09-22-2009, 12:17 AM
You guys who are crying about the good athlete comments are totally looking at this thing in black and white. You seem to imply that you think they will go for a guy like Gathright just because that naughty A word is used.
Why can't it be a Victorino type? Or Carl Crawford? Or a Mark DeRosa type (that's right, believe it or not the all powerful DeRosa is generally regarded as a good athlete)? Derrek Lee is one hell of an athlete, he moves around incredibly well for a guy his size. Why does it have to be a fast guy that sucks at baseball in your mind?
If we had a better athlete at shortstop, maybe we'd have someone with a bit more range to shore up our infield defense. Or a guy at the top of the order. That's right, having a fast guy at the top of the order isn't a bad thing.
Now, I know what you're getting at. I know you don't want Cubs brass to have tunnel vision on the whole athlete idea. Just think for a second though... you're reacting to one freaking comment. Chill out and see what we do.
On a related note, I would actually like to get a base stealing threat on this team for one reason alone... his name is Alfonso Soriano. We're stuck with the guy, we might as well make the best of the situation. If we can get a base stealer with PLATE DISCIPLINE, then we could stick him in front of Soriano and wait for the fastballs to come. I think it's completely unnecessary to pay Chone Figgins $10mil+ per year for that, but a base stealer would still be nice. Maybe Rajai Davis is a possibility. I know the guy has been a career backup up until this year, but he can take a walk and plays a pretty good center field. Maybe he's a late bloomer much like DeRosa? He'll take a trade to get, but I don't think it would take an arm and a leg.
BTW, I just noticed that Abreu had 29 steals this year. Didn't know he had it in him anymore to steal bases.
Why can't it be a Victorino type? Or Carl Crawford? Or a Mark DeRosa type (that's right, believe it or not the all powerful DeRosa is generally regarded as a good athlete)? Derrek Lee is one hell of an athlete, he moves around incredibly well for a guy his size. Why does it have to be a fast guy that sucks at baseball in your mind?
If we had a better athlete at shortstop, maybe we'd have someone with a bit more range to shore up our infield defense. Or a guy at the top of the order. That's right, having a fast guy at the top of the order isn't a bad thing.
Now, I know what you're getting at. I know you don't want Cubs brass to have tunnel vision on the whole athlete idea. Just think for a second though... you're reacting to one freaking comment. Chill out and see what we do.
On a related note, I would actually like to get a base stealing threat on this team for one reason alone... his name is Alfonso Soriano. We're stuck with the guy, we might as well make the best of the situation. If we can get a base stealer with PLATE DISCIPLINE, then we could stick him in front of Soriano and wait for the fastballs to come. I think it's completely unnecessary to pay Chone Figgins $10mil+ per year for that, but a base stealer would still be nice. Maybe Rajai Davis is a possibility. I know the guy has been a career backup up until this year, but he can take a walk and plays a pretty good center field. Maybe he's a late bloomer much like DeRosa? He'll take a trade to get, but I don't think it would take an arm and a leg.
BTW, I just noticed that Abreu had 29 steals this year. Didn't know he had it in him anymore to steal bases.