Offseason discussion/rumors

[CSF77]

MESA, Ariz. -- The Cubs continued to stock up on bullpen arms, acquiring right-hander Alec Mills from the Royals for Minor League outfielder Donnie Dewees on Wednesday.

Mills, 25, made his Major League debut last season, appearing in three games in relief. He combined to go 5-5 with a 3.22 ERA in 24 appearances, all but one as a starter, last year between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha. He had a 13.50 ERA in three outings with the Royals.
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Mills was designated for assignment on Wednesday to make room on the Royals' roster for newly acquired pitcher Jason Hammel, who had pitched for the Cubs the last two seasons and signed a two-year deal with Kansas City on Wednesday. Royals general manager Dayton Moore said he was certain Mills would be claimed.
"Alec is a kid with tools," Moore said. "It was difficult, but we had other arms we felt we needed to protect."
Mills was selected by Kansas City in the 22nd round of the 2012 Draft, and was 19-22 with nine saves and a 3.03 ERA in five Minor League seasons.
Mills has options remaining, just as recently acquired reliever Eddie Butler does, which made them both attractive additions.
Dewees, 23, a second-round pick in 2015, batted .278 with 10 home runs and 103 RBIs in 195 Minor League games over the last two seasons. He was ranked 12th on MLBPipeline.com's list of Top 30 Cubs prospects. He had an impressive stint in the Cape Cod League in 2014, and led NCAA Division I players in runs (88), hits (106), total bases (188), and slugging (.749) while ranking second in hitting (.422) at the University of North Florida. He has plus speed, and was projected to play center field in 2017.
To make room for Mills on the Cubs' 40-man roster, left-handed pitcher David Rollins was designated for assignment. Rollins, 27, has had a busy offseason as far as transactions go. He spent the 2016 season with the Mariners, who had selected him in the December 2014 Rule 5 Draft from the Astros.
On Nov. 18, he was claimed off waivers by the Cubs, but four days later, he was selected off waivers by the Rangers. On Dec. 2, Rollins was claimed off waivers by the Phillies. That didn't last long. On Dec. 21, the Rangers selected him again off waivers, and two days later, the Cubs claimed the lefty for a second time.



Well that move I feel was a loss. Adding another depth option for a lead off type. Dewees only lacks a strong arm which will limit him to LF. Which I believe is the reason they decided to let him go.

Still I'm not really a fan of trading positional depth for guys that teams decided were the easiest choice to let go of. This tossing away of the positional depth chart in mass exodus will end up biting them in the ass down the road.



Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 50 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 55 | Overall: 45
After progressing from a walk-on at Tennessee-Martin to a 22nd-round pick in 2012 to a Class A South Atlantic League All-Star in his first full pro season, Mills tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. The Royals marveled at his swift comeback from Tommy John surgery, as he quickly regained his secondary pitches and command after returning to the mound in 2014. Looking to bolster their big league-ready pitching depth, the Cubs acquired him in a February trade for outfield prospect Donnie Dewees.

MLB.com:

Mills has the ability to locate his fastball wherever he likes, operating at 91-95 mph and carrying that velocity deep into games. His changeup is a solid second offering, while his curveball and slider give him a pair of average secondary pitches.

Mills has good but not overpowering stuff, so there are times when he's hittable because he's around the strike zone so much. He would have been promoted to Double-A if he hadn't strained a finger ligament last summer, and he jumped from that level to Kansas City to make his big league debut this May.

 

[CSF77]

He seems like another Hendrick's type but with more MPH going. He seems like if he becomes more of a pitcher and out thinking the hitter his stuff plays up more.

 

[beckdawg]

Well that move I feel was a loss. Adding another depth option for a lead off type. Dewees only lacks a strong arm which will limit him to LF. Which I believe is the reason they decided to let him go.

Still I'm not really a fan of trading positional depth for guys that teams decided were the easiest choice to let go of. This tossing away of the positional depth chart in mass exodus will end up biting them in the ass down the road.

Eh... Dewees was an ok prospect but he probably wasn't a first division starter. He has 10 HRs in like 900 PAs and he's already 23 which makes him older than Almora and obviously Almora is already in the MLB. DJ Wilson is a better CF prospect. Jacob Hannemann is basically a better version of what Dewees is albeit a couple of years older. The other issue they have is there was a bit of a log jam between A, A+ and AA of OF. Eddy Martinez and Eloy Jiminez are likely to be fast movers and were roughly at the same levels Dewees was developmentally. That means anytime you want to promote them you have to find space at the level above them and if all 3 are ready to go at the same time it's difficult. It's also possible they did this to give Martinez the chance to work in CF. Dewees had been taking most of the CF reps when both were in A. Some view Martinez as more of a RF but he has the speed to play CF with better instincts. If he can grow into CF, he has a plus arm and the speed to make it work and the rest of is tools get much better at a demanding CF.

