Tag: ryan dempster

Player Behavior

I don't know how many times I've said I don't care about the players in any other way than their performance. Over the years I have stressed this so many times I've lost count. One of the reasons why I wrote each year about how good Carlos Zambrano has been in his career was to point out that all that matters to me is their performance. I don't care about the sideshow. 

That he alienated every teammate he had didn't bother me. It didn't affect my opinion of him because my opinion was always about what he could do on the field. The routine blow ups by Zambrano didn't bother me either. He's an emotional player, I said. I believed it and I still do. Even if he wasn't, I still wouldn't care. He threw teammates under the bus all the time. Didn't bother me. He fought with teammates. Didn't care. He quit on the Cubs. I'd have quit too if I played for the Cubs.

The performance of the player is the reason why we spent an entire day on Another Cubs Blog celebrating Sammy Sosa following the announcement of his retirement in 2009. It is at least why I thought it a good idea that perhaps the only Cubs blog still supporting Sosa do something anyway. I guess I can't speak for everyone else who helped out on what is probably my favorite day on that blog.

Sosa cheated in at least two different ways that we know of. He corked a bat and was caught. Who knows how many times he used it. He used steroids. He lied to people about the corked bat, steroids and lied through an interpreter to the US Congress. Like Zambrano, he pissed off every teammate he had, he quit on the team. I remember when Don Baylor was hired and Baylor was talking about how Sosa was going to be working harder than he had the last couple years. Clearly this was a problem, but one that didn't bother me. 

I wanted the Cubs to sign Milton Bradley because he was a damn good ballplayer prior to joining the Cubs. I didn't care about the theatrics for him just as I didn't for Zambrano. 

Let's say that Ryan Dempster flat out lied to Theo. He told them straight up he'd accept a trade to the Braves and then when it was completed called them up laughing his ass off because he was lying. I wouldn't care because it doesn't affect his ability to play.

I also wouldn't care because I've already decided it's OK to cheat in multiple ways, lie to the fans over and over, lie to the government, treat players like shit, quit on your team and be an inssuferable asshole that nobody in baseball wanted to be around. 

Dempster? He was known as a great teammate. Nobody ever questioned his work ethic and nobody has ever suggested he consistently lied about anything, cheated or quit on the team. I haven't heard anything about him being an asshole either. So even if he had plotted all along to lie to Theo in a way that would fuck them he's a fucking saint compared Sosa, Zambrano and Bradley. 

I can't defend the despicable Milton Bradley and the likes of Sosa and Zambrano and then pretend to give two shits about what happened with Dempster and the front office. Here's my only question and it is the only one that matters to me: did it affect Dempster's performance? 

These players owe the Cubs nothing beyond what they're being paid for. No employee owes his employer anything beyond what they're being paid for. No employer owes any employee anything they aren't paying for. 

I'm not saying this is for everyone. I'm just saying that I don't have the time, energy or patience to sift through the mountains of shit the sportswriters publish to figure out what's true and what isn't. I have no interest in this shit. I want the Cubs to be good. I don't want them to be the most honest, hard working, pleasant, team in baseball. If they are, great. It's just not the least bit important to me. I couldn't care less what any of these guys do off the field. 

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. 

Trade Deadline Rumors (Rangers acquired Dempster???, Russell, Garza, Camp, Baker, Webster, BJ Upton, Hope Monster, Buster Olney’s twitter account, Soriano staying put)

This was posted earlier. Updates will be added for the next few hours (scroll down).

According to Jon Heyman, Ryan Dempster has been traded to the Dodgers. More to come if it's confirmed.

Dodgers getting Dempster…..final dotting of i's and crossing of t's being worked on……

— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) July 31, 2012

Still no word on whether it's official or who may be coming to the Cubs, but I'm sure Dempster will be traded to the Dodgers at some point today. 

UPDATE 1: CBS Sports is reporting that the Cubs are still shopping Matt Garza. 

UPDATE 2: On twitter there are rumors that this could be a larger deal and some are suggesting James Russell could be included. 

If Dempster to Dodgers is multi-player package, James Russell might be another guy on the move.

— Kevin Goldstein (@Kevin_Goldstein) July 31, 2012

UPDATE 3: George Offman confirms the deal is close and includes more than just Dempster.

UPDATE 4: Phil Rogers reportedly said on MLB Network that the Cubs really want Allen Webster.

