Jorge soler

chibears55

chibears55

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Wondering if we might see jorge soler called up on Sunday wben they send Strailey back down after he pitches on Saturday.

Doubt they recall Lake again after 1 day, I think they leave him down til September after Iowa playoffs
 
CSF77

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They were thinking of Soler in Sept. OF depth now is LF Cog. CF Alcantara RF Ruggiano. 4th OF Sweeney. They also have Valikia who has played some OF right now. Super sub.

I really don't think they need to bring up a bat. Giving the starters a day off in a 20 game run was fine. Rather they bumped up a pen arm like Parker to give the pen a breather.

Sept is around the corner. Better timing where they do not have to worry about juggling the roster. Having 1 spot flexible makes more sense til then.
 
chibears55

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@TommyBirch: Matt Szczur not in the Iowa #Cubs lineup tonight. Tweets swirling around that he's the man headed to Chicago-not Jorge Soler. #PCL #MiLB
 
dabynsky

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Matt Szczur to Chicago is an interesting option. He sucks as a regular but he might have value as a bench guy. They have to make some hard choices about the 40 man roster and so it is a bit of an audition.
 

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dabynsky said:
Matt Szczur to Chicago is an interesting option. He sucks as a regular but he might have value as a bench guy. They have to make some hard choices about the 40 man roster and so it is a bit of an audition.
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I don't think they are hard choices lol.
 
dabynsky

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Captain Obvious said:
I don't think they are hard choices lol.
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Really? What is your opinion of Rafael Lopez right now? Eric Jokisch? I wouldn't be surprised if they were nothing or useful big leaguers. Getting the call right on those guys matters. And so seeing about Szczur helps on that. I've been pretty vocal about being done with Vitters, but there are a lot of tough bubble calls right now for the Cubs.
 

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dabynsky said:
Really? What is your opinion of Rafael Lopez right now? Eric Jokisch? I wouldn't be surprised if they were nothing or useful big leaguers. Getting the call right on those guys matters. And so seeing about Szczur helps on that. I've been pretty vocal about being done with Vitters, but there are a lot of tough bubble calls right now for the Cubs.
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I see what you're saying. I was looking at it from the view of who to cut/trade/whatever is pretty clear cut. Szczur, Vitters, Sweeney, Valaika, Wood, Jackson, maybe Watkins.
 
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Captain Obvious said:
I see what you're saying. I was looking at it from the view of who to cut/trade/whatever is pretty clear cut. Szczur, Vitters, Sweeney, Valaika, Wood, Jackson, maybe Watkins.
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Vitters, Valaika, Watkins I am right with you, but the other cats are tougher to me. And the idea I am raising is who is better option going forward in terms of the various rule 5 guys coming up. I mean CJ Edwards duh protect, but there are tons of guys on that bubble. And it does matter in the long run those moves on the margins. Not as much as getting it right on the core, but still it can effect things moving forward if they give up on the wrong guy now. So that is what I meant by tough calls.
 
chibears55

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@GDubCub: Matt Szczur expected to be called up Sunday. Will be the seventh player to make a big-league debut with Cubs this year.
 

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dabynsky said:
Matt Szczur to Chicago is an interesting option. He sucks as a regular but he might have value as a bench guy. They have to make some hard choices about the 40 man roster and so it is a bit of an audition.
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He better hope he gets a chance in the next 15 days, because there will surely be many better bench options on 9/1.
 
dabynsky

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TL1961 said:
He better hope he gets a chance in the next 15 days, because there will surely be many better bench options on 9/1.
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I am guessing this is just a jump start on that process. Doubt he draws many starts with Alcantara, Coghlan getting the bulk of the time here. Probably a few more before Soler gets called up. Again the focus will probably be on how he handles limited at bats because that is his future role/ceiling in this organization.
 
CSF77

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I'll disagree with Valikia. Due covers the whole IF. The OF corners and is working on catching to be the emergency guy there. Plus he is not an auto out.

The thing is as the Cubs get better the bench is going to shift from platoon to Role player. Guys like Valikia are what they are going to be looking for then.
 
CSF77

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A bench of Szczur, Valikia, Watkins then a back up catcher. On a DH I would keep a extra pen arm then demote 1 arm and add a bat from AAA. A guy like Olt makes sense to hold then. Valbuena I would trade. Paying a guy 2-3 mil to back up is not wise.
 
dabynsky

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CSF77 said:
A bench of Szczur, Valikia, Watkins then a back up catcher. On a DH I would keep a extra pen arm then demote 1 arm and add a bat from AAA. A guy like Olt makes sense to hold then. Valbuena I would trade. Paying a guy 2-3 mil to back up is not wise.
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Valaika reminds of Jose Macais. Dude can play a lot of positions but his bat will be Darwin Barney-esque. The Cubs have enough flexibility with guys like Coghlan, Alcantara, Valbuena, Baez, Ruggiano, etc. that they don't need to carry a no hit multi-position guy like Valaika.
 