In terms of pure value, I suppose I can see the argument that Dewees could be a slightly better player than Mills but even if he is the thing to consider is pitching is so much harder to find than hitting. MLB.com has him #16 on the cubs top 30 right now 2 spots behind Hatch who was the 104th overall pick last year. So in essence they traded a second round pick for a basically MLB ready 3rd round type pick in terms of his current value. Cubs don't have to deal with much development time and risk that comes with that as he's basically ready.

In terms of what Mills is, I'm not sure I'd say Hendricks. I get the comparison but he has better stuff than Hendricks. In 392.1 IP in the minors he has 8.6 k/9 and 1.9 bb/9 to go along with a 3.03 ERA. Hendricks was at 7.7 k/9 and 1.6 bb/9 with a 2.69 ERA over 452.1 minor league innings. Hendricks really didn't ramp up k rate wise until AAA where as Mills has been above 8 at basically every level. Mills is the type of pitcher who I think often is underrated. That's not to say he's a for sure hit or anything but just look at the list of pitchers last year who had 8+ k/9 and less than 2.5 bb/9. It's a pretty decent indicator. It's pretty reasonable to assume that he'll match those rates in the majors as they tend to progress along from MILB to MLB.

Overall I like the trade. I was literally bitching earlier in the offseason about them not having these type of guys so when they get guys like Mills and previously Kelly/Butler I'm obviously happy. They've added an immense amount of depth in AAA. That's not just good because of the impending Arrieta/Lackey departures but also because if you go to make a trade teams are gonna want starting pitching.

 

[beckdawg]

Realized I didn't even get to the point I was wanting with him not being Hendricks. I think he's probably more like Jose Quintana than Hendricks. Quintana maxes out at 95 and averages 91 with basically a 2 seam, 4 seam, change and a curve which is a similar skill set to Mills. Now that's not to say he's as good as Q but I think he's closer to that than Hendricks.

 

[CSF77]

Realized I didn't even get to the point I was wanting with him not being Hendricks. I think he's probably more like Jose Quintana than Hendricks. Quintana maxes out at 95 and averages 91 with basically a 2 seam, 4 seam, change and a curve which is a similar skill set to Mills. Now that's not to say he's as good as Q but I think he's closer to that than Hendricks.

Got ya. Other words if he becomes as skilled as Hendricks he could be a ace.

 

[CSF77]

Eh... Dewees was an ok prospect but he probably wasn't a first division starter. He has 10 HRs in like 900 PAs and he's already 23 which makes him older than Almora and obviously Almora is already in the MLB. DJ Wilson is a better CF prospect. Jacob Hannemann is basically a better version of what Dewees is albeit a couple of years older. The other issue they have is there was a bit of a log jam between A, A+ and AA of OF. Eddy Martinez and Eloy Jiminez are likely to be fast movers and were roughly at the same levels Dewees was developmentally. That means anytime you want to promote them you have to find space at the level above them and if all 3 are ready to go at the same time it's difficult. It's also possible they did this to give Martinez the chance to work in CF. Dewees had been taking most of the CF reps when both were in A. Some view Martinez as more of a RF but he has the speed to play CF with better instincts. If he can grow into CF, he has a plus arm and the speed to make it work and the rest of is tools get much better at a demanding CF.

In terms of pure value, I suppose I can see the argument that Dewees could be a slightly better player than Mills but even if he is the thing to consider is pitching is so much harder to find than hitting. MLB.com has him #16 on the cubs top 30 right now 2 spots behind Hatch who was the 104th overall pick last year. So in essence they traded a second round pick for a basically MLB ready 3rd round type pick in terms of his current value. Cubs don't have to deal with much development time and risk that comes with that as he's basically ready.

