CF options????

[czman]

I think CF has been the biggest problem with this team this year. Fowler looks like he is running in sand in CF. He is rated as one of the worst defensive CFs by fangraphs, for whatever that is worth. He has been bad offensively too.

The beginning of the season Fowler was hitting 300/370/440 and the teams was 5 games over 500 at the end of May. Since then he has been a ~175 hitter with a sub 300 OBA.

Batting Rizzo and Bryant 2nd and third does not work when the leadoff hitter is below the Mendoza line over the last ~60 games. The Cubs need a serious upgrade at the top of their lineup and in CF. I don’t see too many FA options out there for next season.

Gerardo Parra has a decent bat, but he is more of a LF defensively at this point. He will be 29 next season so he still has a few decent years left. Career 280/330/400 guy.

Colby Rasmus is a FA, although he is not really a top of the order guy. 250/315/440 with 29 stolen bases in 7 years. I don’t think he fits the Cubs needs right now.

Denard Span is not someone I want at all. CFs in the wrong side of 30 with a history of leg injuries are not players you want to sign to multiyear deals. My guess is someone will pay him way too much and get way to little over the next few years. His window of production is probably 1 or 2 years.

I don’t really see any other options as FA and this list is kind of weak. This is why I think the Cubs need to look at trade now. There are couple of players that might be available, that will be in arbitration next season.

A.J. Pollock tops my list of guys who might be available and fit the OBA with decent defense need. He is one of the better defensive CFs. He will be 28 next season and in his first year of arbitration. This season and last season he has been a 300/350 guy. You could bat him 1 and move Coglhan into the 2 hole pushing Rizzo and Bryant back. The Diamondbacks are under 500.

Ben Revere is a 290/330/360 CF who plays on an awful team. The Phillies are probably in unload the boat mode. He is a decent option. I doubt he would cost a lot in a trade.

Carlos Gomez has one year left on his deal after this one. He is very god defensively but has an average bat, 270/315/420. The Brewers blow, but they are in the division so I am not sure how likely they will be to make a trade with the Cubs.

The last name I have is kind of an odd one to throw out there, Byron Buxom. He has proven nothing and has a ton of value. He is only 21 and will have years of control. I wonder if the Twins would do a Buxom for Schwarber deal. I am not sure if the Twins would want much more in that deal. The Twins have 3 players on their team with more than 5 HRs. I am not sure how much value Baez has.

I know any deal for Buxom seems kind of farfetched, and who knows if he can even be a decent leadoff hitter in the next year or two. The Cubs need to find someone for opening day. Just throwing a kid from their system out there and hoping is not the answer.

What are your thoughts about CF options?

 

[beckdawg]

The last name I have is kind of an odd one to throw out there, Byron Buxom. He has proven nothing and has a ton of value. He is only 21 and will have years of control. I wonder if the Twins would do a Buxom for Schwarber deal. I am not sure if the Twins would want much more in that deal. The Twins have 3 players on their team with more than 5 HRs. I am not sure how much value Baez has.

I know any deal for Buxom seems kind of farfetched, and who knows if he can even be a decent leadoff hitter in the next year or two. The Cubs need to find someone for opening day. Just throwing a kid from their system out there and hoping is not the answer.

What are your thoughts about CF options?

Buxton is rated #1 prospect by almost all places and most think he has huge tools. To put this into numbers, MLB.com has the following ratings.

Scouting grades: Hit: 70 | Power: 60 | Run: 80 | Arm: 70 | Field: 70 | Overall: 70

That's out of an 80 scale. You're talking about a probable gold glove defender who can steal 50+ bases and by these ratings they think he'll hit over .300 with 20+ HR power. I mean if that all comes together he's possibly a better prospect than Mike Trout. As such he's probably as untouchable if not more than Bryant. No way Minny is trading him.

