Just in case you were still questioning whether the Cubs GM screwed up with his big free agent signing this off-season, just look at today's game with the defending champion Phillies. No Milton Bradley in the lineup as it seems it is going to take special efforts from the manager to try to get this knucklehead to start producing runs. His BA is on the rise, but you all know my opinion that BA is one of the most over-rated offensive stat ever. The Cubs were reportedly looking for a run producer that can hit left-handed and our **** GM decided to pinpoint Milton Bradley as the person to fill this need. Well, he's hitting about .200 left-handed and as Steve Stone reported on The Score this morning, both Chicago teams have 8 guys each that have more RBIs than MB including White Sox rookie Gordon Beckham who has only been up with the Sox since the beginning of June.
So what happened tonight to really slap Hendry and all of us Cubs fans in the face? How about the #1 guy Hendry should have targeted belting a 3-run, 2-out HR in the bottom of the 1st inning that initiated the onslaught. Raul Ibanez now has more than 3 times as many RBIs as Milton Bradley with 68 vs. MB's absolutely paltry and pathetic 21. What a total joke!
It was interesting listening to John Kruk talking about how the Cubs completely screwed up the 1st inning defensively. Lou pulled in Aramis at 3B to try to prevent a bunt from Victorino that inning when Kruk said that Phillies manager NEVER bunts in the 1st inning (would you if you had his offense?). So Victorino hit what would have been a pretty easy double-play ball to a regular depth Aramis but instead turned into a double down the line ahead of the 2-out 3-run bomb by Ibanez.
My stomach turns every time I watch highlights from All-Star Ibanez, Adam Dunn, and Bobby Abreu thinking about what could have and really should have been. News flash for Jim Hendry, Milton Bradley has average 50 RBIs a year for his entire career so he was NEVER a run producer. Even in his career and contract year last season, he still only drove in 77 runs for a high octane Rangers offense. This is supposed to be the guy to make the difference? Don't think so Jim!
I support and like the signing of Milton over Raul. In hindsight, Bobby’s contact was pretty awesome from a financial perspective, though who knew Abreau’s price would drop so much. I think Milton had better tendencies and greater upside than Raul who is six years older. Raul is slugging 191 points above his career average and Milton is slugging 82 points less than his career average. If you look at Raul's career, he has looked to have plateaued some time ago, but at 37 years of age....who forecasts this size spike in production.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?playerid=607&playerid2=369&playerid3=&position=OF&page=8&type=full
Lou and Jim Hendry are tight, why didn't Lou get Raul less there was something he didn't favor between the two. Maybe Philly paid to much money for a 37 year old outfielder. We we'll never know what Lou thinks of Raul and we can't measure the value of Raul's contract until it's over.
Less injury by either player, I bet the pendulum swings the other way. Though considering Raul is hitting behind Ryan Howard, he’ll probably continue to drive in runs at a better rate, especially since Ryan’s 2nd half numbers are awesome. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=howarry01&year=Career&t=b#half
Add Bonds to the graphical comparison. People couldn't believe that a player at Bonds age would continue to excel. I liked Raul's quote about performance enhancement drugs, but I do not think you can blame fans for suspecting or asking the question as they did with Bonds.
http://www.fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?playerid=607&playerid2=1109&playerid3=369&position=OF&page=8&type=full
Yes, runs created (scored or driven in) are where it's at. No doubt Milton is not doing such. I have faith he'll come around (less injury) and I'm totally all right not having Raul Ibanez at 37 for 3 years vs. Milton at 31 for 3 years. When Milton gets back into the line-up, I'd like to maybe see him hitting 2nd. He's not hitting for power or extra base hits, but he gets on base.
I think you are missing the point here...The Cubs were supposedly in the market for a left-handed bat to provide some production. Milton Bradley averages 50 RBIs per season!!! Is that the production they were looking for? What exactly did Hendry or Lou like about this guy over the others?
ReplyDeleteTake a look at Ibanez' RBI totals as far back as you want:
2008-110
2007-105
2006-123
2005-89
2004-62 in 125 games
ALL of those numbers were while he was playing in Seattle without Ryan Howard batting behind him. THAT is production! And if you want to call it a plateau at over 100 RBIs per season, I'm fine with that as that's a hell of a lot better than a 50 RBI plateau.
Milton Bradley's career high in RBIs was the 77 he had last year in his contract year. Hendry fell for the banana in the tailpipe AGAIN. He had 4 guys to choose from and he chose the ONLY WRONG GUY in the group!
Do I really care what he does in his third season? The Cubs, in case you haven't read a newspaper since you were born, haven't won a World Series in over 100 years! They were coming off back-to-back playoff appearances since that last WS title in 1908. They needed a difference maker NOW, not a younger and WAY less productive hitter. It was a STUPID move and NOBODY will be able to convince me differently. Even if Milton Bradley drives in 77 runs for the rest of the season, he'd still fall short of 100 RBIs. I'm sorry, but that is NOT production.
Moving him to #2 in the lineup makes some sense, but that's NOT what they were looking for this off-season. Just like Fukudome didn't turn out to be the power bat in RF the year before, Hendry whiffed on this one big time. Maybe the third time will be the charm as the Cubs will still be looking for a productive left-handed bat.
Come on Ricketts! Finish up the purchase and get rid of Hendry and Lou and bring in Steve Stone and Brenly.
Hendry does suck but not because he signed Bradley over the 37 yo Ibanez but because he signed Bradley over the RBI machine that is Bobby Abreu! The same Abreu who signed a 1 year $5 million contract, the same Abreu who has over 100 RBIs in 8 of his last 9 years. And in those 9 years he has missed a TOTAL of 27 games. Bradley has missed 17 games already this year through being benched or injured. Hindsight is 20-20 I guess but the numbers are SO slanted towards Abreu over Bradley, it makes no sense to have signed Bradley even if you take money out of the equation.
ReplyDeleteOh and Rob, I have no problem looking at your posted links!
Hendry was served another slap in the face after last night's game when Lou said "we might need a couple hitters before the trading deadline". Shouldn't that be what Hendry was supposed to provide his skipper in the off-season?
ReplyDeleteWhere would you even put a "couple hitters" in this lineup? Arguably, you have a hitter on the bench in Jake Fox but in this over-priced lineup, he can't get any playing time. Maybe he can step in for Aramis for a day or two. Since his return over the last 11 games, Aramis has seen his BA drop from .364 to .296 and has only added 2 RBIs to his pre-injury total.
Another great pitching performance down the drain. Harden and the bullpen were nothing short of amazing keeping one of the best offenses in the NL down for 12+ innings with ZERO help from their own offense. Let's not get confused here either...the Phillies pitching staff is TERRIBLE - 13th in the NL in ERA - and the Cubs have scored 2 runs on 11 hits and 18 Ks in 22 innings.
Two 2-out walks and a bomb finally ended it last night. At least it wasn't Ibanez last night, right Jim? Although Ibanez kept the inning alive for Jayson Werth by working a 7-pitch walk after initially falling behind 1-2 in the count.
Well, it looks like we were all fooled again when the Cubs beat up on a hapless Nats team just like we did when they swept the worthless Indians and then went on to lose 6-of-7. The good news? If the Phils keep winning without Roy Halladay, they won't trade for him to bolster that #13 pitching staff the $135 million Cubs can't seem to figure out like the rest of MLB apparently has.