019 thus far. 43.6%/33.3%/23.0% for pull/center/oppo for 2018 vs 40.0%/17.1%/42.9% for 2019. So it's pretty clear he's using the field a lot more in 2019.

 

[Omeletpants]

You have to ask yourself why he put 20 lbs on since last year? You have not answered that question. It's not like he is an undersized defensive lineman that needs the weight for leverage.

I'm betting the Cubs trainer is concerned

 

[Omeletpants]

Let me know in 5 years whether you are right....Even though Grimsom and His buds desperately hope we will be dead by then.

They all want me dead on the P&I forum. Well, they need to get in line

 

[beckdawg]

You have to ask yourself why he put 20 lbs on since last year? You have not answered that question. It's not like he is an undersized defensive lineman that needs the weight for leverage.

I'm betting the Cubs trainer is concerned

I don't know that he has because I'm not literally weighing him game to game. You can say he looks bigger. Fine. If that's your opinion fine. You can say it's a problem. Again that's your opinion and that's fine. Frankly I'm not convinced he put on weight but also frankly I don't give a shit if he has. That's my point. I don't see his weight having any effect on whether or not he is hitting left handed pitching. I mean ok sure if you're gonna take this to extremes and say he's suddenly 300+ then sure maybe that's an issue. But there's tons of guys in the majors right now with his exact body type who are decent players. The two issues are unrelated.

It'd be one thing if your argument was he tore up his knee once and having extra weight may effect that but that's not the argument you're making and even if it were he's had 0 issues with his knee since returning. You're effectively just tearing him down as being fat for no apparent reason because you're not connecting his weight to his actual issues. Like I said earlier, if people want to complain about his ability to hit LHP or his contact rates then fine. Those are valid concerns but they aren't tied to weight. If you're going to dislike him dislike him for reasons that actually make sense.