Notice: Trying to get property 'display_name' of non-object in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo/src/generators/schema/article.php on line 52
keyboard_arrow_uptop
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Team Audit | DT Cards | PECOTA Cards | Depth Chart

Acquired UT-R Ryan Freel for cash and a PTBNL; activated C-R John Buck from the 15-day DL; optioned INF-L Tug Hulett to Omaha (Triple-A). [7/6]

I guess if you have the Willie Bloomquist, why not take two? Becoming a foster home for the scrappy and position-less is at least an organizational identity of some sort. What Freel’s for should be answered in the outfield, which is just as well given his troubles staying healthy. Offensively, he’s not going to be much of an improvement on the agonies they’ve already been enduring with Jose Guillen‘s decrepitude, and while Mitch Maier‘s not hitting, I doubt they’re going to bump David DeJesus back into center field to make room for Ryan Freel. I figure if anyone’s out of luck, it’s either going to be third catcher Brayan Peña, who is out of options and might be claimable in a world where catching seems in particularly short supply of late, or it’s going to be one of the punchless shortstops, either Luis Hernandez or Tony Peña Jr. Arguing for it being one of the shortstops is that they’re taking Bloomquist seriously enough at short to start him in 16 of the last 30 games.

CHICAGO CUBS
Team Audit | DT Cards | PECOTA Cards | Depth Chart

Activated 3B-R Aramis Ramirez, OF-R Reed Johnson, and RHP Angel Guzman from the 15-day DL; optioned RHP Kevin Hart and OF-L Sam Fuld to Iowa (Triple-A); placed RHP David Patton on the 15-day DL (strained groin), retroactive to 7/5; traded UT-R Ryan Freel to the Royals for a PTBNL. [7/6]

Well, that actually worked out relatively neatly. So, the Cubs get Aramis Ramirez back, which is good on several levels, in that it places a plus defender back at third as well as the team’s leader in OBI percentage, as A-Ram was plating a remarkable (and unsustainable) 22.2 percent of his baserunners. That said, he also led the team in 2008, driving in 18.8 percent, a top 20 performance in the majors among hitters with at least 300 PA, which was an almost exact repeat of what he’d achieved in 2007; in 2006 he was in the top 20 again, but that time out it was while driving in 19.2 percent of his baserunners. You have to go back to 2005 to find him outside of the top 20; he was 24th, while driving in almost exactly 18 percent of men on base. He “missed” again in 2004, when he finished 23rd overall while plating 18.4 percent of those proverbial ducks on the pond. Now, I know that arguing that hitters are clutch isn’t really the fashion, but there does seem to be something here in terms of a repeatable skill, and while I’d still state that “clutch” is just an adjective we use to describe people who can hit for power, it’s also clear that A-Ram hasn’t run into a season like, say, Fred Lynn‘s 1988 season with the Orioles, when, before he was dealt to the Tigers, he somehow managed to drive in just 19 runners on base out of 204 while hitting 18 home runs on the season, or 9.3 percent. (On the other hand, once dealt to the Tigs, Lynn plated 18.8 percent of his men aboard.)

In the meantime, they’ve managed to keep Andres Blanco‘s glove for spot defense up the middle, and the bench is loaded with bats with power with Jake Fox, Micah Hoffpauir, and Jeff Baker (against lefties). Baker makes an interesting potential platoon partner with Mike Fontenot at second that might help buy back some of the over-exposure Fontenot seems to have suffered from as an everyday player, while Hoffpauir and Fox have the sort of power to make a case for why the Cubs should petition for a quick move to the DH league. They might seem short of outfielders, but Baker’s useful there as well, and Fox and Hoffpauir will stand in the corners they’re told to, and with Milton Bradley‘s capacity for one form of combustion or another, that sort of bench strength will come into play often enough. Whether or not Alfonso Soriano‘s hitting well enough to start ahead of Fox or Hoffpauir, let alone whether he should be starting ahead of a Fontenaker platoon at the keystone, is a subject for another day. Admittedly, they do only have Kosuke Fukudome as far as a legitimate center fielder; Reed Johnson’s still just a guy mistaken for one. But here again, I’d find hard to accept an argument that they’re leaning too heavily on offense when they do still rank fourth in the majors in Defensive Efficiency, and second in PADE, and they are still carrying Blanco, a defense-only reserve for the middle infielders.

