By my math there are spots locked up on the roster:
1. SP Carlos Zambrano
2. SP Rich Hill
3. SP Ted Lilly
4. RP Bob Howry
5. RP Scott Eyre
6. RP Carlos Marmol
7. RP Kerry Wood
8. RP Michael Wuertz
9. P Ryan Dempster
10. P Jason Marquis
11. P
12. UT
13. C Henry Blanco
14. C Geovany Soto
15. 1B Derrek Lee
16. 2B Mark DeRosa
17. SS Ryan Theriot
18. 3B Aramis Ramirez
19. PH Daryle Ward
20. LF Alfonso Soriano
21. CF
22. RF Kosuke Fukudome
23. OF Matt Murton
24. UT
26. UT
So there are basically two bench spots open, the starting center field position, one pitchers slot (could be SP or RP) and one spot that could be any position. The candidates are:
Felix Pie - CF
He's off to a great start this spring and had a very good season last year. The general consensus is that I strongly dislike Pie. That's not true, I just think his perceived trade value is greater than his actual value. He's clearly the best decision for the Cubs if they ignore Fukudome in center as a possibility. He'll win the job outright, I think.
Sam Fuld - CF
Sam Fuld is not very good option in my opinion. I'd like to believe that his minor league walk rates would translate to the majors, but it's not a very likely scenario. Sam Fuld compares favorably to Joey Gathright minus a lot of speed. Fuld's a tremendous defensive player and can be a useful spot starter at any spot in the outfield in a pinch because he won't kill you with his OBP. He's the centerfield version of Ryan Theriot. Joey Gathright has a career .400 OBP in the minors, but one of a paltry .333 in the Majors. He's walked a decent amount of time, but ML pitchers learned that he has two professional home runs and aren't afraid of him. Sam Fuld's very similar in that respect. His walk rate could and will probably evaporate. I think he's a great option for the fifth outfield spot. He'll break camp with the team.
Ronny Cedeno - SS
Ronny Cedeno will appear to be battling Alex Cintron and Mike Fontenot for what appears to be two open slots on the bench. He's got a leg up on Fontenot in that he can play shortstop and he's got a leg up on Cintron because he's on the 40 man roster. Ronny's the only pure shortstop even remotely close to making this team. It's unfortunate he's not going to get a chance to reclaim the shortstop position.
Alex Cintron - IF
Alex Cintron has bench experience, which is something managers value for some reason. He's a brick defensively though, so he's not all that great for a utility spot. He's a career .277/.315/.401 hitter which is serviceable for a back up middle infielder (it's not all that worse than Theriot). I think he'll make this team. I really do.
Mike Fontenot - IF
I think Fontenot is going to be the odd man out again. It's a shame he's never gotten a chance with this organization. He's been a .280/.370/.450 2B for a couple years now toiling around in the minor leagues. It's too bad the front office hasn't opened their eyes until recently. He's getting old already.
Pitchers later!
1. SP Carlos Zambrano
2. SP Rich Hill
3. SP Ted Lilly
4. RP Bob Howry
5. RP Scott Eyre
6. RP Carlos Marmol
7. RP Kerry Wood
8. RP Michael Wuertz
9. P Ryan Dempster
10. P Jason Marquis
11. P
12. UT
13. C Henry Blanco
14. C Geovany Soto
15. 1B Derrek Lee
16. 2B Mark DeRosa
17. SS Ryan Theriot
18. 3B Aramis Ramirez
19. PH Daryle Ward
20. LF Alfonso Soriano
21. CF
22. RF Kosuke Fukudome
23. OF Matt Murton
24. UT
26. UT
So there are basically two bench spots open, the starting center field position, one pitchers slot (could be SP or RP) and one spot that could be any position. The candidates are:
Felix Pie - CF
He's off to a great start this spring and had a very good season last year. The general consensus is that I strongly dislike Pie. That's not true, I just think his perceived trade value is greater than his actual value. He's clearly the best decision for the Cubs if they ignore Fukudome in center as a possibility. He'll win the job outright, I think.
Sam Fuld - CF
Sam Fuld is not very good option in my opinion. I'd like to believe that his minor league walk rates would translate to the majors, but it's not a very likely scenario. Sam Fuld compares favorably to Joey Gathright minus a lot of speed. Fuld's a tremendous defensive player and can be a useful spot starter at any spot in the outfield in a pinch because he won't kill you with his OBP. He's the centerfield version of Ryan Theriot. Joey Gathright has a career .400 OBP in the minors, but one of a paltry .333 in the Majors. He's walked a decent amount of time, but ML pitchers learned that he has two professional home runs and aren't afraid of him. Sam Fuld's very similar in that respect. His walk rate could and will probably evaporate. I think he's a great option for the fifth outfield spot. He'll break camp with the team.
Ronny Cedeno - SS
Ronny Cedeno will appear to be battling Alex Cintron and Mike Fontenot for what appears to be two open slots on the bench. He's got a leg up on Fontenot in that he can play shortstop and he's got a leg up on Cintron because he's on the 40 man roster. Ronny's the only pure shortstop even remotely close to making this team. It's unfortunate he's not going to get a chance to reclaim the shortstop position.
Alex Cintron - IF
Alex Cintron has bench experience, which is something managers value for some reason. He's a brick defensively though, so he's not all that great for a utility spot. He's a career .277/.315/.401 hitter which is serviceable for a back up middle infielder (it's not all that worse than Theriot). I think he'll make this team. I really do.
Mike Fontenot - IF
I think Fontenot is going to be the odd man out again. It's a shame he's never gotten a chance with this organization. He's been a .280/.370/.450 2B for a couple years now toiling around in the minor leagues. It's too bad the front office hasn't opened their eyes until recently. He's getting old already.
Pitchers later!
5 comments:
What do you think a realistic projection for Fontenot at the MLB level would be?
there is no reason that he shouldn't be able to perform at his overall line from 2007 .278/.336/.402. I think that's a minimum level of expected production. I'd expect something closer to .280/.350/.420.
Really, not all that different than Mark DeRosa.
Why do you think that Fuld's MiLB walk rates won't translate to MLB, but Fontenot's will? Fontenot has a little more pop I guess, but he's also proven over a larger sample(175 PA's of awful production after his hot start) he may not be a MLB caliber hitter.
Double digit power can go a long way in my opinion. To put it into perspective Fuld has hit many home runs in his professional career as Fontenot has in one season.
Also, Fuld has a lot more speed and this sometimes has an adverse effect on walk rate as pitchers are less willing to pitch around because of the base stealing threat.
Post a Comment