Other transformed Cubs

In Commentary And Analysis by dmick89129 Comments

With Jeff Samardzija's "transformation" I thought it would be fun to find other Cubs player who have transformed this spring.

Joe Mather: With a .412/.455/.745 batting line through today, he's established himself as a completely different ballplayer. We know this because he's had 55 plate appearances and that's absolutely enough to know whether or not a transformation has taken place. Some of you are saying right now that he has a career .228/.283/.384 line so we should be cautious. Fuck. That. Now is a time to be optimistic about this young stud the Cubs have for the middle of the order for years to come.

Blake DeWitt: .289/.373/.422. With 51 plate appearance we can safely say there is a 100% chance that DeWitt is now an on-base machine. The type of hitter that the more intelligent teams put atop their batting order so the big guys like Mather can knock them in. Forget about DeWitt's .329 career OBP. That's in the past. New player.

Darwin Barney: He's slugged .639 and has an OPS over 1.000 and while the sample isn't quite as reliable as 50 PA, he's still come to the plate a whopping 40 times. We can see the top of the order taking shape for the Cubs of the future. DeWitt and his on-base skills leading off with Joe Mater and Darwin Barney hitting in the middle of the order. It's gonna be rough on pitchers with all these transformations going on.

Alfredo Amezaga: best Cubs number 2 hitter since Ryne Sandberg. That's what we'll remember Amezaga for. In 40 spring PA he's batted .306/.375/.361. He's young so he should slug more in about 5 or 7 more years. Still, that .375 OBP will fit nicely in the 2-hole and can leadoff when DeWitt is getting the day off.

Rodrigo Lopez: No pitcher in Cubs camp who started more than 1 game held hitters to a lower batting average than Lopez's .213. Among all pitchers who started a game only Randy Wells help opponents to a lower batting average, but he started only 1 game. Paul Mahol, Chris Volstad and Randy Wells were the only 3 who started a game who had a lower ERA than Lopez. We know this is for real because he's thrown 16+ innings.

Transformations don't always work in a way that leads to better production. Take Starlin Castro for example. He's transformed himself into a batter with a .283 OBP. That's in 60 plate appearances so you definitely don't need more information than that. Safe to say, Starlin Castro is the new Alfonso Soriano with less power.

David DeJesus. The following players have a higher slugging percentage than DeJesus's OPS: there's too many to list. Seriously. DeJesus has a sub .600 OPS in a league that has an average OPS of 27.000.

Matt Garza: he allowed 27 baserunners in 16 innings of work. I'd say he's probably going to struggle to remain in the rotation, but then I thought about the rest of the rotation.

There have been other transformations, but none worth commenting on.

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Comments

  1. Mercurial Outfielder

    (dying laughing), well done.

    On a serious note, didn’t Amezaga have some otherwordly streak to start the season a couple years back?

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  4. Pezcore

    Makes Suggestion that mistake was not trying to option Wells/Volstead –> Chicago Options Randy Wells

    Any word on if Fat Tony Campana makes the team? I’m the one guy who bravely chose that he would hit exactly one outside-the-park home run due apparent steriod use. But apparently he instead ate too much McDonalds.

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  11. Berselius

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:

    There’s a thread about this over at Tango’s blog. Tango said something in the comments that always greatly pisses me off, namely, referencing Canada while asserting that all Canadians shit rainbows and are inherently better than everyone. Drives me fucking nuts, and I love Canada.

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  12. Mercurial Outfielder

    Hrm. Not Amezaga, but he does have a weird element to his splits: his July numbers are routinely very good.

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  16. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ josh:
    No, more like a gossip site. There’s a link in the post to the Rueters reporters tweet with the quote.

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  21. bubblesdachimp

    Matt (Chicago)

    Are you at least intrigued by the possibilities of Samardizja as a starter?
    Klaw (1:17 PM)

    Blog post filed. Yes, there’s potential.

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  22. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ bubblesdachimp:
    Matt (Chicago)

    Are you at least intrigued by the possibilities of Mercurial Outfielder as a GOP Presidential Candidate?
    Klaw (1:17 PM)

    Blog post filed. Yes, there’s potential.

    And it would be just as worth paying attention to.

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  24. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ jtsunami:
    I don’t think he sucks. I think he’s just a guy with a live fastball, ordinary secondary stuff, who lacks the ability to control his fastball enough to keep people honest. Maybe he has changed something significant. But like I said yesterday, we’ve got no reliable data set that indicates such is the case and the reliable data set we do have for him says that it isn’t very likely. Personally, I’d look to trade Marmol and groom F7 for the closer role. You want to limit F7’s innings, not maximize them.