UPDATE 5: Phil Rogers, who is normally full of shit, suggests that not only Dempster and Russell, but Shawn Camp, Jeff Baker and maybe even prospects could be included)

UPDATE 6: Kevin Goldstein tweets that the Cubs really want Webster and are trying to add to the package to get him.

UPDATE 7: Jayson Stark said that it looked like Garza would be traded today. Nick Cafardo agrees.

UPDATE 8: Buster Olney says the Diamondbacks are working hard to acquire an ace and that a Justin Upton and Matt Garza trade makes some sense. Holy shit. 

Justin Upton does have the Cubs on his no-trade list so there's that issue to work out. 

UPDATE 9: Yankees are talking to the Cubs, but no financials have been discussed and the Cubs would have to send money. 

UPDATE: 10: Dodgers are looking at other pitchers than Dempster.

UPDATE 11: Bruce Levine tweets that Dempster told him he'd accept a trade to the Yankees and Rangers along with the Dodgers.

Cubs are reportedly talking with one other team besides the Dodgers.

UPDATE 12: Who flinches first? Dodgers or Cubs? I'm going with Cubs. 

UPDATE 13: Muskat says that Casey Coleman maybe in the clubhouse warming up in case Dempster is traded. He might be. He might not be. It could go either way.

UPDATE 14: Alfonso Soriano is desperate to get out of Chicago. Here's what MLBTR has on him today:

Alfonso Soriano has provided the Cubs with a list of teams to which he would accept a trade, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports (on Twitter). The Giants aren’t on it. Soriano was interested in waiving his no-trade clause to join the Dodgers, Ken Davidoff of the New York Post reports (on Twitter). However, the Shane Victorinotrade likely reduces Los Angeles' interest in Soriano.

Now you know. 

UPDATE 15: There's just a little over 1 hour until the deadline. We might hear about a completed deal after the deadline, but we should know everything within 90 minutes. 

UPDATE 16: One of my favorite blogs, RLYW, briefly talks about Dempster and he doesn't see any need for the Yankees to acquire him. 

I don’t see Dempster filling a need, but it doesn’t hurt the Yankees to pretend they’re involved if only to make the price for Texas a bit steeper.  Anyway, I think Dempster is a non-issue but we can use this entry for general trade deadline discussion.

SG is a pretty smart guy and I imagine a lot of Yankees fans feel this way. 

UPDATE 17: Nothing new, which really isn't an update, but what the hell?

UPDATE 18: Kaplan says the Cubs have several balls in the air. 

UPDATE 19: Cubs and Tigers are trying to work out a deal for Soriano, but it's unlikely to happen today. A trade is August is possible.

UPDATE 20: It appears the Dodgers are out on Dempster, which would leave only the Yankees.

UPDATE 21: Soriano is staying put for at least this week.

UPDATE 22: Heyman says the Yankees may have acquired Dempster. They may not have too. 

UPDATE 23: Heyman says that Buster Olney says that the Rangers acquired Dempster.

Dempster traded to Dodgers, James Russell included? Cubs still shopping Garza ***UPDATED***

According to Jon Heyman, Ryan Dempster has been traded to the Dodgers. More to come if it's confirmed.

Still no word on whether it's official or who may be coming to the Cubs, but I'm sure Dempster will be traded to the Dodgers at some point today. 

UPDATE 1: CBS Sports is reporting that the Cubs are still shopping Matt Garza. 

UPDATE 2: On twitter there are rumors that this could be a larger deal and some are suggesting James Russell could be included. 

UPDATE 3: George Offman confirms the deal is close and includes more than just Dempster.

UPDATE 4: Phil Rogers reportedly said on MLB Network that the Cubs really want Allen Webster.

Podcasting the Cubs

Before gallivanting off to the hinterlands of Molina-esque interwebs, Berselius recorded a podcast with longtime reader, sometime commenter sitrick2. We talked the Cubs for about an hour, including talk of prospects, the Dempster situation based on what we knew on Tuesday (not much), and The Future. We also talked some Breaking Bad, Parks and Rec, and other TV stuff to close out the podcast.

Why the Cubs will trade Ryan Dempster for whatever they can get

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I'm sure everyone is as tired of the Ryan Dempster Saga as I am, but all along I had been assuming offering him arbitration at the end of the season was a no-brainer for the Cubs. If they can't get at least something decent in return, they could offer arbitration and would receive a supplemental pick in next year's draft if he declined. I had also assumed Dempster would decline, which would then net them the pick next year. More importantly than the pick, it would give the Cubs some additional money to play with in the draft to spend how they saw fit.

