10-12-2009, 10:35 AM
I generally like Hendry and think he's done ok for the most part. That said, last off-season's work was particularly bad.
I'm going to steal from NSBB for this little nugget on Aaron Miles:
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Aaron Miles, signed for a 2 year, approx. $5 million deal... and promptly:
Hit about .100 points below his career numbers in Batting Average, On Base %, and Slugging.
Had the worst OPS of any player in the majors with at least 150 AB... .466. Of players with at least 100 AB, only Eric Bruntlett, Mike Aviles, and Eliezer Alfonzo had a worse OPS.
Posted a lower OPS than Zach Duke, Randy Wells, Chris Carpenter, Kyle Loshe, Russ Ortiz, Johan Santana, and Derek Lowe, just to name a few pitchers, none of whom are known to be "good hitting" pitchers.
But really, how much damage can a back up 2B really do? Well, with his 157 AB, the Cubs essentially played a quarter of the season with two pitchers in their line up. That's pretty crippling, wouldn't you agree? (Think Sean Marshall can play 2B? He posted a better OPS this year, and then Lou could do that cool lefty-righty switch off thing.)
I went back and checked Cubs teams going back to 1980 and, not only could I not find anyone with at least 150 AB who had had a worse season, I couldn't find anyone who was really even close. (Curtis Wilkerson in 1990 posted a .507... Special mention should go out to Doug Dascenzo, however, who posted a .428 in 139 AB in 1989.)
It may take more research to determine, but we may have been privileged to witness, not just the worst offensive season by a Cub in a generation, but perhaps the worst offensive performance by a Cub ever. (And, yes, I agree that "worst offensive" is redundant.)
Of course, best of all, he's under contract for next year!!!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He went onto research and found no one had a lower OBP with at least 150 ab from 1960 - 2008.
Beyond that, here are a few more moves Hendry made last year - to paraphrase from the original:
Traded Michael Wuertz for pocket change
Traded Cedeno and Pie for an older, more expensive, not as good version of Wuertz (Heilman)
Spent about $3 million to sign older, more expensive, not as good versions of Cedeno and Pie (Miles and Gaithright)?
Signed Bradley, known for his incredible ability to cause locker room chaos and be hurt to a 3 year deal at a rate significantly higher than the remaining big name available OF'ers.
Resigned Dempster to a 4yr/$52mil contract ($13 mil avg...we'll see)
Dropped Wood (understandable) and brought in Gregg
Signed Chad Fox, again.
I'm going to steal from NSBB for this little nugget on Aaron Miles:
<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Aaron Miles, signed for a 2 year, approx. $5 million deal... and promptly:
Hit about .100 points below his career numbers in Batting Average, On Base %, and Slugging.
Had the worst OPS of any player in the majors with at least 150 AB... .466. Of players with at least 100 AB, only Eric Bruntlett, Mike Aviles, and Eliezer Alfonzo had a worse OPS.
Posted a lower OPS than Zach Duke, Randy Wells, Chris Carpenter, Kyle Loshe, Russ Ortiz, Johan Santana, and Derek Lowe, just to name a few pitchers, none of whom are known to be "good hitting" pitchers.
But really, how much damage can a back up 2B really do? Well, with his 157 AB, the Cubs essentially played a quarter of the season with two pitchers in their line up. That's pretty crippling, wouldn't you agree? (Think Sean Marshall can play 2B? He posted a better OPS this year, and then Lou could do that cool lefty-righty switch off thing.)
I went back and checked Cubs teams going back to 1980 and, not only could I not find anyone with at least 150 AB who had had a worse season, I couldn't find anyone who was really even close. (Curtis Wilkerson in 1990 posted a .507... Special mention should go out to Doug Dascenzo, however, who posted a .428 in 139 AB in 1989.)
It may take more research to determine, but we may have been privileged to witness, not just the worst offensive season by a Cub in a generation, but perhaps the worst offensive performance by a Cub ever. (And, yes, I agree that "worst offensive" is redundant.)
Of course, best of all, he's under contract for next year!!!<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
He went onto research and found no one had a lower OBP with at least 150 ab from 1960 - 2008.
Beyond that, here are a few more moves Hendry made last year - to paraphrase from the original:
Traded Michael Wuertz for pocket change
Traded Cedeno and Pie for an older, more expensive, not as good version of Wuertz (Heilman)
Spent about $3 million to sign older, more expensive, not as good versions of Cedeno and Pie (Miles and Gaithright)?
Signed Bradley, known for his incredible ability to cause locker room chaos and be hurt to a 3 year deal at a rate significantly higher than the remaining big name available OF'ers.
Resigned Dempster to a 4yr/$52mil contract ($13 mil avg...we'll see)
Dropped Wood (understandable) and brought in Gregg
Signed Chad Fox, again.
I got nothin'.
Andy
Andy