As for CF options, I honestly still like Fowler. Ever since he went down with the foot injury he seems to have taken a dive hitting wise. It might have started prior to that but it likely hasn't helped matters. Just a quick glance at his numbers, his BABIP is down about 60 points off his career average. That could bad sequencing(eg luck) or he could be making worse contact for whatever reason. I don't feel like diving deep into why right now but suffice to say the rest of his numbers look some what career normal.

In terms of defense, he was never going to be Willie Mays back there. That was the knock on him prior to coming to the cubs. However prior to the injury he was hovering around even UZR/150 which basically suggests he was playing like an average CF. He's dropped to around -5 now which isn't terrible. It's basically Castro level defense in CF as a comparable example. In the case of Fowler, it seems like his arm has largely been the limiting factor range and fielding are both around even. CF is a pretty demanding position overall and finding someone who's both good and can hit isn't easy.

As for options outside the team, if you're going to make a move then go big is my thought process. It's the same thought with pitching and LF. If you're going to give up assets to improve LF I don't want Josh Reddick. I want a perennial all star caliber player. The Indians just signed Michael Brantley to a long term deal so I'd assume he's off the table. Trout is clearly off the table. McCutchen is under contract for 3 more years and the Pirates are in contention. Gomez is some what interesting but I don't think he actually gets traded and he's going to likely cost a crap ton. So, I don't really see many realistic options.

Best bet is probably to hope Alcantara gets hot or that the all star break gives Fowler some time off to get healthier and work out some issues.

 

[CSF77]

Buxton is rated #1 prospect by almost all places and most think he has huge tools. To put this into numbers, MLB.com has the following ratings.

Scouting grades: Hit: 70 | Power: 60 | Run: 80 | Arm: 70 | Field: 70 | Overall: 70

That's out of an 80 scale. You're talking about a probable gold glove defender who can steal 50+ bases and by these ratings they think he'll hit over .300 with 20+ HR power. I mean if that all comes together he's possibly a better prospect than Mike Trout. As such he's probably as untouchable if not more than Bryant. No way Minny is trading him.

As for CF options, I honestly still like Fowler. Ever since he went down with the foot injury he seems to have taken a dive hitting wise. It might have started prior to that but it likely hasn't helped matters. Just a quick glance at his numbers, his BABIP is down about 60 points off his career average. That could bad sequencing(eg luck) or he could be making worse contact for whatever reason. I don't feel like diving deep into why right now but suffice to say the rest of his numbers look some what career normal.

In terms of defense, he was never going to be Willie Mays back there. That was the knock on him prior to coming to the cubs. However prior to the injury he was hovering around even UZR/150 which basically suggests he was playing like an average CF. He's dropped to around -5 now which isn't terrible. It's basically Castro level defense in CF as a comparable example. In the case of Fowler, it seems like his arm has largely been the limiting factor range and fielding are both around even. CF is a pretty demanding position overall and finding someone who's both good and can hit isn't easy.

As for options outside the team, if you're going to make a move then go big is my thought process. It's the same thought with pitching and LF. If you're going to give up assets to improve LF I don't want Josh Reddick. I want a perennial all star caliber player. The Indians just signed Michael Brantley to a long term deal so I'd assume he's off the table. Trout is clearly off the table. McCutchen is under contract for 3 more years and the Pirates are in contention. Gomez is some what interesting but I don't think he actually gets traded and he's going to likely cost a crap ton. So, I don't really see many realistic options.

Best bet is probably to hope Alcantara gets hot or that the all star break gives Fowler some time off to get healthier and work out some issues.

His splits are just bad. Something like .300 as a RH hitter. .200 as a LH hitter on the season. His foot injury is not causing that kinda split. He is a worse LH hitter than a RH hitter. Pretty basic stuff. The problem is the league is dominated by RH pitching. Will Venerible's name has been brought up plenty and I believe he is going to be the guy they deal for. Cause CF to go into a platoon. Next year they will have to address this issue as both Will and Dexter go F/A.

To add to this if they did deal with SD. I would try to make a legit deal out of it. They have Austin Hedges as a back up catcher and getting a kid like that would push Schwarber to LF with no complaints from anyone. SD has Derek Norris who is one of their best players and only 26. They would be dumb to not keep him as the starter.

