I think anyone going to Mesa games might consider taking the bus from Tempe or Phoenix.
MLB Offseason: February 15 isn't THAT far away...
- Thread starter Timby
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Most Cubs starting position players are in camp a week early.
Maddon doesn't want to hear any complaining about spring training being too long.
Maddon doesn't want to hear any complaining about spring training being too long.
Unfortunately, all the "best shape of his life" jokes were made last year.
Edit: And also, CC Sabathia's strategy for staying sober? Going out to bars, which makes perfect sense.
Edit: And also, CC Sabathia's strategy for staying sober? Going out to bars, which makes perfect sense.
Sandoval getting testy about his weight already, going to be a fun spring. After definite conversations with management about coming to spring training in better shape, shows up his usual fat self, says no one told him he had to lose weight, never even stepped on a scale. Ugh, talk about getting your money and then just completely checking out...
Hey, Tony Guinn lost 30 pounds and his average dropped 30 points, so he put it back on. Unless Panda can't move, what's the issue really?
Generally speaking, you want your third baseman to be mobile, and at this rate, Sandoval will be a statue by June.
Yeah, the issue was that his defense went down too. He WASN'T getting to balls. That and it highlighted a shitty attitude, no recognition that he had a shitty year last year or had anything to improve on. Denied that the Red Sox had talked to him about it after the manager came out in the media over the winter that they HAD talked about it and that Sandoval had lost 20-25 lbs, etc.
In a sport where people tend to LOSE a little weight over the season just due to the workload, he started off overweight and GAINED 30 LBS during that stretch.
That's the issue.
In a sport where people tend to LOSE a little weight over the season just due to the workload, he started off overweight and GAINED 30 LBS during that stretch.
That's the issue.
Apparently Scwarber dented a BMW in the parking lot yesterday.
Maybe they need to rethink the layout there.
Maybe they need to rethink the layout there.
It would have been a 3 year deal with the O's. Strange development, the Cubs signing him this late in the game.
Also, the Cubs traded Coghlan for Aaron Brooks (25). So where does Fowler play and is he full time or in a platoon with Soler? And does Heyward move to right full or part time?
Kind of a shame. Coghlan was a good fourth outfielder and backup at 2B. Where does Brooks slot in, rotation?
Also, the Cubs traded Coghlan for Aaron Brooks (25). So where does Fowler play and is he full time or in a platoon with Soler? And does Heyward move to right full or part time?
Kind of a shame. Coghlan was a good fourth outfielder and backup at 2B. Where does Brooks slot in, rotation?
They'll put Fowler in CF and Heyward in right (or vice versa) when Schwarber is in LF - and that'll only happen when he's not catching (likely rare that he'll catch) or DH. Fowler would play LF when Schwarber isn't and then Soler's in RF. Zobrist can play OF too, and they're trying to get Baez out there as well.
They also re-acquired Murton. No idea how he'll re-acclimate to MLB after several years in Japan.
My recollection is that Fowler wasn't a particularly great CF, maybe no better than Heyward would be there.
My recollection is that Fowler wasn't a particularly great CF, maybe no better than Heyward would be there.
Fowler didn't seem bad but his defensive WAR might not have been great.
Murton was signed to a minor-league deal. Not a lot of exposure there.
Murton was signed to a minor-league deal. Not a lot of exposure there.
As broken as WAR is, and fWAR is almost incomprehensibly worse than bWAR, defensive metrics are essentially completely unreliable at this point. That's really the holy grail of baseball analysis and I'm not entirely sure that's a nut that can be cracked. While WAR is a descriptive, not predictive, statistic, it's not something that can really give an accurate idea of the routes an outfielder takes, for example.
The real concern with Fowler is that he struck out more than any Cub not named Bryant last year, and I'm not entirely sure that trading Coghlan for a reclamation pitcher project was a great move.
You, uh, reacted to that news three weeks ago, sir.
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Yeah, I only mentioned it because Ar-Pharazon mentioned it. (I assume about the OF logjam)
My 'Soler trade' mention should've included a
.
Tell me about Coghlan... was he a good acquisition?
The Cubs picked him up off the scrap heap and he did well for them. .265/.346/.447 with a 10.4% walk rate and 18.7% K rate. He's not a great defender.
Coghlan is a "scrapper". Maybe with consistent playing time he'll do well.
As far as a Soler trade, that's been talked about all offseason and even last season. If they could get a good starting pitcher (Tyson Ross was frequently mentioned), it could still happen.
As far as a Soler trade, that's been talked about all offseason and even last season. If they could get a good starting pitcher (Tyson Ross was frequently mentioned), it could still happen.
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