In terms of what Mills is, I'm not sure I'd say Hendricks. I get the comparison but he has better stuff than Hendricks. In 392.1 IP in the minors he has 8.6 k/9 and 1.9 bb/9 to go along with a 3.03 ERA. Hendricks was at 7.7 k/9 and 1.6 bb/9 with a 2.69 ERA over 452.1 minor league innings. Hendricks really didn't ramp up k rate wise until AAA where as Mills has been above 8 at basically every level. Mills is the type of pitcher who I think often is underrated. That's not to say he's a for sure hit or anything but just look at the list of pitchers last year who had 8+ k/9 and less than 2.5 bb/9. It's a pretty decent indicator. It's pretty reasonable to assume that he'll match those rates in the majors as they tend to progress along from MILB to MLB.

Overall I like the trade. I was literally bitching earlier in the offseason about them not having these type of guys so when they get guys like Mills and previously Kelly/Butler I'm obviously happy. They've added an immense amount of depth in AAA. That's not just good because of the impending Arrieta/Lackey departures but also because if you go to make a trade teams are gonna want starting pitching.

My main issue was they traded a 13 ranked prospect for a 40 man waver cast off.

I don't know enough about Mills to know more than I read. From your input I'm fine with it now.

Where I digress is in Dewees value. Now I agree with what you said in general but he has the lead off skill set. Seeing how the team lacks a lead off right now and outside of Happ the system really doesn't have depth options.

Now DJ I'm a fan of and I see a star in the making. But he will be in South Bend.

Martinez doesn't profile as a lead off. Am a fan but a square into a round hole. Add to it corner OF is not a issue for a long while.

Eloy: big fan but as above. He may end up causing a trade to create playing time.

Happ. Iike him but he is under the mold of Jackson. Great tools but..... already he has fallen out of CF. now a 2B but the talk is he may have to keep flexible to get a opertunity. Not saying a bust but far from a sure thing.


So all I have to say is like getting a arm but don't like dealing from system weakness to get it.

 

[CSF77]

Oh and Jacob Hannemann as good? That guy has way too many holes in his game. I questioned the pick when they made it and he has done little to change my opinion.

Too old to start. Lost years of development in the missions. So he was behind the learning curve to start. Normally if you draft a older guy you are looking at polish. That was not the case.

He should bust. If not he is the 1%

 

[beckdawg]

Got ya. Other words if he becomes as skilled as Hendricks he could be a ace.

I don't particularly like the term ace in general as I feel there's really only like 10-15 guys in the league I'd throw there and others have different views on that. But suffice to say if Mills is at 8+ k/9 and below a 2.5 bb/9 I think he's got a realistic shot of being Quintana-like. Q's career k/9 is 7.39 and a 2.31 bb/9 to go with ha 3.41/3.47 ERA/FIP and a 44.2% ground ball rate. His best pitch is easily his curve but it's not "dominating." It's got a 12.3% swinging strike rate and a 27.0% k rate on it which makes sense when you consider he was picked up as a FA for nothing from the sox. He didn't have huge tools or anything but has obviously made the most of what he had. MLB.com gives Mills' fastball a 60 grade and his change a 55 grade with his curve/slider being average. There's not enough pitch fx data for me to give you a more enlightened view of what his pitches are other than the scouting.

If i had to guess, I'd say realistically the best I'd hope for would be a #3 starter. With that being said I mean his profile seems to fit the cubs MO to a T so it wouldn't surprise me if he turns out to reach that. From what I've read on him since my initial post, some are suggesting he has good control but doesn't command them quite the same as you see from say Hendricks.

For my money though I really do like the trade because I think he's more than say Ryan Williams and you're essentially getting him for all of his service time. And while they did give up Dewees who's probably a MLB player soon, they still haven't really touched any of their big names in order to bring in all these high upside younger arms in Bulter/Kelly/Mills. The biggest reason I love trades like this is it just opens up options. If you want to re-sign Arrieta and use the money Lackey is getting ATM to do it you can. If Archer becomes available you have all of those top prospects still. If neither of those cases happen but Butler rebounds and Mills is as advertised you might just bite the bullet and let Arrieta walk. Where I often run into issues with trades is when teams walk themselves into a corner. Let's be real here, that's what happened with Chapman. Cubs had to have him so they paid what they had to. I didn't like it then and I don't like it now but they were in that situation because they lacked options. So anytime you can address options on the cheap I'm always going to be down for that. And to me a lot of these arms might not work out amazingly but if the cost is minimal all you really need is 1 or 2 guys to work out and you've got a big score.

 

[anotheridiot]

well, at least it feels like we got something back for the 2 million they paid Hammels to go away.

 

[beckdawg]

Where I digress is in Dewees value. Now I agree with what you said in general but he has the lead off skill set. Seeing how the team lacks a lead off right now and outside of Happ the system really doesn't have depth options.