But for Hedges and Venable a solid trade would be? I'm thinking Pimental at AAA. He is pretty good but I do not see him making it as a Cub. I'll bet he turns into one of those really good players that the team did not take serious. Now Hedges is a top rated catcher prospect in the league. His O is weak but his D is the best. He really fits the profile that you want in managing a pitching staff. His value is up with Baez to be honest.

 

[czman]

Buxton is rated #1 prospect by almost all places and most think he has huge tools. To put this into numbers, MLB.com has the following ratings.

Scouting grades: Hit: 70 | Power: 60 | Run: 80 | Arm: 70 | Field: 70 | Overall: 70

That's out of an 80 scale. You're talking about a probable gold glove defender who can steal 50+ bases and by these ratings they think he'll hit over .300 with 20+ HR power. I mean if that all comes together he's possibly a better prospect than Mike Trout. As such he's probably as untouchable if not more than Bryant. No way Minny is trading him.

He is not going to steal 50 bases, hit 20 HRs and bat 300.

Comparing him to trout is silly. Trout was in the Majors at an earlier age and was far better in the minors. Trout was 342/425/516 in the minors and hit over 400 in AAA before he was called up at 20. Buxom hit 296/380/489 and hit 283 in AA before he was called up at 21. Buxom for his career at AA in 60 games was 279/347/489. Buxom is not going to reach anywhere near what Trout is and I don't care what some random dude rated his skills at one random day.

As for CF options, I honestly still like Fowler. Ever since he went down with the foot injury he seems to have taken a dive hitting wise. It might have started prior to that but it likely hasn't helped matters. Just a quick glance at his numbers, his BABIP is down about 60 points off his career average. That could bad sequencing(eg luck) or he could be making worse contact for whatever reason. I don't feel like diving deep into why right now but suffice to say the rest of his numbers look some what career normal.

In terms of defense, he was never going to be Willie Mays back there. That was the knock on him prior to coming to the cubs. However prior to the injury he was hovering around even UZR/150 which basically suggests he was playing like an average CF. He's dropped to around -5 now which isn't terrible. It's basically Castro level defense in CF as a comparable example. In the case of Fowler, it seems like his arm has largely been the limiting factor range and fielding are both around even. CF is a pretty demanding position overall and finding someone who's both good and can hit isn't easy.

I have no clue why anyone would like Fowler. In his career he has over a 3rd of his PA in Colorado where he was 300/400/490 hitter. His BABip in Col is 364. Away from Colorado he is a 242 career hitter. He is going to be on the wrong side of 30, and post PED era this means a lot. His defense has actually gotten better by metrics, but he is awful in CF and his defense is nothing like Castro. Castro makes mistakes, but has the ability to make well above average plays. Fowler doesn't make a lot of mistakes but has no ability to make above average players in CF. He turns outs into singles and doubles just without a mistake. Range in OF is one the most undervalued assets right now. You look at the Teams like KC and SD and tell me it does not matter. Hell look at the Cards. Hayward has been huge defensively for them. I think the range the Cards have all over the field is why they have been able to sustain a high win % and have such a low ERA even with players going down to injury.

Furthermore, Castro is playing in an IF with above average defenders. Fowler is playing next to Solar, who should go to LF and if Schwarber moves to LF after callups the it will be just ugly.

As for options outside the team, if you're going to make a move then go big is my thought process. It's the same thought with pitching and LF. If you're going to give up assets to improve LF I don't want Josh Reddick. I want a perennial all star caliber player. The Indians just signed Michael Brantley to a long term deal so I'd assume he's off the table. Trout is clearly off the table. McCutchen is under contract for 3 more years and the Pirates are in contention. Gomez is some what interesting but I don't think he actually gets traded and he's going to likely cost a crap ton. So, I don't really see many realistic options.

