Vote for Cubs 2011 MVP and LVP

It's that time of year again, your chance to vote for the Cubs 2011 MVP and LVP.

2011 Cubs MVP

Click here if you're having issues with seeing the poll within the post.

Previous winners include:

  • 2010 - Carlos Marmol
  • 2009 - Derrek Lee
  • 2008 - Geovany Soto

WAR values come from Baseball Reference, ranking is for team of course, not the league.

 

Player Stats Notes
Castro 307/342/431 111 OPS+, 2.2 WAR 1st in BA, H, 2B, 3B, R + 2nd in SB, 4th in OBP
Garza 10-10, 3.20 ERA, 198 IP, 197 K, 118 ERA+, 2.5 WAR, 1st in ERA, W, K, WHIP + 2nd in IP for starters
Marshall 2.26 ERA, 5 SV, 34 HLDS, 173 ERA+, 2.5 WAR 1st in ERA, WHIP and HLDS
Ramirez 306/361/510 136 OPS+, 3.6 WAR
 1st in RBI, SLG + 2nd in BA, H, R, HR, OBP
Ricketts   Fired Hendry, spent a lot on the draft

2011 Cubs LVP

Click here if you're having issues with the poll within the post. Previous losers were:

  • 2010 - Lou Piniella
  • 2009 - Alfonso Soriano

Player Stats Notes
Jim Hendry   left team with little rotation depth, and lots of dead weight on contracts.
Carlos Marmol 2-6, 4.01 ERA, 34 SV, 10 BSV, 98 ERA+, 0.9 WAR blew league leading 10 Saves
Mike Quade   acted very confused, consistently...
Alfonso Soriano 244/289/469 104 OPS+, 1.4 WAR if you care to concentrate on the value portion of LVP, Soriano gave little bang for the buck
Carlos Zambrano 9-7, 4.82 ERA, 145.2 IP, 81 ERA+, 1.4 WAR similar to Soriano, money paid grossly overstated to  performance given. May have kicked a puppy.

I'll leave it open through the end of the week. Comments always appreciated.

Tags: 
Cubs MVP
Poll
Cubs LVP
Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 6:29pm
Return to Homepage

Comments

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 6:44pm

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 6:45pm

Garza lost 0.4 WAR for his hitting and Z gained 0.7 WAR for his hitting if that helps anything. The numbers above reflect that, but you may want to ignore it depending on your preferences.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 7:15pm

Definitely kicked a puppy.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 7:18pm

sportswriters like to smoke fat rocks in BOS, too...

"According to Jon Heyman of SI.com, Bobby Valentine is not a candidate for the Red Sox managerial opening."

...evidently the other hot "okay, really?" name popular in their press is joe torre.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 7:24pm

Wasn't Earl Weaver available?

Submitted by Charlie
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 8:31pm

Really, people? Zambrano? He would've probably outproduced Soriano in WAR if management hadn't sent him home, and it's Hendry and Rickett's that screwed the pooch by locking themselves into a "he's not coming back" position.

(I also suspect Zambrano could've outproduced Soriano at the plate and in the field given the chance.)

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 11:38pm

I'm slightly more appalled by Quade over Hendry right now, who the fuck do people think hired Quade? It's not like year 4 of the Q-Ball era or anything.

Submitted by 10man
on Mon, 10/03/2011 - 11:49pm

i say bring Z back as our new starting 1B. think about it...

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 12:06am

if I were to rank..

MVP
1. Castro
2. Garza
3. Ramirez
4. Marshall
5. Ricketts

LVP
1. Hendry
2. Z
3. Marmol
4. Soriano
5. Quade

Submitted by The E-Man
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 8:36am

AZ PHIL: What was the deal with Al Albequerque, again?

Did the Cubs trade him to the Rox in some phantom deal, or was he not designated for the 40-man ever?

I recall you discussing his arm on occasion, and had seen him on your various AFL lists, etc.

I am happy for his success this year with the Tigers, and just was curious what it took for his light to get switched on. Or, did we blow it on another prospect?

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 8:54am

traded to Rockies for Jeff Baker, 6-yr minor league free agent that was then signed by Tigers.

http://www.thecubreporter.com/just-how-fast-w...

did have shoulder surgery in 2008

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2008/09/27/cubs...

Submitted by Arizona Phil
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 10:19am

After being traded to the Rockies for Jeff Baker in July 2009, Alberto Alburquerque was added to the Rockies 40-man roster post-2009, was outrighted in May 2010 (nobody claimed him off waivers - anybody could have), and then he became an MLB Rule 55 Six-Year Minor League FA post-2010 (again, available for anybody who wanted him) and he signed a minor league contract with the Tigers with an NRI to Spring Training.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 12:26pm

Thanks, gents.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 5:54pm

Alburquerque had good numbers at Daytona in 2009. He was on my radar because his high strikeouts and low hits-allowed (44/26 in 34.2 innings) fed into my Marmol index. If I remember correctly, I squawked a little on TCR when he was traded.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 5:59pm

you also squawked when Sam Fuld and Tony Thomas were traded.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 12:47pm

I don't know why but people are always accusing me of liking Sam Fuld. Fuld was the last thing in my thoughts when he went in the Garza deal. It was only when Fernando Perez washed out and Fukudome slid into the leadoff spot that I thought, and said out loud, that we always had Fuld for this situation and it was odd timing to have traded him now along with Guyer, someone else who could have led off.

