Tag: christian villanueva

Cubs “shifting gears” because we have to

According to Paul Sullivan, the Cubs are going to shift gears with regards to what they're doing at 3rd base. You're not alone if that doesn't make any sense.

About 10 days ago this article was published on ESPN by Doug Padilla: Cubs' rebuild takes priority over hot hand

MILWAUKEE — The Chicago Cubs lineup Monday showed they are staying committed to their rebuilding project.

Despite the fact that Luis Valbuena was as hot as anybody during the just-concluded series at Cincinnati, rookie Josh Vitters was back in the lineup at third base for the series opener at Milwaukee.

Manager Dale Sveum could have simply reinserted the left-handed hitting Valbuena into the order since the Brewers had right-hander Mark Rogers on the mound, but decided against it.

“Valbuena got hot again and was really swinging the bat but my priority is still going to be getting Vitters quite a few at-bats,” Sveum said.

Since that article the Cubs have played 8 games. Josh Vitters has started 4 of them and Valbuena the other 4. What's particularly odd is that Sveum said his job was to get Vitters more at-bats and two days later he opted not to. And now 10 days later it appears they're going to "shift gears" and primarily play Luis fucking Valbuena over Vitters.

I was probably among the few after Vitters' call up that didn't mind he wasn't playing every day. The Cubs determined that he'd benefit more from being at the big league level than sticking around at the minor league level and that's good enough for me. I did assume Vitters would eventually get more playing time, but instead of that, he's getting less.

Here's what's being said today.

"I'll still mix and match," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said Thursday. "You might see Valbuena in there a little bit more. We're just giving Vitters some time to kick back here now and see what happens. You're trying to evaluate, but you're trying to win ballgames at the same time. We're having trouble scoring runs, period, so the at-bats — Valbuena is getting on base, he's swinging the bat well, playing good defense."

Sveum admitted it's a change from earlier.

"I have shifted gears a little that way, because we're not getting anything out of that position," Sveum said. "A guy who hasn't struck out much is striking out quite a bit and not making contact. We're just going to evaluate and keep plugging along to determine what do we have and moving forward and evaluating these guys in situations that hopefully they're going to succeed."

We can't just blame Dale Sveum for doing this. Sveum isn't doing anything without Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein's approval. What Sveum is doing is endorsed by the front office. This in itself is not all that surprising.

Even though Josh Vitters was going to be at AAA Iowa this year, the Cubs went out and took a chance on Ian Stewart who had multiple years of club control. The Cubs wanted to acquire a 3rd basemen at the trade deadline. They were looking for one who was more highly thought of than Christian Villanueva who the Cubs acqured from the Rangers along with Kyle Hendricks for Ryan Dempster.

The Cubs have had no problem getting rid of some of Jim Hendr's top picks. In the Ian Stewart trade, they shipped former 1st rounder Tyler Colvin to Colorado. They flipped Andrew Cashner for Anthony Rizzo. Hayden Simpson was playing for the US team in the Little League World Series.

Josh Vitters wasn't especially good at baseball prior to this season and in all likelihood still isn't very good. I have no idea what his numbers are to this point, but he's looked overmatched by big league pitching. Since Vitters is again relegated to the bench it's likely we'll not see Vitters as the 3rd basemen when the season begins. After all, Theo has gone on record many times saying that you can't learn much from spring training statistics. It's entirely possible the scouts rave about a transformed Vitters in the way they did with Jeff Samardzija, but two transformations would break baseball.

It will be interesting to see what the Cubs do this offseason at 3rd base. I had been assuming that Ian Stewart had played his final game as a Cub, but I'm not so sure now.

New Cub Christian Villanueva

The main piece aquired in the Ryan Dempster trade was 21 year old Christian Villanueva. Villanueva was signed as an international free agent out of Mexico by the Rangers in 2008 and just recently turned 21. He's played the entire season in High A. 

His first season in the US was in 2010 in the AZL. Over 210 plate appearances he hit .314/.365/.431. That was good for a .370 wOBA and 127 wRC+. He didn't show much power and hit just 2 home runs. His ISO was .117. He's only 5'11, 160 so he's not going to hit for a lot of power, but he has started to hit for some power.

Promoted to A ball in 2011 he continued to hit the ball well. Over 529 PA he hit .278/.338/.465. His wOBA was .365 and wRC+ was 122. He hit 17 home runs and posted a .186 ISO. 

Following the increased power, Baseball America ranked him 9th in the Rangers organization and 100th among all prospects. Their scouting report entered the season said this:

Scouting Report:  Villanueva has a short, compact swing with a balanced load and good bat control. He has an advanced approach at the plate, though he can get pull-happy at times. There are mixed opinions on his power, as he presently has line-drive sock but some scouts see at least average potential. He doesn't project as a basestealer, but he has sneaky quickness and instincts that allowed him to swipe 32 bases last year. Villanueva is equally as impressive at third base as Mike Olt. A plus defender, Villanueva has soft hands and easy actions. Despite average speed, he has a solid range thanks to his first-step quickness and instincts. He has above-average arm with good carry and accuracy. 

The Future:  Scouts compare Villanueva with countryman Vinny Castilla. With Adrian Beltre in Texas and Olt ahead of him in the system, Villanueva spent time during instructional league at second base, where there would be reduced pressure on his bat. He'll play in high Class A in 2012.

With the exception of his defense, he doesn't stand out in any one area. He's a solid hitter and has some power and some speed. He definitely has the glove to make up for whatever offensive deficiencies he may have. His walk rate is one area to watch. It's down below 6% this year after being a mediocre 7% last year. However, he does make up for what might be a lack of patience by getting hit by a shitload of pitches. He was hit 12 times last season and he's already been hit 20 times this year. It's led to his OBP being a 70 points higher than average, which is good. 