I don't think I could disagree more with your post, but this part is crazy. If you can't get an all-star you should run with hot garbage? You don't need an all-star at every position. The Cubs need two, count them....two, high OB players. They don't need more 3-7 hitters. Rizzo and Bryant are both 3/4 type hitters. Castro is probably a 6/7 guy. Solar is probably a 5/6 guy. Montero is probably a 6/7/8 guy. Russell is probably a 7/8 hitter. They have no one to pat at the top of the order. The only positions they have available are LF and CF. By process of elimination what makes the most sense is for the Cubs to find two OF who can bat 1/2 in the order. Maybe they can move Castro and find a MI who can bat 1/2. I would rather they just fill the 2 OF gaps with players that fill the needs they have and be done with it.

I am sorry man, it is silly to think teams should only make moves that bring in top tier talent. Teams should make moves to get better. Sometimes the parts can be greater than the whole.

Best bet is probably to hope Alcantara gets hot or that the all star break gives Fowler some time off to get healthier and work out some issues.

Alcantara in his 332 PA has hit below 200 with a 252 OB. If the Cubs start him in in CF next season they are screwing up.

 

[SilenceS]

BUXTON was rated higher then Bryant this year. The kid has every tool you can have with superior D. The Twins would trade Sano before Buxton. Beck is correct. He is untouchable. And yes, his tools rate out as a Trout type. Your reasoning for why he won't be Trout is pretty bad. Trout is a freak and I wouldn't call anyone the next Trout, but this dude is a freak as well. The Twins have him penciled in as their next Torii Hunter.

 

[JZsportsfan]

The Twins aren't trading Buxton LOL

 

[czman]

BUXTON was rated higher then Bryant this year. The kid has every tool you can have with superior D. The Twins would trade Sano before Buxton. Beck is correct. He is untouchable. And yes, his tools rate out as a Trout type. Your reasoning for why he won't be Trout is pretty bad. Trout is a freak and I wouldn't call anyone the next Trout, but this dude is a freak as well. The Twins have him penciled in as their next Torii Hunter.

I am sorry, but Buxtom being compared to Trout is silly. Trout is built like a SS and Buxtom looks like a PG. Additionally, Buxtom has huge value from his defense, his bat has not been nearly as advanced as people originally thought. Anyone saying Buxtom is going to hit 300, with 20 HRs in the next few years is crazy; especially if he stays in MN. I don't even like the Tori hunter comp honestly. My guess is Buxtom will be a 260/350 guy with 12 HRs and stolen base threat. His defense will probably be excellent, but he in no way is going to be Mike trout at the plate.

At no level did Buxtom compare to trout offensively, and even though he was rated as a top prospect, and we know those guys always pan out, there are players with more advanced bats.

FFS though, I started the paragraph with "The last name I have is kind of an odd one to throw out there" so obviously it was admired as not likely. It should be obvious from that leading comment that the name that followed is probably not all that likely, but would be interesting to talk about.

A.J. Pollock is the player that probably fits best and the Cubs have the most reasonable change to get in a trade.

 

[czman]

The Twins aren't trading Buxton LOL

Make a post that has 6 legitimate options, and one admittedly not very legitimate one and we get people talking about not very legitimate throw in at the bottom of the list, Alcantara who has been garbage at the plate, and Venable a 32 year old rental.

Good to see constructive conversation is doing so well on this site. I guess talking about the 6 more legitimate options would have been a complete waste.

 

[SilenceS]

Make a post that has 6 legitimate options, and one admittedly not very legitimate one and we get people talking about not very legitimate throw in at the bottom of the list, Alcantara who has been garbage at the plate, and Venable a 32 year old rental.

Good to see constructive conversation is doing so well on this site. I guess talking about the 6 more legitimate options would have been a complete waste.

:yep:

 

[beckdawg]

He is not going to steal 50 bases, hit 20 HRs and bat 300.

Whether he does or not, that's how scouts view him. It's rather pointless to speculate what he will do. My point is if that's how highly scouts view him why would anyone trade him? Again, Buxton rated higher by most than Bryant which furthers the point.