Tony Thomas: you got me there. I did grow to like him after 2010--as did the Red Sox. Second basemen with speed and pop have two advantages over, say, Barney. But I've really gotten to like Coello and wouldn't trade him today for Thomas.

But that's a prospect for a prospect. I'd probably trade Garza today for Lee, Archer, Guyer and Chirinos, with or without Fuld. I'd certainly trade Baker for Alburquerque and Harden + Gaudin for Donaldson. With Donaldson's HR power (35 in last two seasons) and 38% caught-stealing pct., I think he would catch for the Cubs next season.

And of course I would trade Grabow and Gorzellany for Josh Harrison, who could play third next year.

So I generally favor squawking when they trade a nice prospect. Almost invariably, it's selling low.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 6:06pm

thread from the day of trade

http://www.thecubreporter.com/2009/07/02/when...

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 1:00pm

Well, it was in my blog then, September 10, 2009:

Alberto Alburquerque, by the way, was in my top ten when he was traded to Colorado for Jeff Baker. I take exception when I hear it said that the Cubs got Baker for nothing.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 1:20pm

no, you mention it in the thread that day.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 5:05pm

Yeah, I see it now.

He has an extraneous "r" in his name--Alburquerque. I spelled it right in my search but wrong in my comment.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 2:18pm

appears Castro will runaway with the MVP vote

Z and Q-Ball seem to be the LVP contenders

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 3:25pm

I liked Marmolaid for LVP, even more when I consider that he was the MVP last year.

Castro was the player most fun to watch, but since we're, in theory, supposed to be entertained by this mess, I guess that's a good criteria for him to win.

Submitted by Rob Richardson
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 3:33pm

Since there was no realistic chance that the Cubs were going to win in 2011, the only person whose actions mattered was Hendry. Sadly he was unable to turn good performances by ARam, Pena and others into young players via a trades.

Thus, in my opinion, Hendry is the only choice for LVP.

Submitted by The Real Neal
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 3:36pm

Remember he was "handcuffed" by his being fired, to some degree, and also AramRam didn't seem too excited about waiving his NTC.

If Pena nets us a 2nd supplemental pick, that's probably not going to be much worse than what we could have gotten for him.

Not to defend Hendry...

Submitted by Rob Richardson
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 3:42pm

Valid points, and as you note there is still time to correct the problem through draft pick compensation, but IMO the fact remains that Henry's failure to turn over the roster makes him the LVP.

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 3:54pm

Or the fact that it took Hendry several years of work to produce this shitty roster.

Submitted by Rob Richardson
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 4:00pm

I don't think Hendry's problem was creating a shitty roster, the roster did go to multiple playoffs. Hendry's problem is that he did not react fast enough when the window was closing to really clean house.

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 5:09pm

A roster that is good in 2008 is not necessarily good in 2011, and he had plenty of time in 2009 and 2010 to realize that and try to do something about it. This is a franchise that ought to be in contention most of the time, particularly in the NL Central--not in contention half the time and pure shit some of the time.

Submitted by Rob Richardson
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 5:20pm

Isn't that what I said?

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 6:12pm

Maybe, except you started by saying that you didn't think Hendry's problem was creating shitty roster, so that confused me. He created good rosters in 2007 and 2008 (and 2003 and 2004). But he created the shitty rosters in 2010 and 2011 as well.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 6:00pm

Rob has the MVPs right, but my LVPs are Byrd and DeWitt. I just hate those ugly swings. DeWitt is supposed to have been drafted for his swing but I just don't see it. When he hits the ball hard, it's a golf shot headed for the foul pole.

Not to sound like one of those villainous scouts in Moneyball . . .

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 6:06pm

dewitt was supposed to be hitting 20-25+ HR a year by now...meh. i wouldn't mind keeping him around another year.

Submitted by Cubster
on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 4:53pm

note Az Phil's post on the Baker for Alberquerque thread...#96:

As for Alberto Alburquerque, he has had arm problems (elbow and shoulder) for much of his carerer, but he's finlly healthy this season and was throwing in the mid-90's at Daytona.

I would compare him to Marcos Mateo (but Alburquerque has a better fastball), and as of right now, I would have rated Alburquerque as one of the Top 5 minor leaguers most-likely to get added to the Cubs 40-man roster post-2009 (along with Welington Castillo, Steve Clevenger, Tyler Colvin, and John Gaub).

---
Cubs have gotten mileage out of Baker, wasn't he Quade's favorite cleanup hitter vs leftys? ((facepalm))

2011 split vs LHP (.314/.349/.463/.812)

Submitted by Rob G.
on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 5:06pm

Baker's a perfectly reasonable short side platoon player bench guy, I'd say that's more valuable than your 4th or 5th reliever.

or at least on par

X
You may login with either your assigned username or your e-mail address.
The password field is case sensitive.
Loading