Eloy Jimenez

cubsmann

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We all know why the Cubs are playing .500 ball this year, which is way way below their aptitude. It has to be the lack of Dexter Fowler. Joe used to tell him "u go, we go". And he wasn't kidding. The Cubs last year were like a .650 team with Fowler and about a .479 without him. So we clearly need a real lead off hitter which every good team has. Im talking like .450 OBP and an OPS over .900. We don't have the guy for this. If Rizzo could learn to bunt to the left side he would have the OBP necessary to be a great lead off guy.

This leaves Eloy Jimenez. This kid is just 19 but he's got the skills to play at the MLB level. If the Cubs bring him up and he hits like he's hit his whole life were golden. Or is Theo ready to ship the prodigy for Johnny Cueto?!! Why haven't we heard anything from this guy??!! Clearly there are no FA available in Fowler's -territory.


If this has already been beaten to death. Please forgive me. I have been in the hospital for most of March and April and May with DVT and PE clots. But Im back because Im feeling serious anxiety about this year.
 
chibears55

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cubsmann said:
We all know why the Cubs are playing .500 ball this year, which is way way below their aptitude. It has to be the lack of Dexter Fowler. Joe used to tell him "u go, we go". And he wasn't kidding. The Cubs last year were like a .650 team with Fowler and about a .479 without him. So we clearly need a real lead off hitter which every good team has. Im talking like .450 OBP and an OPS over .900. We don't have the guy for this. If Rizzo could learn to bunt to the left side he would have the OBP necessary to be a great lead off guy.

This leaves Eloy Jimenez. This kid is just 19 but he's got the skills to play at the MLB level. If the Cubs bring him up and he hits like he's hit his whole life were golden. Or is Theo ready to ship the prodigy for Johnny Cueto?!! Why haven't we heard anything from this guy??!! Clearly there are no FA available in Fowler's -territory.


If this has already been beaten to death. Please forgive me. I have been in the hospital for most of March and April and May with DVT and PE clots. But Im back because Im feeling serious anxiety about this year.
Click to expand...
Definitely not bringing him up...
Don't expect to see him up some point in 2019 the earliest..

I just don't see Epstein trading away any of his young prospects now..
They still don't know if some of the kids that are up are sure things yet..


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 
CSF77

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Right now Eloy is hitting .259 at A+ MB. He is still in development. That said his value is in trade weight. Even if they rushed him he would be 2 years out. Even then you have Happ and Schwarber ahead of him in the depth chart.

Now the lead off issue. I agree that that is a core issue going on. Jay has sufficed. By playing him Almora sits. That is pretty much the reality. Do they need a long term lead off. Absolutely. But I'm not seeing a easy answer right now. Happ is ideal being a SH, Takes walks. Can hit a HR. But he strikes out too much. Zobrist is the prototype you want. If he was in his prime still.

Enough said on that.

So for now it will be Jay leading off Happ hitting 4 and Schwarber 5. Todays line up should work if the hitters can put together quality AB's on a constant basis. Shoot guys will strike out. They will walk. But they have to battle at the plate and be hard outs.

So I believe the O is a easier fix. The core issue is the rotation. Montgomery has looked bad. Butler you are waiting for that implosion. Lackey bad foot. Kyle not back. Jeykle or Hyde Arrieta. Lester is the only starter that you feel ok with. Even then he is looking more like 2015 Lester then anything.

So ya the rotation is the core. They need to figure it out there.
 
anotheridiot

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Fowler embraced the idea, yet the one guy on the roster who has not been given the shot, even when he was hitting was the 182 million dollar man they brought here to replace Fowler after he left in 2015.

I am tired of lets put these young guys in the leadoff spot. Lets bring Candelario and Happ up and bat them cleanup, but then its dont mess with the frail mentality of Jason Heyward.
 

brett05

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Wait a moment.....

Who are the leadoff hitters with 450 obp and 900 ops?
 
CSF77

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brett05 said:
Wait a moment.....

Who are the leadoff hitters with 450 obp and 900 ops?
Click to expand...

For real. .450 OBA would be god mode. Some of the best players put up .400 OBA. That is like Bryant on his MVP year. .900 OPS is again all star production.

Heyward is putting up a .317 OBA right now. Com on man at least make intelligent posts. If he was putting up a .350 or higher then your case would have substance.

When you are looking at a lead off you really are not looking at speed or OBA or slap hitting. You have to look at BB% and SO % first.

Heyward is at 8% walk. 16% SO. So he is putting the ball into play 75% of the time. Which honestly why the whole hitting a ground out to 2B bit came from. It is a 2 year on going joke here but he does put the ball in play a lot and that is where it goes a lot.

But the reality is he is a contact hitter for the most part. His OBA will be roughly .050 over his BA. If you look at his career this tends to be true. If his OBA is near .350 he is hitting near .300.

So in view of this he has to improve his BABIP. That is it. Which means less hit balls to the 2nd basemans glove.
 
CSF77

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The Heyward part was to idiot. Not you Brett.
 

JP Hochbaum

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Platooning Almora and Jay at leadoff should be the plan. Almora actually has a current K rate and BB rate better than Jay, and both are contact hitters. Fowler has a slightly higher walk rate but a worse K rate, so there isn't much of a drastic difference between those scenarios.

What has killed the Cubs are regressions from every player on this team that isn't named Heyward. We went from 6-7 all stars to 0. It doesn't matter what the leadoff hitter is doing as all players are performing lower than last year. The leadoff situation is being used as a scapegoat.
 