I mean you're obviously welcome to your opinion but my biggest thing is I'm not sure you can realistically play Dewees in CF in the majors with a 30 grade arm. And if that pushes him to LF then most of his value goes out with it. If you buy his hitting tools fine but like I said I think he's essentially Hannemann with worse defense. Hannemann has hit .249/.311/.383 over roughly 1500 PAs. Dewees is at .278/.327/.402 which is better but Hannemann was obviously rusty after his missionary work. He hit .247/.326/.426 in AA last year.

I'm not trying to say Hannemann is a huge star or anything. I honestly think both he and Dewees are more #4 OF in the mold of Sczcur. And the fact that Dewees is 7 months older than Almora doesn't do him many favors considering he has yet to take AA ABs. Like I said, he probably makes the majors but I don't think he's going to be a star by any means.

In terms of a lead off hitter, I don't really think that's an issue. If Russell takes a step forward he has the make up to do it. Heyward in theory could do it if he returns to form. Almora could probably be more of an 80's style lead off guy who fouls off tons of pitches but doesn't have a huge OBP. And then there's the less obvious guys like Schwarber who may actually do it in 2017.

 

[CSF77]

I mean you're obviously welcome to your opinion but my biggest thing is I'm not sure you can realistically play Dewees in CF in the majors with a 30 grade arm. And if that pushes him to LF then most of his value goes out with it. If you buy his hitting tools fine but like I said I think he's essentially Hannemann with worse defense. Hannemann has hit .249/.311/.383 over roughly 1500 PAs. Dewees is at .278/.327/.402 which is better but Hannemann was obviously rusty after his missionary work. He hit .247/.326/.426 in AA last year.

I'm not trying to say Hannemann is a huge star or anything. I honestly think both he and Dewees are more #4 OF in the mold of Sczcur. And the fact that Dewees is 7 months older than Almora doesn't do him many favors considering he has yet to take AA ABs. Like I said, he probably makes the majors but I don't think he's going to be a star by any means.

In terms of a lead off hitter, I don't really think that's an issue. If Russell takes a step forward he has the make up to do it. Heyward in theory could do it if he returns to form. Almora could probably be more of an 80's style lead off guy who fouls off tons of pitches but doesn't have a huge OBP. And then there's the less obvious guys like Schwarber who may actually do it in 2017.

I agree with that in general. I did post his arm was noodle. Which means LF.

I guess the best solution is to go into F/A to net another Fowler type. Jay is a ok stop gap. Almora just feels 4th OF to me. If he was running a 10% walk rate in the minors with a .270 career BA then I would look at him as the future CF and lead off.

But

He is not that. He fits the mold of Castro to a tee. Could hit .300 with a sub 5% walk rate with little power. I just don't see a guy like that starting. He has more of a old school ball player feel minus the speed factor.

I get it that many here will point to his plus D but Jay gives equal and none are banging his gong. Add to it he is proven.

So I'm fine with Jay starting. At least you know what to expect.

I'm not sold on Russell leading off myself. He is still figuring what he is as a hitter right now. He feasted on the plus OBA ahead of him in the line up and most likely would push 100 RBI's again in the 5 hole.

That is why I'm down with Schwarber leading off and Jay hitting 9th. Russell proved that he can take advantage of his opertunites so you have to stick with what works.

 

[DanTown]

My main issue was they traded a 13 ranked prospect for a 40 man waver cast off.

I don't know enough about Mills to know more than I read. From your input I'm fine with it now.

Where I digress is in Dewees value. Now I agree with what you said in general but he has the lead off skill set. Seeing how the team lacks a lead off right now and outside of Happ the system really doesn't have depth options.

Now DJ I'm a fan of and I see a star in the making. But he will be in South Bend.

Martinez doesn't profile as a lead off. Am a fan but a square into a round hole. Add to it corner OF is not a issue for a long while.

Eloy: big fan but as above. He may end up causing a trade to create playing time.

Happ. Iike him but he is under the mold of Jackson. Great tools but..... already he has fallen out of CF. now a 2B but the talk is he may have to keep flexible to get a opertunity. Not saying a bust but far from a sure thing.


So all I have to say is like getting a arm but don't like dealing from system weakness to get it.

The fact Dewees is #13 is irrelevant because he has no major league position in the NL. He can't field well enough to play CF and he has very little power so he's basically a contact guy. I think going to a AL team where in a few years he can be a 4th OF/DH platoon guy is maximizing his future potential.

