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Gonfalon Cubs— Cubs Baseball for Thinking Fans
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
The Jacque Jones signing
Now that spring training is in full gear, the Cubs are increasingly in one’s thoughts, and one thing I’ve realized is that the Jacque Jones signing truly demonstrated how uncreative Hendry can be. Here are two sets of numbers to peruse:
.280/.333/.474
.249/.366/.518
The first line is Jones’s performance over the past three years against right-handed pitching. The second line is Russ Branyan’s performance over the past three years against right-handed pitching. Branyan is bit younger than Jones. Branyan was released by Milwaukee early this off-season and ended up signing a minor league deal with the Devil Rays. He made $800,000 last year. Jones is signed to a deal that will pay him over $16 million over the next three years. Now, Jones is a superior outfielder, but that’s about the only thing he has going for him in this comparison. Sure Branyan strikes out prolifically, but who gives a damn if he can produce an OPS of .850+ and do it for pennies on the dollar in comparison to Jones? In addition, he’d provide a solid bat to back up Ramirez, allowing Aramis the days off he appears to require during the long season.
In short, Hendry’s Jekyll/trader and Hyde/free agent signer act is one of the most puzzling aspects of his tenure as GM. He has been effective, if imperfect when it comes to making deals, but has been nothing short of inept when wading into the free agent market. This is not something that has gone unnoticed, but the longer Cubs’ fans have to live with it, the more frustrating it becomes.
Luke Jasenosky
Posted: March 08, 2006 at 06:48 PM | 18 comment(s)
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I don't know that it's all that mysterious. Revenues are up across the board so no one is looking to dump salaries. It's easy to look smart when everyone can see that you're getting more talent for taking on more money.
One big problem is that Branyan hasn't played more than 20 games in the outfield in four years and hasn't played 20 games in RF in his entire career.
Aside from that, though, I certainly agree with the point that this offseason required Hendry to show creativity and he came up sorely lacking. (I was ranting about this with Retro on Tuesday night.)
Hendry mad solid moves is getting D-Lee and A-Ram. A-Ram was a mediocre guy on da buckos. Hendry bet correctly and the rest is history.
The bottom fell out when NOMORE came into town with his hottie wife and fleeced us all for millions. I did cartwheels when we signed him. I can even remember hearing about it on the way up nort after scoring some Culver's in Stevensville, MI. But that was about it. Then came two years of playing a few games making more than I will in my life time. I'd like to see JUST ONCE, a guy who is already a millionare, who turns out to be a lemon, give some money back.
Jim's only other "Lock" so far was picking up MadDog. I could have managed that.
Let's hope Pierre and Jones both stay healthy and have great years. I'd much rather take back my comments after an awesome year then be dragging my as$ down to the park to try to schill my tickets to someone from out of town for $10 in September.
He was a promising prospect who had cratered in 2002. But he had recovered much of his mojo by the time the trade rolled around. The Pirates dealt because they didn't want to be on the hook for a big-money contract to someone who they perceived as a poor fielder, an injury risk, and someone who could potentially stop hitting again.
The Cubs, with more payroll room, chasing a division title, and with a sucking void of uselessness starting at third, had more margin for error and more to gain if Ramirez continued playing well.
While the deal was a bit of a gamble, the implication that Hendry was somehow able to see something in Aramis that no one else could doesn't hold water.
Because of course groin injuries are things that lazy evil people intentionally get in order to cheese off good honest folk?
To who? The Tribune Company? It is to laugh. What was the precise caliber and model of gun that was pointed at the heads of Hendry and McPhail when they signed that contract?
And you are right, I was a little harsh on the injuries. The guy is a competitor. And who would get my pie in the sky refund? I guess until the Cubs become publically held, which I think is not permitted in MLB, that was a worthless thought.
What a good stock though, It would trade up regardless of internal woes or performance.
And left field is the hardest position to learn.
Yeah I think Hendry looked at the fact that Branyan in the OF would be an unmitigated disaster.
John Mabry?
He didn't crater, he got hurt. He sprained his ankle badly in a beanball brawl with the Brewers early in the season. Under pressure from ownership to start winning right away, Lloyd McClendon and Dave Littlefield insisted that Ramirez try to play through the injury rather than go on the DL for a couple months, which is what he needed. Every time I saw him play that year he looked like he had no business on the field, limping badly and looking totally off balance at the plate. His hitting tanked and his approach got severely screwed up. It took him a year to start coming out of it, which he was doing by the time of the trade. The Pirates didn't trade him for any reason related to performance, they did it to alleviate a cash panic that had them under a tight, bank-imposed deadline to cut payroll.
Actually, Branyan is a pretty competent 3B.
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