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Saturday, January 29, 2005 |
Hendry's Ball And Chain
Save us from the ball and chain,Even though the Cubs are semi-officially denying it, the Cubs' long association with Sammy Sosa looks about to end, and in the morning, we have a better idea of what they're getting in return.
Save us from the ball and chain,
Save us from the ball and chain,
oh yeah,
The diggers and the tower cranes,
The diggers and the tower cranes.
Don't want demolition,
Don't want your compensation,
It's not just bricks and mortar,
We are lambs to slaughter.
-- "Ball And Chain", Colin Moulding, XTC
| 2004 | 2005 PECOTA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | AB | Avg/OBP/SLG | VORP | Age | AB | Avg/OBP/SLG | VORP |
| Sammy Sosa | 478 | .253/.332/.517 | 27.9 | 36 | 385 | .259/.351/.513 | 25.3 |
| Jerry Hairston, Jr. | 287 | .303/.378/.397 | 13.8 | 28 | 298 | .274/.348/.376 | 12.8 |
The other two pickups weren't so enticing, either:
- RHP Dave Crouthers: Crouthers increased his ERA by over a full run in 2004, this in a fairly strong pitcher's league. Baseball America in its 2005 Top Ten Prospects list said of him that he tends to melt in pressure situations by stressing too much on the mound. The O's were thinking of converting him to relief before the 2005 season, and he was scheduled for a third trip through AA.
- Similarly, 2B Mike Fontenot doesn't look that exciting, either, and would once more suffer from the same problem he did in the O's system: being blocked by multiple candidates at second.
More on this from And Another Thing, who forwards extremely unreliable rumors that the Cubs may be pursuing Aubrey Huff (.297/.360/.493, .297/.363/.505 40.0 VORP projected) from Tampa Bay. Hendry, a genius? Man. I wouldn't want to be him at the press conference.
Update 2: Rotoworld passes on a Chicago Tribune story claiming the Cubs are about to sign former Dodger Jeromy Burnitz. As Throws Like A Girl put it, "Exactly what question are you asking if the answer is Jeromy Burnitz?"
Comments:
There is a simple reason Hendry is trading Sosa - Sammy's a clubhouse cancer. This is where statistical measurements fail but the real and observable effects are apparent.
With all due respect (it is your blog, i tread lightly and respectfully), maybe chemistry is an abstraction when it is not an excuse, but there is a reality of group dynamics - not one conveniently measured with a few tables to line up when one is thousands of miles away from the situation, but anecdotal evidence would indicate that the average group of people in a work situation will perform their jobs better if a toxic personality is removed from the group.
HF
With all due respect (it is your blog, i tread lightly and respectfully), maybe chemistry is an abstraction when it is not an excuse, but there is a reality of group dynamics - not one conveniently measured with a few tables to line up when one is thousands of miles away from the situation, but anecdotal evidence would indicate that the average group of people in a work situation will perform their jobs better if a toxic personality is removed from the group.
HF
# posted by 
: 1/29/2005 06:52:00 PM
: 1/29/2005 06:52:00 PM
Lloyd -- normally I don't believe in chemistry, but in this case I'm willing to make an exception. It's not so much chemistry, though, as outright insubordination; you don't just leave the park during a game, no matter how meaningless. He's paid a ton of money. Almost every observer watching the Cubs in the offseason was certain Hendry would move Sosa, and that became even more true when Hendry asked -- and received -- Sosa's agreement to waive his 2006 salary clause (in the event he was to be traded before his contract was up, he would get an automatic extra year at $16M). At that point, it becomes obvious that Sosa no longer wanted to play for the Cubs. Helen informs me that his image did not appear on any Cubs merchandise this year, nor was he used in any advertising or promotional campaigns. The club had clearly had enough, and whether you want to chalk that up to chemistry or not, they have the right to move a player like that. But this demands another question be answered: if you were going to move such a player, why make it so obvious?
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