 

[DanTown]

I agree with that in general. I did post his arm was noodle. Which means LF.

I guess the best solution is to go into F/A to net another Fowler type. Jay is a ok stop gap. Almora just feels 4th OF to me. If he was running a 10% walk rate in the minors with a .270 career BA then I would look at him as the future CF and lead off.

But

He is not that. He fits the mold of Castro to a tee. Could hit .300 with a sub 5% walk rate with little power. I just don't see a guy like that starting. He has more of a old school ball player feel minus the speed factor.

I get it that many here will point to his plus D but Jay gives equal and none are banging his gong. Add to it he is proven.

So I'm fine with Jay starting. At least you know what to expect.

I'm not sold on Russell leading off myself. He is still figuring what he is as a hitter right now. He feasted on the plus OBA ahead of him in the line up and most likely would push 100 RBI's again in the 5 hole.

That is why I'm down with Schwarber leading off and Jay hitting 9th. Russell proved that he can take advantage of his opertunites so you have to stick with what works.

It's strange to me that you think Almora is some weak and bad hitter yet Donnie Dewes is some hitter you worry about losing when Dewes can't post an .800 OPS in the low level minors after a college career.

To be honest, Dewes and guys like him (Vogelbach, McKinney, Candelario, etc) are guys who's value to you will always be what they can get you in a trade rather than their own performance. If Donnie Dewes is ever in a position to be getting 300+ PA on this roster, then either he has a literally impossible to foresee breakout in his career or the Cubs have a rash of injuries/under performance with their roster ahead of him. In fact, I'd say Torres fits that category but the caveat their is he obviously was going to be traded for a high value piece. People (like Beck) don't like the move but they paid full freight to get a rental of the best reliever in baseball (or one of the best). And Torres was a name but the role can be replaced by someone else either in IFA or the draft.

 

[CSF77]

It's strange to me that you think Almora is some weak and bad hitter yet Donnie Dewes is some hitter you worry about losing when Dewes can't post an .800 OPS in the low level minors after a college career.

To be honest, Dewes and guys like him (Vogelbach, McKinney, Candelario, etc) are guys who's value to you will always be what they can get you in a trade rather than their own performance. If Donnie Dewes is ever in a position to be getting 300+ PA on this roster, then either he has a literally impossible to foresee breakout in his career or the Cubs have a rash of injuries/under performance with their roster ahead of him. In fact, I'd say Torres fits that category but the caveat their is he obviously was going to be traded for a high value piece. People (like Beck) don't like the move but they paid full freight to get a rental of the best reliever in baseball (or one of the best). And Torres was a name but the role can be replaced by someone else either in IFA or the draft.

My issue with Almora lies with his walk ratio. Plain and simple. I've never complained about the rest of his tool box.

He is not fast but plays up what he has.

Strong arm. Can field any OF spot.

Contact hitter but lacks power.

He feels too much like Barney. Barney also had GG D at 2B but was limited to a single's hitter.

Dewees lacks a strong arm. But holds speed and OBA skills. Lacks power but you really don't look at HR's from the lead off.

Honestly Almora lacks impact talent. What he has is strong baseball instincts out in the field with a plus arm and good hand eye cordenation that leads to his high contact rate. But his raw tools are not plus.

 

[beckdawg]

My issue with Almora lies with his walk ratio. Plain and simple. I've never complained about the rest of his tool box.

He is not fast but plays up what he has.

Strong arm. Can field any OF spot.

Contact hitter but lacks power.

He feels too much like Barney. Barney also had GG D at 2B but was limited to a single's hitter.

Dewees lacks a strong arm. But holds speed and OBA skills. Lacks power but you really don't look at HR's from the lead off.

Honestly Almora lacks impact talent. What he has is strong baseball instincts out in the field with a plus arm and good hand eye cordenation that leads to his high contact rate. But his raw tools are not plus.

Don't really think Barney is a fair comparison for several reasons. First of all, Barney is a career .249 batting average. Almora hit .290 in the minors and in his first go round hit .277 with the cubs. Secondly, Bareny while a very good defender was still a 2B. That's a far less demanding position than CF and you often have SS who can't stick move over to there in order to keep their bats in play.