CSF77

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dabynsky said:
Valaika reminds of Jose Macais. Dude can play a lot of positions but his bat will be Darwin Barney-esque. The Cubs have enough flexibility with guys like Coghlan, Alcantara, Valbuena, Baez, Ruggiano, etc. that they don't need to carry a no hit multi-position guy like Valaika.
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I can see that. But flexibility give more AB's with days off. VS what we have now. Lake getting shafted with AB's same with Olt. Barney was in that boat. All had the short stick in a platoon.

That is wasted roster spaces. Sure I can see saving a buck in LF with Cog and Ruggiano next year so they can use that savings into Lester. That makes sense. But having LF, RF, 3B, 2B, CF in platoon at the start of the year? What a bad idea in general.

Cubs had that mix in 2008. Had DeRosa who could play RF when Fukudome was slumping. Also he covered 3B. 2009 would not have been so bad if they retained him. A-Ram goes down DeRosa covers 3B. Easy fix til A-Ram got back. Big screw up and on top of it they let whats his face go and the crew picked him up.

Don't under sell flexibility.
 
dabynsky

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CSF77 said:
I can see that. But flexibility give more AB's with days off. VS what we have now. Lake getting shafted with AB's same with Olt. Barney was in that boat. All had the short stick in a platoon.

That is wasted roster spaces. Sure I can see saving a buck in LF with Cog and Ruggiano next year so they can use that savings into Lester. That makes sense. But having LF, RF, 3B, 2B, CF in platoon at the start of the year? What a bad idea in general.

Cubs had that mix in 2008. Had DeRosa who could play RF when Fukudome was slumping. Also he covered 3B. 2009 would not have been so bad if they retained him. A-Ram goes down DeRosa covers 3B. Easy fix til A-Ram got back. Big screw up and on top of it they let whats his face go and the crew picked him up.

Don't under sell flexibility.
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Frankly I am confused here. I wasn't arguing that the Cubs should be platooning all of those guys. I was just pointing out that the guys control for next year a number of guys that offer flexibility with a much better stick. Granted Valaika can play more spots than any one of those guys, but his bat is really, really terrible. Would rather the bench be some combination of those "veteran" role players the Cubs have right now and kick Valaika to the curb once the offseason hits to protect guys with more upside prior to the rule 5 draft.
 
chibears55

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dabynsky said:
Frankly I am confused here. I wasn't arguing that the Cubs should be platooning all of those guys. I was just pointing out that the guys control for next year a number of guys that offer flexibility with a much better stick. Granted Valaika can play more spots than any one of those guys, but his bat is really, really terrible. Would rather the bench be some combination of those "veteran" role players the Cubs have right now and kick Valaika to the curb once the offseason hits to protect guys with more upside prior to the rule 5 draft.
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I agree.. I hope next year we don't have any platoon situations

I think Bryant going to come up and play 3B next year, so only position that a question right now is LF.

They need to bring in an everyday playing LFer that bats LH

I wanna see a veteran bench with the backup Catcher, LH and RH backup IFer, LH and RH backup OFer, and a guy who can play IF and OF..

They could start with LH IFer Valbuena and LH OFer Coghlin
 
CSF77

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I was thinking:

LF: Cog/Ruggiano
CF: Alcantara
RF: Soler
3B: Bryant
SS: Castro
2B: Baez
1B: Rizzo
C: Castillo

Now I'm figuring on days off most starters are going to play 155 games. LF will platoon and Catcher needs a better back up hitting wise.

Except for injury and that is what Iowa is for.

Now thinking of it as each starter is going to start 155 games is it a wise idea to pay Valbuena to sit on the bench in Arb3? Or Sweeney to soak 1.5 mil to sit on the bench and and start 30 games at best? I do not see the value in it. Now talk about Szczur starting 30 games for 500k? Little more cost effective method.

With Bryant and Baez on the team it leaves Valbuena on the bench...really dumb move to let that happen. He holds trade value this offseason and the playing time he would get could be covered with Valikia and Watkins.

Bench players are just for days off. Or D switch or x2 switch in the NL. Their impact is minimal so investing 3 mil into 100-200 A
B'? not really a wise choice.

I would rather have them use payroll towards pitching. That is a greater need. Even more than signing a LF. Anyways I'm expecting 60 HR combined from Soler/Baez/Bryant. 20 per on avg. Not really a reach here. Now BA another story.
 
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