I have no clue why anyone would like Fowler. If you can't get an all-star you should run with hot garbage?

I think he's a better hitter than he showed this year. You can bring up COL stats all you want but the guy hit well in Houston too. He had a .375 OBP last year. As for the second point, my view is Fowler is more of an average type player. He's clearly in a slump. But he's clearly capable of playing better. He hit .299/.372/.442 in April and things fell off from there.

To my point about trading for impact players, Ben Revere is probably available. He's a career .292/.326/.345 with no power and decent speed. The Phillies were supposedly asking for top 50 prospects for him recently. I'm sorry if you disagree but I don't think he's worth that. You mentioned Parra who's also likely available. If you're giving up say Corey Black for him ok but I'm not really sure Milwaukee wants to do that. My point here is that the cost to acquire these players is probably not worth while and that if you truly view CF as a big area to improve you shouldn't set your sights low and over pay. If you're going to over pay for anything be it hitting or pitching at the trade deadline you should try and get an impact player.

Edit: One more thing I had a longer look at his monthly splits. In May Fowler's BABIP was .211 which is absurdly low. In July it is .190 thus far. I pointed this out with Cogs before he went on a tear and that him having a BABIP around .200 was unsustainably low. To be fair, Fowler hit .240/.286/.356 in June with a .295 BABIP which obviously isn't killing it. Clearly as CS77 pointed out he's not hitting Righties well. But something is going on here because his BABIP this season vs righties is .255 vs his career .331 vs righties. Even if that is inflated(which I don't agree with but I'll humor the argument) by COL, .255 is still 45 points below what you normally consider average. Bump his average and OBP up 45 points and i'd still rather have him than Parra or Revere

 

[beckdawg]

Since this topic got me into talking about Fowler more I decided to look even deeper. The first image is his batted ball rates for 2015. The second is his career rates. There is some fluctuation here but I'm not seeing anything that clearly stands out as a problem. For example, his line drive rate vs righties is down about 3% but that is so small it could just be noise in the sample size of 2015. Typically anything under 5% in this small of a sample probably rates as noise. His fly balls are up vs righties. Typically speaking that does lead to a lower BABIP since you make fewer errors on fly balls than you do on grounders. But again it's only about 6% and his overall infield fly ball rate isn't that changed which is an indication of weak contact. His soft contact rate is actually lower vs righties than his career marks.

Overall, what the batted ball data points out to me is he's probably hitting more balls to the OF that are just getting caught. His walk rate is down about 3% over his career marks which is part of the problem but he's not striking out more. So, he's putting more balls into play and it appears as though they happen to be at more defenders. Looking at heat maps they don't appear to be pitching him differently either.

So, again I think Fowler will be fine. It's entirely possible that he doesn't level back off and this is just a bad year. But it's also possible like Cogs has done that it does and he goes on a tear. Cogs hit .228/.290/.456 in April(.244 BABIP), .220/.297/.427 in May(.241 BABIP), and then started raking in June at .317/.434/.451(.368 BABIP). Sometimes you just have months where you hit balls at guys and can't buy a hit. That's what this strikes me as.

 

[CSF77]

I can see the logic on that Beck. FWIW I would rather make a impact trade vs losing talent for So-So players.

CF Fowler is hitting LH pitching way better. We saw the answer already. Swap Cog and Fowler in the order. It did not sit well with me. To be honest it felt like a push move.

The bottom line is they are going to have to do something vs sit on their hands. This team is on the cusp and it will not sit well with the fan base if the pull a push. For that matter if they trade quality for So-So answers.

The market should start to shake out. I mentioned the Pads due to Hoyer's ties over there. But another team would be Philly. Cole would be a strong target. Add Ben for CF. that would cost a heavy return but you are getting speed at the top an a ace in return. At that point you could move Fowler to LF and bat #2.

Talent wise it will be centered around Baez and Vogelbach but you could see Wood moved and Almora. Most likely a top arm in the system. Still that is a move that would make impact.

