Should the Cubs go after Michael Young?

[Jntg4]

I voted no, but I would accept a trade if we could get rid of Shark. I hate that guy.

I loved Shark in 08, not anymore though.

 

[DewsSox79]

I am going to sit here and say I agree with you on that moving Soriano to 2B is a good move and infact I would move him to 2B on the Cubs and here is why:

We all know Soriano is a bad defender at 2B. So lets assume he is the worst 2B in baseball. Lets put him at 10% worse than the worst fielder last year. That puts him at -15 at 2B. Our current 2B is Blake Dewitt Dewitt last year was a -5 at 2B and for his career he is a -9.3 UZR/150 at 2B. So lets put him at -7.5. Now we look at offense. Soriano last year hit for a .353 wOBA and has a career .357. So lets say he hits .350 this year. Dewitt on the other hand hit .311 last year and is a career .312 so lets be generous and give him a .315 this year. Over 700 PA thats 21.3 extra runs that Soriano would give us. So subtract out the 7.5 runs that Dewitt is better than Soriano and Soriano is still better than Dewitt by 13.8 runs, or almost one and a half wins.

That now opens up LF. Fukudome could slide in there, and they hit almost identical last year and are probably very similar in defense. So really the Cubs just got 1-2 wins better by moving Soriano to 2B.

Not only that but we could have signed a LF'er, that could have made us even better. So moving Soriano to 2B could have easily netted us 3-5 wins. Teams are starting more and more to sacrifice defense at 2B, the Cubs should be thinking the same thing.

Right, because that is a good move. You still have a very raw Defensive ss, add soriano to 2nd base, ARAM who is getting older and is often ouchy playing at 3b. That is a real winning INF!

soriano should never ever be moved back to 2nd base

 

[Jntg4]

Right, because that is a good move. You still have a very raw Defensive ss, add soriano to 2nd base, ARAM who is getting older and is often ouchy playing at 3b. That is a real winning INF!

soriano should never ever be moved back to 2nd base

Agreed

 

[DewsSox79]

The last time Soriano played 2b for more than a few plays was back in 2005 where he had a -13.7 uzr/150 that is 6 years ago. he has aged alot since than. He has no more legs like he did back than.

So you project him to be a -15 uzr/150 when he was 13.7 6 years ago. he would fail there, he wouldnt be at the bottom of 2bmn because they would scrap that idea after 2 weeks

 

[poodski]

Right, because that is a good move. You still have a very raw Defensive ss, add soriano to 2nd base, ARAM who is getting older and is often ouchy playing at 3b. That is a real winning INF!

soriano should never ever be moved back to 2nd base

Who cares though? I have shown you proof it would make the team better. Who cares about how bad the INF defense is. You could have a bunch of stone hands out there for all that it matters, if it makes the team overall better what is the big deal? That's really what I don't get. Does it make our INF defense terrible? Absolutely. Does it make our offense even better? Absolutely.

The last time Soriano played 2b for more than a few plays was back in 2005 where he had a -13.7 uzr/150 that is 6 years ago. he has aged alot since than. He has no more legs like he did back than.

So you project him to be a -15 uzr/150 when he was 13.7 6 years ago. he would fail there, he wouldnt be at the bottom of 2bmn because they would scrap that idea after 2 weeks

Sure he has aged since then, but the position has also gotten worse defensively. People are realizing that 2B isn't all that important.

Even if Soriano is -20 at 2B the Cubs are still nearly a win better with him there. There is only one 2B that over 3 years has been worth -20 at 2B.

And you are right they would scrap the idea, because they wouldn't give it a chance. No one would, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't make the team better, and if anyone can try to give me any statistical reason it wouldn't make the team better I would love to hear it.

 

[House of Carlos]

Poodski are of the belief than that Michael Young would be about average today in terms of defense at 2b according to UZR?

 

[poodski]

Poodski are of the belief than that Michael Young would be about average today in terms of defense at 2b according to UZR?

I would say probably somewhere in the -5 range. I would think he would be a little bit better than at 3B. I think he would be similar to Dewitt defensively at 2B.

 

[documof]

As much as I'd love for somebody to take Soriano from the Cubs (giving Colvin a full time gig), nobody is going to take him and pick up his contract. Even so Young is owed quite a bit of money the next three years on his contract, so the Cubs can't pick that up AND cover for whatever they would pay in Soriano's remaining contract. There's about a $2 million difference, but Soriano has a fourth year. They'd be better off trying to make Mike Young happy at DH.

Even if it would happen, I think Blake DeWitt is more than capable of playing an adequate second and batting decently (and way younger, and affordable). I would think you would probably have to release Baker or demote Barney since Dewitt would then fall into a utility role. Young obviously isn't going to play 3rd or SS.