After the trade, BA wrote this about Villanueva:

The Rangers are loaded at third base with Adrian Beltre in the majors and stud prospect Mike Olt in the minors, which made the well-regarded Villanueva expendable. Signed out of Mexico, he ranked No. 100 on our Top 100 Prospects list entering the season. Villanueva has a broad base of tools that include a solid bat, potential average power, fringe to average speed with good instincts on the bases and standout defense with soft hands and a strong arm at third base. He's just 21 and in high Class A, so he still needs time to develop. He'll have to tighten his strike zone, and some scouts question if he'll grow into enough power to be a big league regular at third base.

Josh Vitters is really the only Cubs 3B prospect that's anywhere close to being ready so this is a nice addition. As far as I know, there's been no word on where any of the prospects the Cubs acquired will be sent, but I haven't spent a great deal of time looking around for that either. 

You can check out this nice article about Villanueva over at Fangraphs too. 

New Cub Kyle Hendricks

Minutes before the deadline yesterday the Cubs matched up with the Rangers for the second time in less than 24 hours as they traded Ryan Dempster. In the trade the Cubs acquired Kyle Hendricks and Christian Villanueva. MILB.com lists the 22 year old right handed Hendricks at 6'3", 190 lbs. He's been described as the throw-in, but he has very impressive numbers.

Hendricks wasn't highly thought of in high school or in college. He was undrafted out of high school and went to Dartmouth. An econ major at an Ivy League school, perhaps he'll advice the Ricketts family on why they should pay for the renovation to Wrigley themselves, but I won't hold my breath. He ended up being selected near the bottom of the 2011 draft (39th round), but took to professional ball with ease. 

Other than 1 appearance and 3 innings at AA Frisco last season, he spent the rest of the season in A ball. In 35.2 total innings last year, he allowed just 24 hits, walked only 6 and struckout 38. His ERA was 2.02 and his FIP even better at around 1.5. 

The strikeouts were misleading. Hendricks is not a strikeout pitcher. He sits in the 87 to 89 mph range and can get it up into the very low 90s on occasion. Since he was a college pitcher and those numbers were in A ball they had to be taken with a grain of salt, but he's been equally impressive at the higher level (High A) this season. Baseball America mentioned recently that he had made a couple changes entering this season.

Since then, he’s made two changes and he’s again one of the best performers in his league, having spent the entire season with high Class A Myrtle Beach in the Carolina League.

“I changed my mechanics a little bit at the very beginning of the year, trying to get more directional and trying to get everything going towards home plate,” Hendricks said. “And then other than that, I’ve been working with the pitching coach just on pitch sequences, learning the hitters and just watching and learning from the swings they take on certain pitches so that I can make adjustments on the mound as you go and really thinking while you’re out there instead of just throwing.”

He also added a cutter and in his first full season as a professional he's continued to get impressive results. He's struckout fewer this year, which is no surprise considering the lack of velocity, but the guy throws a ton of strikes. His K/BB ratio in 130.2 innings this year is a ridiculous 112/15. He has hit 6 batters, but still, that's just 112/21. You know how many times over the years I've wanted to have a pitcher with that kind of control on the mound? He's struckout nearly 22% of the batters this year, which is actually pretty good and walked under 3%. 

Through his first 166 innings as a professional you have to be happy. He might run into trouble in the higher minors when his strikeout rate drops. A lot of analysts seem to think that's likely. His strikeout rate will drop, but I'm thinking if the guy can walk 3% of the batters he faces he's going to reach the big leagues in some capacity. Time will tell if it's a starter or a reliever, but right now he's pitching well. You figure out what to do later on if the results start getting too bad. 

Baseball America wrote this about the Dempster trade yesterday.

Hendricks has had a fine season with Myrtle Beach, as detailed in a recent BA Prospects Blog post. He throws an upper-80s two-seam fastball, a four-seamer that bumps 92 mph and mid-80s cutter to go with a curveball, slider and changeup. None of the pitches grades as plus, but he has feel for his craft and for the strike zone. He ranked second in the Carolina League in ERA, WHIP and innings as well as third in strikeouts, while leading the league in walk ratio (1.0 per nine innings). At a listed 6-foot-2, 165 pounds, he has room to get bigger and stronger.

I mentioned earlier that he was listed by milb.com at 6'3", 190, but Baseball Reference does list him the same as they point out there. Fangraphs also lists him at 6'3", 190. 

We'll look at the centerpiece of this trade tomorrow. 

Cubs acquired 2 of top 10 prospects moved at the deadline

According to Baseball America, the Cubs acquired 2 of the top 10 prospects moved at or near the trade deadline. 

3. Arodys Vizcaino, rhp, Cubs. Chicago has very little advanced young pitching, so it was willing to take the sidelined Vizcaino and throw-in Jaye Chapman from the Braves in exchange for Paul Maholm and Reed Johnson. Considered untouchable a year ago, Vizcaino had a mid-90s fastball and sharp curveball before blowing out his elbow this spring. If he's not durable enough to start, he has the stuff to close.

5. Christian Villanueva, 3b, Cubs. For Ryan Dempster, Chicago got Villanueva and righthander Kyle Hendricks from the Rangers. Stuck behind Adrian Beltre and Mike Olt in Texas, Villanueva has a broad base of tools: solid bat, potential average power, average baserunning, soft hands, strong arm.

 

Rangers Acquire Ryan Dempster (Cubs get Christian Villanueva and Kyle Hendricks) ***UPDATED***

Will add more about Ryan Dempster once it's officially official.

Others hearing the same thing

CSN Chicago is confirming the trade though the return is still unknown. 

Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Cubs will acquire two pitchers. 

The Cubs received Kyle Hendricks, RHP, and Christian Villanueva, 3B, in exchange for Dempster according to sources.