 

[TL1961]

Make a post that has 6 legitimate options, and one admittedly not very legitimate one and we get people talking about not very legitimate throw in at the bottom of the list, Alcantara who has been garbage at the plate, and Venable a 32 year old rental.

Good to see constructive conversation is doing so well on this site. I guess talking about the 6 more legitimate options would have been a complete waste.

Sorry - it is a little more noticeable when one suggests the #1 overall prospect in baseball will be traded.

A post including a suggestion to pick up Trout off waivers will probably get responses too.

 

[TL1961]

I can see the logic on that Beck. FWIW I would rather make a impact trade vs losing talent for So-So players.

CF Fowler is hitting LH pitching way better. We saw the answer already. Swap Cog and Fowler in the order. It did not sit well with me. To be honest it felt like a push move.

The bottom line is they are going to have to do something vs sit on their hands. This team is on the cusp and it will not sit well with the fan base if the pull a push. For that matter if they trade quality for So-So answers.

The market should start to shake out. I mentioned the Pads due to Hoyer's ties over there. But another team would be Philly. Cole would be a strong target. Add Ben for CF. that would cost a heavy return but you are getting speed at the top an a ace in return. At that point you could move Fowler to LF and bat #2.

Talent wise it will be centered around Baez and Vogelbach but you could see Wood moved and Almora. Most likely a top arm in the system. Still that is a move that would make impact.

We repeatedly say we will have a lot of offense, and then Almora is constantly mentioned as a likely trade candidate. If we have a lot of offense, a gold glove caliber Cf would be exactly what we need to put out there.

Enough with sucking on D.

 

[beckdawg]

The bottom line is they are going to have to do something vs sit on their hands. This team is on the cusp and it will not sit well with the fan base if the pull a push. For that matter if they trade quality for So-So answers.

See this is where I disagree. I think largely the fan base of any team is entirely ignorant. The media is getting better at informing people but it's still not all that good. For the longest time you've probably heard about baseball being a game of slumps and streaks and what not but rarely does the media talk about what's actually happening. When I was younger I always had the impression that if a guy was slumping he was just not playing well. But that's often a misinterpretation of what's actually happening. Sometimes it's true that a player isn't doing something well but often times it's essentially bad luck. With hitters BABIP can largely influence how they are viewed as I mentioned. To some extent that is also true with pitchers. If guys are just hitting it where defenders aren't the pitcher can unfairly give up runs. That's why FIP is nice. It's also nice because if you have a crappy defense behind you you are more likely to have a higher BABIP.

In terms of "having to do something," I don't really see it that way at least with respect to replacing/platooning Fowler. I think eventually the balls that aren't dropping for hits will level out and over the 2nd half of the season Fowler will be a better player. This thought process that "we have to do something" is very dangerous. Often the best trades a team makes are the ones they don't. For most of April/May all the talk was about how Cogs was garbage and we needed to trade for a LF/promote Baez. Since then he has improved to the 3rd highest OBP of any starter behind Rizzo and Bryant at a very solid .348. Had the cubs traded for some marginal starter to get him out of the line up you would essentially given up a asset for nothing.

That's why I don't like half measure moves. There's a reason you trade for Fowler before the season and that's because last year and over his career he's been a good hitter. I want to emphasize that "good" to point out the difference between "good" and "great." If you're going to trade for another average to good player it's entirely likely you'll end up in the same place with them. In my view, unless you're significantly upgrading over what Fowler has been in his career you're better off hoping for a rebound. If there was something clear in the numbers to suggest a reason for the decline maybe I'd view this differently. For example, if he started K'ing at a 25%+ clip then I'd be more worried.

Ultimately, I think we'll see what's been reported which is they are looking at LH bench bats.

 

[TL1961]

I would love to see them get stronger this year, but there is NO way I want to "go for it" in 2015 at the expense of any other year.

July of 2015 is not the time to overpay so we have a chance now.

