Sweeney up, Sappelt down

In Transactions by myles16 Comments

From cubs.com:

The Cubs are expected to call up outfielder Ryan Sweeney from Triple-A Iowa and option Dave Sappelt to the Minor Leagues on Monday.

This is an interesting move. On one hand, Sweeney is almost certainly the better baseball player at this point. Sappelt just hasn't really made an impact at the major league level, for one reason or another. Additionally, this allows Sappelt to play every day, which might actually help him in the long run (I care less about Sweeney playing every day; his development is just about over). The interesting wrinkle, though, is that Sweeney and DeJesus are both left-handed (Sappelt is a rightie). Sveum has aggressively platoon players this season and it's worked well for DeJesus hiding from lefties. That's no longer on option (though Sappelt was floundering against lefties worse than DeJesus likely would've).

The upshot is that DeJesus will probably see a significantly higher number of left-handers than he was before, and slightly less righthanders. Sweeney is more of an "every 4th or 5th start, first PH off the bench" type. In that role, he could have some real value. He could also draw the occasional relief start in the corners. 

Sappelt had options, so we don't lose him. He's 26, so he's not young anymore, but I think he's still got the talent level of a solid 4th OF. Sweeney already is one.

It's worth thinking about who on the 40-man roster is expendable (and the 25-man, too). I can easily eliminate 3 pitchers (Camp, Loe, Rusin) and not lose anything (I'm not sure any of the three would even be claimed), and you can throw in Rondon if you like. The only other 2 guys I could easily lose are Ian Stewart and Julio Borbon. Stewart is broken, and Borbon is replacement-level incarnate, maybe a hair above. At least three of those sports will need to be filled when Vizcaino, Baker, and Clevenger return.

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  1. WaLi

    Marmol pisses me off.

    On one hand he has played phenomenal at times. He was great the 2nd half last year. When he is on, he is on. He has also only had one season with an ERA+ below 100 (admittedly, I’m not sure what a good stat is to measure reliever performance).

    On the other hand, he had an extremely shitty start to last season and this season so far. He was pretty shitty in 2011 too. I feel like when he gets squeezed (as we saw two days ago) he really beings to lose it. And then the fans start booing him as soon as he gives up a walk or a hit, and all bets are off. There really seems to be something off with his confidence. He doesn’t have the mental fortitude or the WILL TO WIN (for shitty teams).

    With all that said, I hope he never closes for the Cubs again. He can’t be sent down to the minors and he can’t be traded. I guess the best we can hope for is to pitch him in low leverage situations.

    Unfortunately though, he is still one of the best relievers on the team.

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  16. josh

    @ dmick89:
    I’d even prefer to do it where you only have to abide by that rule on a per inning basis. Send your best three hitters out every inning. Make the game more exciting. It would probably mean there would be a class of pure defense players like Barney that would be on every team.

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