Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
I think they're on the verge of announcing the N.L. Rookie of the Year and Randy Wells was in the running for most of the season. Ultimately I don't think he'll get more than a few third place votes from the Chicago writers and I don't have much time to put together a full analysis, so I'm just going to lazily look at WAR values over at Fangraphs.
Randy Wells - 3.0
Garrett Jones - 2.6
J.A. Happ - 1.8
Chris Coghlan - 2.3
Andrew McCutchen - 3.4
Tommy Hanson - 2.6
Casey McGehee - 2.2
Colby Rasmus - 2.3
My guess is that it ends up Hanson, McCutchen, Happ by the voters and I would certainly encourage a more robust analysis than just WAR values, but there you have it. The Internet Baseball Awards voted Hanson the winner with Wells finishing 8th, for what it's worth.
On the AL side, Elvis Andrus and Rick Porcello seem to be getting the most press with Andrew Bailey also in the mix. Fangraphs has Andrus at 3.0 WAR, Porcello at 1.8 and Bailey at 2.4. Pitchers Jeff Niemann(3.2 WAR) and Brett Anderson(3.8 WAR) both surpass Porcello by WAR values but don't seem to be getting much hype. My guess is the voters give it to Porcello as most of Andrus's value came from his glove. Porcello got the nod at the Internet Baseball Awards.
Andrew Bailey wins the A.L. award with Andrus and Porcello finishing second and third. Chris Coghlan took the N.L. award. He was followed by Happ, Hanson, McCutchen, McGehee and then Wells finishing 6th.
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#1 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
Wow, no love for Beckham. Took over new position and played good.
#2 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
2.0 WAR fwiw...I ignore White Sox players on principle.
#30 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
WAR
What is it good for?
#31 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
absolutey nothing?
now say it again
#35 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
Huh!
Good God, y'all!
#36 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
lol
#3 Results
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091115&c...
Wells got one 2nd place vote...
#4 Cubs and ROY voting over the years
http://wiklifield.thecubreporter.com/Cubs_Rookie_o...
thanks to WISCGRAD for most of the work on that one...
#5 Re: Results
At least Wells can take consolation in the fact that he'll still be a major league player in five years when Coghlan is calling Matt Murton and asking why nobody wants to sign a corner outfielder with limited power and poor defense. Phooey.
#6 Re: Results
i barely know anything about Coghlan, but isn't he a 2B that played the outfield because of Uggla? His minor league numbers look interesting, although similar to Murton as you mention, contact guy, walks a lot, but not much home run power.
#7 Re: Coghlan
fwiw, Coghlan played 1 game in left field in the minors before playing for the Marlins. 246 at 2B and 42 at 3b, so I assume if they move Uggla, he may get his 2b job back.
#8 Re: Results
I didn't know that - I'll give him a pass on his defense if he was playing out of position. But his D numbers did look very bad in 2009. There's always room for improvement - if he spends more time in the cage and raises his average a little higher, maybe he can win a Gold Glove.
#9 Muskat's latest...
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20091116&c...
says Cubs and Tigres talked last week, Castro won't be moved, seems to think they'll tender Fontenot still, and some odd line that Byrd would be cheaper than Granderson next year. I guess when you account the cost of players to get Granderson, but I assume Byrd gets more than $5.5M next season.
#10 Re: Muskat's latest...
I doubt that the market for Marlon Byrd can be all that hot?
Unless his agent can get Jim Hendry to overpay by his normal overpayment methods, then I can see Marlon getting Reed Johnson 2009 type money.
1/3
2/6
Maybe a couple of million in possible incentives.
Forth Outfielders don't get 3/30's and 4/48's in most organizations.
#11 Re: Muskat's latest...
3/18 or 3/24 is what he's supposedly asking, my guess is they can maybe get him in the 2/12 to 2/15 range with a third year option....
They'd be signing him to be a starter off the free agent market, not as a platoon partner with less than 6 years service time, so he'll do better than Reed did in 2009. Byrd seems to be a better defender and can hit lefties and righties unlike Johnson.
Not that I'd sign him, but if his agent is worth a damn, he'll get much more than Johnson.
#12 Re: Muskat's latest...
Asking and getting are 2 seperate deals.
Bobby Abreu didn't set out to get 1/5 last offseason.
Everything we've heard so far is that teams are looking to slash money.
An astute GM would be able to fill any holes we have quite cost effectively, if they use the proper leverage.
Other GM's will pay stupid money to arbitration Loogys and whine to the media about "Tough breaks" and being on the "Right track".
#23 Re: Muskat's latest...
Grabow is not a loogy. Not really sure what you don't get about that.
#24 Re: Muskat's latest...