I know they won't. They have a plan, and a lot of smarts. They may make moves, but they won't make ones that hurt their future for the present.

 

[CSF77]

We repeatedly say we will have a lot of offense, and then Almora is constantly mentioned as a likely trade candidate. If we have a lot of offense, a gold glove caliber Cf would be exactly what we need to put out there.

Enough with sucking on D.

He has not mastered AA yet. Let's not put the caboose ahead of the engine. K.

 

[CSF77]

See this is where I disagree. I think largely the fan base of any team is entirely ignorant. The media is getting better at informing people but it's still not all that good. For the longest time you've probably heard about baseball being a game of slumps and streaks and what not but rarely does the media talk about what's actually happening. When I was younger I always had the impression that if a guy was slumping he was just not playing well. But that's often a misinterpretation of what's actually happening. Sometimes it's true that a player isn't doing something well but often times it's essentially bad luck. With hitters BABIP can largely influence how they are viewed as I mentioned. To some extent that is also true with pitchers. If guys are just hitting it where defenders aren't the pitcher can unfairly give up runs. That's why FIP is nice. It's also nice because if you have a crappy defense behind you you are more likely to have a higher BABIP.

In terms of "having to do something," I don't really see it that way at least with respect to replacing/platooning Fowler. I think eventually the balls that aren't dropping for hits will level out and over the 2nd half of the season Fowler will be a better player. This thought process that "we have to do something" is very dangerous. Often the best trades a team makes are the ones they don't. For most of April/May all the talk was about how Cogs was garbage and we needed to trade for a LF/promote Baez. Since then he has improved to the 3rd highest OBP of any starter behind Rizzo and Bryant at a very solid .348. Had the cubs traded for some marginal starter to get him out of the line up you would essentially given up a asset for nothing.

That's why I don't like half measure moves. There's a reason you trade for Fowler before the season and that's because last year and over his career he's been a good hitter. I want to emphasize that "good" to point out the difference between "good" and "great." If you're going to trade for another average to good player it's entirely likely you'll end up in the same place with them. In my view, unless you're significantly upgrading over what Fowler has been in his career you're better off hoping for a rebound. If there was something clear in the numbers to suggest a reason for the decline maybe I'd view this differently. For example, if he started K'ing at a 25%+ clip then I'd be more worried.

Ultimately, I think we'll see what's been reported which is they are looking at LH bench bats.

Owners look at $$$ for the most part. Tommy is a fan boy and I would be surprised if he pulled the cash strings closed. I do not see it. After they just got the manager they wanted and dumped into Lester. Got wonderboy on the team with his little buddy. If there is a clear need they will address it.

Like if Hammel goes on the 15 day. They will make a trade. Trust me. They have been talking it but there has been no sense of urgency. Losing 1 of your top 3...ya that causes a sense of urgency.

The fact is they can not afford to lose Hammel for any amount of time. They have no quality depth in AAA to back fill. So ya this could signal a trade. Not to mention Kaz left after the 3rd with a shoulder issue. That makes him bad trade goods now. So this is where we see if the team starts to put up some talent to make this season work.

 

[Boobaby1]

I would love to see them get stronger this year, but there is NO way I want to "go for it" in 2015 at the expense of any other year.

July of 2015 is not the time to overpay so we have a chance now.

I know they won't. They have a plan, and a lot of smarts. They may make moves, but they won't make ones that hurt their future for the present.

I wonder how they would do if they platooned Fowler and Coghlan. Coghlan against righties, and Fowler against lefties.

 

[CSF77]

I would love to see them get stronger this year, but there is NO way I want to "go for it" in 2015 at the expense of any other year.

July of 2015 is not the time to overpay so we have a chance now.

I know they won't. They have a plan, and a lot of smarts. They may make moves, but they won't make ones that hurt their future for the present.

Sometimes you have to just go for it. 2003 was a 1 hit wonder. Injuries happen. Current team has been filling the system with talent better than Hendry did. Still they are in it now. You can not predict the future.