Oh hallelujah and joy, a team has only 11 pitchers! Moving Hart and retaining Jeff Samarzija makes plenty of sense in this alignment, because with Rich Harden becoming a cause for concern and going with a “short” staff, beyond their late-game trio of Carlos Marmol, Kevin Gregg, and Guzman, they’re better off with guys like Samardzija or Aaron Heilman or Sean Marshall, all of whom have been starting pitchers and go multiple innings. Of course, Marmol, Gregg, and Guzman are all former starters as well, and to Piniella’s credit, he’s proven willing to let Gregg and Guzman throw multiple innings some days. He’s gone the other direction with Marmol, spreading his best reliever thin by working him in 43 games, one shy of the league lead. It’s an interesting way to manage a pen, but also one that’s made possible by doing without any stunted, overbred, situationally precarious specialists.

Thank you for reading

This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment.

Subscribe now
You need to be logged in to comment. Login or Subscribe
strupp
7/07
I wish we could get more of this type of content from the beloved BP staff. KGs prospect updates are turning into a daily read, this is usually one of my favorite reads of the week and will only be moreso in mini form (when I can read on my phone at work). Joe's daily stuff was always thought provoking.

Please, more things like this and less ESPN stuff that just reads like watered down articles that are apoor imitation of the writing we're used to by most of the BP Staff.

Thank you CK.
sajl632
7/08
Wonderfully said, could not agree more!
chabels
7/07
This is a brilliant addition, really appreciate the way y'all have increased content even as you do more cross-branding stuff with ESPN.
kenfunck
7/07
Great stuff, and I hope you find the blog format liberating -- letting you drill really deep when you find it useful to do so (as with A-Ram here), but not a necessary requirement in every post.
ckahrl
7/07
Thank you Ken, definitely appreciated, and I think so. I have to admit that the sad news is that I won't be quite the completist I attempted (and too often failed) to be. I figure I'll have more fun cherry-picking the day-to-day stuff for posts--especially to keep up with the deadline flurry--and then carving out full-length pieces for more sober reflections on major trades or issues. At any rate, the Hairston deal's up, and in a bit I'll get to the Rangers and Red Sox, and later tonight from Wrigley I'll see what I think about DeRosa and other breaking (or broken) developments, and sort of keep rat-a-tat-tatting like that.
Wrigleyviller
7/07
Christina, I have to say, I've been reading your TA columns for a long time and I don't think I've ever read one as uniformly positive as your Cubbie writeup here (11 pitchers! Good long relievers! No situational relievers! A deep bench with power AND defense! Platooning! ARam is not only back, he's clutch!)

Not only that, but I didn't see even one snarky sentence on the "strained groin" fake DL stint for Rule 5 pick Patton.

I think you must really be happy with this new blogging format!
ckahrl
7/07
What can I say, I'm really impressed with the way the Cubs' roster's shaking out. Besides, snark's a stiletto best left in the boot to slip out on more suitable occasions, otherwise it gets dull from overuse. ;)
mattsey9
7/07
Top notch reporting. I enjoyed the article immensely.
beatolympics
7/07
my only complaint is that wrigley is spelled wrong in the title tag and header. otherwise real good stuff. things are looking up in cubbieland =)
werdnaq
7/09
I love the Cubs, and I love Kahrl's analysis here. Hope this new BP paid subscriber can expect more writing like this in future!
Lopecci
7/09
Looks like the Nats called Dukes back up. Why did they even send him down?