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  33. mb21

    @ Berselius:
    From last year? I don’t get the sudden interest in small samples. I really don’t, but it’s not worth arguing about either. Maybe he’s change. Maybe not. But you know what? It ain’t going to do jack shit for the Cubs anyway because by the time they can contend he’ll be a free agent. So whatever. Play the best players. Don’t. Whatever.

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  35. mb21

    If SIERA is the metric to use, it still shows F7 is shittier than Wells.

    As I’ve said before, the only argument in favor of F7 in the rotation is this: maybe he’s changed. Anything else is either misusing stats or making shit up. I don’t like the decision, but I can’t argue with “maybe he’s changed.” Maybe Rick Santorum will start allowing kids to use pink bowling balls. Fuck knows.

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  37. Mercurial Outfielder

    I don’t mind the Cubs taking a flier on F7. The season is lost, the team is bad, might as well tke a shot. BUt don’t pretend that decision has any basis in F7’s career numbers, because they don’t back it up unless you get selective with your endpoints and completely ignore 90% of his peripheral numbers, and that includes his peripheral stats from the 50-60-inning sample the “F7 Is A New Pitcher” are hanging their hats on.

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  38. bubblesdachimp

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:

    The last paragraph gets to the heart of the matter

    Samardzija has been penciled into their rotation, at least to start the year, although I assume they’ll have to throttle his innings in the second half since he’s averaged just 114 innings a year in swing or relief roles over the last three seasons. And it makes sense for the Cubs to see if they have a starter here — they lack rotation depth and had the flexibility to send Wells and Wood to Triple-A while they see what Samardzjia can provide them. That said, I can’t go all in on Samardzija as a starter based on this look — there’s potential there, with a plus fastball and two secondary pitches you could project as above-average, but the command and feel, while far above where they were last year when he walked 5.1 men per nine innings, still aren’t at major-league starter level. It’s found money for the Cubs’ front office, though, and well worth the flier given the lack of pitching depth in the upper levels of their farm system.

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  39. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ bubblesdachimp:

    Thanks, Bubs.

    See, now that’s an argument for F7——-> rotation I can accept. Nice take by KLaw here. “Found money” is a nice way of putting it.

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  41. bubblesdachimp

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:

    No problem MO. Regardless of what the manager says if theo/Hoyer didnt agree with the decision he would have gone to the pen. They obviously are looking at this as a powerball ticket as well. While smartly not bullpenning wood and Wells. I have no problems with this move.

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  43. Mercurial Outfielder

    @ Berselius:
    Exactly. And like others have said here, the fact that Wood and Wells will both be getting starts at AAA rather than languishing in the ‘pen makes the move a lot more palatable.

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  52. josh

    @ bubblesdachimp:
    Pretty much the way I feel. Also, I’m really disliking spring training. I’ve never paid this much attention to it before, and I’m regretting it. Just wake me up when all this bullshit is settled, so I can let the Cubs happen to me.

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  83. WenningtonsGorillaCock

    mb21 wrote:

    2012 Cubs: Just let it happen

    We need images with that slogan. Now, please.

    2012 Cubs: (Sh)it’s Gonna Happen!

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  89. jtsunami

    Reliable poster at PSD says to look for Wells and Byrd to be traded. He hears the Indians are in on Byrd and Twins/others in on Wells. Not worth much, but could be an explanation why Campana hasn’t been sent down yet.

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  105. Mercurial Outfielder

    “It’s problematic,” Zimbalist said. “He was looking for some kind of ongoing income stream and he got it. Here’s a guy who borrowed practically all the money to buy the team for $430 million and now he’s selling it for $2.15 billion and he’s coming out with a healthy capital gain — it’s repulsive. This is someone who doesn’t deserve to walk away with a healthy profit after eight years of running the Dodgers in the most egregious, the most inefficient, the most self-interested, and the most vainglorious, idiotic way possible. It really is repulsive that he will still be making a profit in some way.”

    http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/7747848/economist-2b-los-angeles-dodgers-makes-no-sense

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  119. Rice Cube

    @ josh:
    I don’t think Alberto Cabrera is going to make the team. When the Padres scrubs made their comeback the Cubs starters were pretty much already out of the game. Their scrubs > our scrubs.

    @ Berselius:

    *sigh*

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