He sure as hell ain't Billy Wagner either.
spare part/Middle reliever point remains the same
Would you feel better if Jim Hendry was looking to overpay to keep Mike Remlinger circa 2004?
Hendry's job needs to be the counter point for the player agent. Maybe he is just too nice or too non-confrontational. He needs to work for the Cubs and their best interests. Not strive to be Buddy Buddy with Kerry Wood and Mark DeRosa on their ways out of town.
#28 Re: Muskat's latest...
There's a difference between a setup guy and a middle reliever. Name the last team that won it all without competent setup guys. Was Remlinger circa 2004 the same age as Grabow? Did he have the same number of K/9? Didn't he also have reverse splits?
I agree with the 2nd part of your post. Hendry needs to think about how the market is going to play out and correctly offer arbitration to the players who he wants to retain or he has no fear that they won't get signed by someone else. Wood was going to get signed last year - it may have cost Wood some money, but that's not Hendry's concern. The DeRosa bit doesn't make sense.
#29 Re: Muskat's latest...
grabow is still not a loogie. there's your daily update on that.
#13 Re: Muskat's latest...
Hendry has had a chubby for this guy for several years. His career year numbers are echos of another former Texas player that was a free agent last year. Suprisingly, Byrd batted only .244 against lefties. That does not fare well when you project Fukudome in right (.164 avg against lefties in '09), and Soriano in left (.184 average against lefties in '09). Reed Johnson may be considered just for plattoning. On the suprising side, Sam Fuld batted .303 last year in limited AB's against left handers and batted .318 in 107 minor league AB's last year.
#14 Re: Muskat's latest...
but no one would project those numbers versus lefties based off one year though...you're talking a little over 100 PA's maybe, that's like projecting a full season after one month.
Corey Patterson once hit lefties well for a season, you have to use a larger sample size. ESPN.com has 3 year splits which still wouldn't add to a full season, but a little better.
Byrd: 829 OPS vs righty, 798 vs lefty
Soriano: 861 vs 829
Fukudome (2 years): 789 vs 667(less than 200 AB's versus lefties)
#16 Re: Muskat's latest...
Agreed, sample size is thin. I would agree that Soriano's avg was due to a complete down year, but I think you would have to agree that Fukudome looks clueless against lefties. So, who becomes your fourth outfielder then if Bradley departs and Byrd enters?
#19 Re: Muskat's latest...
yeah Fukudome looks pretty lost versus lefties for the most part and they probably still want to platoon him, but finding a short side platoon shouldn't be that hard.
Fuld's career minor league splits don't show much of a discrepancy, .743 vs .788, so he's possibility
I wouldn't be against signing Byrd and Johnson for the right prices. Jake Fox might still be around. Jeff Baker has played a ittle outfield in his career, might be an option as well. Anyway, it should be a low priority on the offseason wish list
#20 Re: Muskat's latest...
If it was up to me the bench would look like
Jake Fox corner backup 1b/3b/rf/lf
Sam Fuld 5th outfielder, possible Kfuk platoon mate in CF
Blanco SS/2nd base backup
MLB minimum money catcher
Fontenot/Baker
#15 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
Had to share this one off of the Mailbag for Muskat:
Trade Roy Halladay for Bradley. Fukudome to right. Tyler Colvin in center. Wishful thinking?
-- Ryan P., Sioux Falls, S.D.
Not wishful, but very unlikely. The Blue Jays won't make that deal.
Someone should inform Ryan to limit his MLB 2k playing time on PS3.
#18 Re: Does Wells Deserve the Rookie of the Year?
nice response Muskat...
Not wishful, but very unlikely. The Blue Jays won't make that deal. .
in other words, wishful thinking Ryan.
#17 as for Byrd...
maybe he has a year like Bradley after leaving Texas or maybe he has a few years like DeRosa
I don't particularly like his walk rates myself, so as I said, i'd avoid him.
my guess is Hendry sees the nice RBI totals and numbers with RISP and thinks for some reason that's something to be counted on...
#21 Aw crap...
http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/soxnet/2009/11/rep...
3-way trade talk of Gonzalez, Konerko and Angels...
get on the phone Hendry and get Lee into that discussion...
#22 Re: Aw crap...
I am not claiming I know anything about the White Sox farm system, but you would think that with the Peavy trade and the Teahan trade, the Padres would be picking peanuts and raw players that are many years away from stepping onto a major league field. If this is the case, why wouldn't the Angels just trade straight up for Gonzalez? Kanerko is 34 (defensively challanged to be polite) and owed $12 million, while Gonzalez who just claimed a gold glove, in his prime (not to mention would thrive in the AL especially in Boston and NY during the playoffs) and owed $4.75 million with a club option for $5.5 million in 2011. I think that SD can get a lot more for him and the preliminary talks are just to try and get as many suitors involved to start a bidding war.
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