As for Almora's walk rate, walks are never a bad thing but I think you're ignoring the bigger picture. The bigger picture is the interaction between your walk rate and your K rate. For example, Dee Gordon has a career 4.8% walk rate and in 2014/15 was worth 3.3 and 4.7 fWAR. That's because while he doesn't walk a ton he doesn't K a ton either at 15.7%. That gives him a career .325 OBP. That's not super star level but it's well above average. Jean Segura was worth 5 fWAR last year with a 5.6%/14.6% bb/k rate. Starling Marte who's a some what similar player to Almora is at 4.7%/22.2%. Altuve before his big break out year in 2016 was regularly in the 5% walk rate area.

So clearly there's examples of it working fine for low walk rate guys. And if we're really that concerned, Baez had a 3.3% walk rate last year. Almora was at 4.3%. The difference between those two is Baez K'd at a 24.0% rate while Almora was at 17.1%. That's not to crap on Baez who obviously made strides last year but to point out that young players struggle with that. Almora's 4.3% walk rate was slightly higher than what he did in the minors actually at 4.2%. On the other hand, Almora's K rate in the minors was 11.7%. If he adjust back to a 12% k rate he's probably a .285-295 hitter with a .320ish OBP. You add that to potentially gold glove defense and he might be a 4+ fWAR player and if he's amazing in CF maybe even much higher than that. Kiermaier for example was worth 5.4 fWAR in 2015 with a 4.5%/17.8% bb/k rate and a .263/.298/.420 batting line.

Seems like you're placing most of the conversation on his bat which I mean is always going to be his biggest hurdle so I get it. But his impact tool is his defense. You have to take defensive metrics with a grain of salt on small sample sizes but what he did in the OF last year was at a similar pace over a full season to what you get out of Heyward. He's potentially that good. If he's that good defensively he only needs to be an average hitter to be a potential all-star. And his wRC+ last year was 101 which is 1% better than league average. So, it's not that unlikely for him to get even better.

Almora's unlikely to ever be an offensive force but if you bat him 5th or 6th behind one of if not the best OBP team in the majors he's going to have huge RBI totals with his ability to put the ball in play. Russell had 95 RBI's last year hitting .238 out generally the #5 hole. Almora getting on base isn't really the primary concern out of those spots in the order because your 7 and 8 hitters generally wont drive in many runs and your pitcher hurts as well. And for what it's worth, Almora was 8 for 12 with 2 HRs and 2 doubles in high leverage situations last year and he hit .294 with men on base and .333 with men in scoring position.

 

[CSF77]

Baez has improved vs lefties but his splits were just bad vs right. His numbers suggest platoon on paper but then you factor in his plus D at 3 spots and his HR power it makes a case for more action.

Almora will hit for contact. That part I doubt anyone will argue. The question is if he limited to singles or is he a gap hitter where he racks up 2B's.

That will dictate where he hits. The way the game was played pre OBA he was a ideal 2 hitter. The lead off was a speed guy first and a OBA 2nd. The 2 hitter had plus bat control and could poke the ball where the D was when the lead off broke for 2B putting guys on 1-3 with the 3 up. Game has changed and now they look at OBA In general and avoid creating your own outs.

That is why I saw him as a player in the old school mold. Current team is geared towards OBA and I'm not sure where he falls outside of in front of the pitcher.

Now if he proves to be a .280 hitter and can drive into the gaps then he may surplant Russell and the RBI guy. Russell was hitting .240 ish. And grabbed 90 plus. A .280 hitter with gap power gets over 100 easy pushing 120 with that feast to dine on.

But a singles hitter is not going to see that surplus and they are better with Russell in that role.

 

[Omeletpants]

I think Baez is platoon bound until he stops swinging at every ball in the dirt. I have been watching MLB for over 50 years and never seen a player miss by so much.

 

[CSF77]

I think Baez is platoon bound until he stops swinging at every ball in the dirt. I have been watching MLB for over 50 years and never seen a player miss by so much.

Sucker for a slider. That is the main reason why he excels vs lefties and righties own him. These teams have the reports on the holes in his game. The Indians exploited them in the series which rendered his bat valueless after he excelled vs the lefty diet from the last 2 series.

He has star potential but he needs to close the gaps in his approach.

 

[Hammer]

And that's why Cubs have Zobrist, to platoon over 2B/RF positions while Baez and Heyward work on their bat issues.

 

[anotheridiot]

Right, but we also have John Jay, MsStella, and if Sczcur out of options again.

Sure seems like Almora should stay in AAA to see if he can learn how to get on base better to be a 1 or 9 option while the outfield is healthy and full.