TC in Mississippi

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I'm just trying to wrap my head around the .450 OBP leadoff guy. Wherever this guy is get him to me NOW! Oh, sorry he's probably riding unicorns in Oz.
 
CSF77

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Honestly as of right now they would be fine platooning Jay and Almora in CF. Baez has done a pretty good job leading off vs lefties. Might as well make it work out.
 

cubsmann

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Without replacing Fowler were finished this year. Jimenez is ready. He's 20 years old and can pound the hell of the ball. He even looks like Fowler when he swings. U guys are telling me that there's no chance this year that he comes up? Without a huge trade and the cubs have a lot of bait they're finished this year.
 

TC in Mississippi

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cubsmann said:
Without replacing Fowler were finished this year. Jimenez is ready. He's 20 years old and can pound the hell of the ball. He even looks like Fowler when he swings. U guys are telling me that there's no chance this year that he comes up? Without a huge trade and the cubs have a lot of bait they're finished this year.
Click to expand...

Eloy is far from a finished player. He's having a very nice year in high A ball but damn man let the kid get challenged in AA before even talking about bringing him up. In his entire career name me a single player Theo has ever brought up from A ball. Trick question because you can't, he never has. This team has a lot of issues but plenty of talent and leadoff hitter is hardly the biggest problem. I still think they win the division myself but the possibility is there that the Brewers get silly and win it. No question, but the future is bright and Eloy is either part of it or part of a trade for pitching. Bringing him up close to 2 years before he's ready is the answer to nothing.
 
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JP Hochbaum said:
Platooning Almora and Jay at leadoff should be the plan. Almora actually has a current K rate and BB rate better than Jay, and both are contact hitters. Fowler has a slightly higher walk rate but a worse K rate, so there isn't much of a drastic difference between those scenarios.

What has killed the Cubs are regressions from every player on this team that isn't named Heyward. We went from 6-7 all stars to 0. It doesn't matter what the leadoff hitter is doing as all players are performing lower than last year. The leadoff situation is being used as a scapegoat.
Click to expand...

Yep. The lead off thing is overrated. It would be just another guy left on base. Not sure I've ever seen a team, from top to bottom, go in the tank like this one....and that includes a whole lot of bad teams. Highly doubtful that either this or last season is their collective norm. More likely, just another oddity of the game.
 

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So I looked up some numbers to compare the best hitting team in the NL, the Nationals, to the Cubs hitting.

I looked at OBA at the leadoff spot, both teams are identical at .304.

The difference in the order is coming from slugging percentage in the 2-5 holes, particularly the 4, and 5 spots being about a .200 plus point difference. That has primarily been Zobrist and Russell.
 
CSF77

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cubsmann said:
Without replacing Fowler were finished this year. Jimenez is ready. He's 20 years old and can pound the hell of the ball. He even looks like Fowler when he swings. U guys are telling me that there's no chance this year that he comes up? Without a huge trade and the cubs have a lot of bait they're finished this year.
Click to expand...

Ya know. I missed this stuff. Great comedy. Keep it up.
 
CSF77

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JP Hochbaum said:
So I looked up some numbers to compare the best hitting team in the NL, the Nationals, to the Cubs hitting.

I looked at OBA at the leadoff spot, both teams are identical at .304.

The difference in the order is coming from slugging percentage in the 2-5 holes, particularly the 4, and 5 spots being about a .200 plus point difference. That has primarily been Zobrist and Russell.
Click to expand...

Turner was stealing bases at record pace. You have to factor him being a chaos factor when on base
 

Southsidewentblind

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cubsmann said:
We all know why the Cubs are playing .500 ball this year, which is way way below their aptitude. It has to be the lack of Dexter Fowler. Joe used to tell him "u go, we go". And he wasn't kidding. The Cubs last year were like a .650 team with Fowler and about a .479 without him. So we clearly need a real lead off hitter which every good team has. Im talking like .450 OBP and an OPS over .900. We don't have the guy for this. If Rizzo could learn to bunt to the left side he would have the OBP necessary to be a great lead off guy.

This leaves Eloy Jimenez. This kid is just 19 but he's got the skills to play at the MLB level. If the Cubs bring him up and he hits like he's hit his whole life were golden. Or is Theo ready to ship the prodigy for Johnny Cueto?!! Why haven't we heard anything from this guy??!! Clearly there are no FA available in Fowler's -territory.


If this has already been beaten to death. Please forgive me. I have been in the hospital for most of March and April and May with DVT and PE clots. But Im back because Im feeling serious anxiety about this year.
Click to expand...

Eloy is easily our greatest prospect. He is going to maybe be one of the best CF we will see in the 2020's. But I do think you are right when you say there is no FA to put in CF. I have to argue that Eloy might be someone that we should use in a trade to get a SP that can be dependable and strong for our #1 spot in our rotation. And someone that is willing to stay with us and love Chicago as if it was in his blood.
 

brett05

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Southsidewentblind said:
Eloy is easily our greatest prospect. He is going to maybe be one of the best CF we will see in the 2020's. But I do think you are right when you say there is no FA to put in CF. I have to argue that Eloy might be someone that we should use in a trade to get a SP that can be dependable and strong for our #1 spot in our rotation. And someone that is willing to stay with us and love Chicago as if it was in his blood.
Click to expand...
Eloy has no defense whatsoever to be a CF
 
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