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Ryan Theriot—a Modern-Day Max Flack?
On Memorial Day, 1922, the Cubs and Cardinals completed a trade between games of a split doubleheader. After playing for their respective teams in the morning game, Cubs outfielder Max Flack and Cards OF Cliff Heathcote were traded for one another. Each man played for his new team in the afternoon.
The Cubs and Rockies have no doubleheaders scheduled this weekend, but in line with rumors that have been coming out of Chicago the past couple days, the Denver Post is reporting that Ryan Theriot may begin the weekend series as a Cub and end it as a member of the Rockies.
Theriot, 30, wouldn't figure to be just a pennant-stretch stopgap at second base. He's a career .287 hitter who would provide the Rockies with a much-needed threat on the bases. He stole 71 bases from 2007-09 and is on pace for 26 this year.
Theriot lost in arbitration to the Cubs last winter, settling for $2.6 million instead of the $3.4 million he requested. He could be in line to make $4 million-plus next season.
(Regular Colorado 2B Clint) Barmes is in a similar situation. His future as the Rockies' second baseman is cloudy because he's arbitration eligible. He's making $3.35 million this season and could jump to about $5 million next year.
Neither Theriot or Barmes is a world-beater at the plate. Theriot is currently hitting .281/.318/.385, and Barmes is at .249/.315/.385. Remarkably, the two players have the same, sad lifetime OPS—712, though Barmes has had the advantage of playing in Denver's hitter-friendly altitude.
(Had to laugh at the reference to Theriot as "a much-needed threat on the bases." Anyone who has watched the damage he has done on the bases to the Cubs would have to ask, "Threat to whom?")
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