Cubs trade targets (The Athletic article)

[Rory Sparrow]

I saw him at Indiana. He can catch. They stopped the experiment after he ran into Fowler in LC and tore his ACL. If he’s 100% having him work as a catcher whether in an emergency role or getting 1 starting pitcher as the personal catcher makes sense.

The outright stupidity never stops here.

 

[TL1961]

I saw him at Indiana. He can catch. They stopped the experiment after he ran into Fowler in LC and tore his ACL. If he’s 100% having him work as a catcher whether in an emergency role or getting 1 starting pitcher as the personal catcher makes sense.

I watched him, pre-injury. He literally missed pitches that were not in the dirt. Just didn’t catch them.
Then the knee injury.
Experiment over.

 

[TL1961]

First topic is the lead off.

https://www.fangraphs.com/splitstoo...statType=player&autoPt=true&players=&sort=-,1

He has improved over all but we are talking 83=>110.

https://www.fangraphs.com/splitstoo...statType=player&autoPt=true&players=&sort=-,1

Body of work elsewhere.

This is his worst year. He has been around 115 as a standard.

Now this leads right into the second part of the question. Is that acceptable as a corner OF?

No it is not. He is bringing nothing to the table. LF is a position that you need to get a plus out of because the demands from the defense are less.

So there is a few ways to approach this.

1. Do nothing and solve nothing.

2. Trade him while he is hot.

3. Push him into a rotation with Contreras and Caratini.

1. is stupid.

2. Is the easy out.

3. Is the creative method. It solves a few things.

A. It justifies a lower production from Schwarber because now he is doing a vital role for the team.

B. It creates a personal catcher situation. That tends to be more beneficial towards the starter as they can better focus on their games together. Lester was at his best with Ross. That should be the goal.

C. It lessens the wear and tear on Contreras with out sacrificing PA's over it. That bit should be common sense.

I love this reasoning.

Insert him as a lesser defensive catcher than the other two, because it justifies his less than desired offensive numbers.

 

[CSF77]

I love this reasoning.

Insert him as a lesser defensive catcher than the other two, because it justifies his less than desired offensive numbers.

The main point is about Contreras. He has now gone down to injury 3× in his brief career. Every time Jed has to run to the waver or trade away talent for short term fixes. Having a legit plan makes more sense.

Say next year they have Lester, Yu, Hendricks, Q and Chatwood

Lester- Contreras
Yu- Caratini
Hendricks- Caratini
Q-Contreras
Chatwood- Schwarber

So basically you are dealing with a rotation that lessens the load. Injuries become more internal solved where Schwarber increases his catching load and they bring up OF depth. Much easier internal solution.


Now I'm on board with a team set up as:

LF Schwarber/Contreras/Bryant/Castellino
CF Heyward/Almora
RF Castellino/Heyward

3B Bryant/Bote
SS Baez/Short
2B Happ/Short
1B Rizzo
C Contreras/Caratini/Schwarber

 

[Parade_Rain]

I watched him, pre-injury. He literally missed pitches that were not in the dirt. Just didn’t catch them.
Then the knee injury.
Experiment over.

Sure. More movement on MLB pitches. You just made a comment that is easy to show your lack of understanding how player development works.

 

[Parade_Rain]

The outright stupidity never stops here.

Yes. Your posting never stops.

 

[Rory Sparrow]

Yes. Your posting never stops.

 

[CSF77]

Sure. More movement on MLB pitches. You just made a comment that is easy to show your lack of understanding how player development works.

Ya IIRC you coach some don't you?

The thing is every one has a capacity. We just don't know what Schwarber's is because he is not doing it every day. It is easy to look at his body of work and say nope. But it is not taking into account of his learning curve.

When he was first pushed to left every one said he is a DH and he became a decent MLB avg quality left fielder. And that is far superior to a DH.

So it irks me every time I hear posters placing their self imposed limits on an unknown. If our history was filled with that mentality the world would be flat and Zeus was the reason the game was cancelled.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Ya IIRC you coach some don't you?

The thing is every one has a capacity. We just don't know what Schwarber's is because he is not doing it every day. It is easy to look at his body of work and say nope. But it is not taking into account of his learning curve.

When he was first pushed to left every one said he is a DH and he became a decent MLB avg quality left fielder. And that is far superior to a DH.

So it irks me every time I hear posters placing their self imposed limits on an unknown. If our history was filled with that mentality the world would be flat and Zeus was the reason the game was cancelled.

Yes. I am a skills coach and have placed quite a few players in college over the years. It takes patience. At this point I coach collegiate Summer ball, too.

You make a very good point about Schwarber specifically with regard to LF. I thought he would be below average defensively and his stick would have to really justify him being out there, but he has worked himself to be at least league average for LF and has a good arm for the spot.