2011-12 Hot Stove Thread

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Holy shit, I just realized Ronny Cedeno is on that list. The fuck?

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

I like to think I keep up with baseball very well, but I couldn't tell you who the hell Daniel Descalso plays for ...

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

St. Louis. He scored, I think, one of the two tying runs in the 10th inning of Game 6 of the World Series.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Jeff Mathis didn't make the list? C'mon!!!!!!!!!

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

It's the Gold Glove. What the heck do you expect? Matt Holliday is on the list, too.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Youkilis at third and Alex Gonzalez at short seem more like legacy / reputation picks, but at least from a casual glance, I don't see any "Palmeiro at 1B" level bad selections. Getting Jeter off of the SS award is a step in the right direction.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

I'm going to personally turn Cubs fans into the Steelers fans of the baseball threads.

I was going back over the drafts and it's not hard to figure out why the Cubs have sucked.

From 2002 to 2006 (five drafts), the top three Cubs picks were Sean Marshall (useful reliever), Randy Wells (still struggling to prove he can be a back of the rotation starter), and Tyler Colvin (maybe a fourth outfielder if he improves).

Those are the drafts that should be have been the foundation of the MLB team the last few years, and they almost literally got nothing.

By contrast, in those same drafts, the Red Sox got Lester, Romero, Papelbon, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Buchholz, Masterson, and about half a dozen other guys who are at least as good as anyone on the Cubs' list besides maybe Marshall.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Adam Jones should at least have been a finalist.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Cedeno was 9 runs above average for shortstop, at least according to Baseball Prospectus. Range average per 9 of 5.04, vs. a league average of 4.46; Tulo was the only one with a higher number that played a full season. If you're going by fielding percentage, he's fourth in the NL among full-time players. (Tulo is first, so unless there is a big surprise in store, I'd be shocked if he doesn't win.)

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Did the Cubs go slot for those picks? One thing the Red Sox have been willing to do is to pay over slot for picks, which has produced the bounty you noted, plus plenty of other interesting / hyped prospects (Casey Kelly, Craig Hansen) for trades.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

Be thankful Cal Ripken isn't a finalist.

 

Re: 2011 Hot Stove Thread

IIRC, they tried to average slot for the whole draft. So if they went overslot for one pick, they tried to make it up with a cheap one somewhere else in the same draft.

In 2011, they went nuts and signed a ton of overslot guys. The new owner thinks this is one of the big ways to improve the team long-term, and wants to do that every year. Epstein said it's part of what got his attention about the Cubs job.