While I assumed Dempster would decline the arbitration because a bigger deal would be available, the possibility of declining it wasn't a bad situation to be in. The Cubs would get Dempster under contract for about $12 million or so. He's worth that and depending on the value of the win, he's probably more than worth $12 million next season. There was no risk in offering him arbitration so it was a no-brainer.

Upon further thought, I no longer believe the Cubs will offer arbitration. The Cubs won't be contending next year, but it's not like they have a lot of pitching talent to take the ball every 5th day. That was one reason why I figured they'd be fine with him accepting the deal. However, the Cubs will find themselves in this very same situation this time next year.

Dempster, if he returned next year, would maintain his 10 and 5 rights, which allows him to veto any trade. Since the Cubs won't be contending, they would undoubtedly be looking to shop him at the deadline and having had troubles with the process once before, the Cubs are highly unlikely to put themselves in the same situation a year from now. This leaves only one option: trading him.

The more I've thought about this, I believe that was the only option from the start, which further decreased any leverage the Cubs had. I don't believe the Cubs ever intended to offer arbitration. It's not because Dempster isn't worth it. He probably is. It's because they want the prospect or two they can acquire for him and they have no need for him at this point. I think I've been wrong all along to assume they'd offer arbitration.

The Cubs will work out a deal prior to the July 31st deadline because if they don't trade him, they get nothing in return.

Potential deadline trades

Nearly every player on the Cubs is a potential trade candidate so talking about each one would be exhaustive and pointless. Luis Valbuena is a trade candidate though why any team would trade for him, I don't know. It's not like there was a line of teams wanting to sign him after he was DFA'd and he's not been very good so it's safe say that he's a candidate, but not a very good one. And not worth any more discussion. Same goes for others like him. You know who they are. They litter the Cubs roster. 

Matt Garza is going to be out of action until after the deadline with an arm-related injury so take him off the market. It's possible a team would still want to acquire him, but not at all likely any team would be willing to give up what they may have before considering the injury. As a result, it's safe to say he'll be a Cub on August 1st. There is the waiver deadline at the end of August so he could still be traded in August, but the Cubs would lack any leverage in negotiations. I wouldn't put much money on him staying put all season, but I feel confident saying he's probably going to be a Cub when the season ends. 

At that point the team can revisit trading him. Theo and Hoyer can also slap each other in the face a few times between now and then for not trading him last offseason. He had more value last offseason with 2 full years remaining prior to being eligible to file for free agency than he'd have had four months later at the deadline. Not to mention, there's always a decent possibility a pitcher will get injured. Considering Garza was coming off what was arguably the best season in his career, one should have expected he'd regress, which would then of course lower his value. Garza should have been traded last offseason if the team had interest in doing it and they clearly did. They worked through much of the offseason talking to teams about Garza and those talks continued as the trade deadline approached this year.

Instead of acquiring the quality prospects the Cubs could have last offseason, they're stuck with a player who will receive roughly $12-13 million next year and be projected for no more than 3 WAR. He has very little surplus trade value now. 

To the Cubs credit, they worked out a favorable deal for the team by trading Ryan Dempster to the Braves for Randall Delgado. Dempster would of course decline the trade. I'm unsure if he ever actually declined it, but he never agreed to it, which is the same thing. The deal went down the drain along with any leverage the Cubs had. They're now stuck negotiating with the Dodgers who know they have the leverage and other options still available so they're not going to give up what the Cubs want. 

Braves GM Frank Wren has said they've moved on and the deal is off the table, but it's possible the Cubs could go back to him with Dempster's approval and receive the same prospect in return. The chances of this become slimmer each day, but it's what Theo and Jed are hoping for. Whether or not it proves to be false hope remains to be seen. 

Garza entered the season as the most likely trade candidate and Dempster joined him with his especially strong first half. Aside from those two the Cubs lack any trade candidates who are going to help out the organization beyond a marginal improvement. There was the possibility that Geovany Soto could rebound, but that hasn't happened. He's split time behind the plate and not performed well doing it. Catchers are valuable and although Soto is making more than you'd hope for someone who is performing as he is, it wouldn't surprise me to see a contender looking for a better backup in the next few days.

Ian Stewart is out for the season. The Cubs had hoped he'd turn his career around and become a contributor for the Cubs. At worst they were hoping he'd improve somewhat and become corner infield trade candidate. That didn't happen and it's probable that Josh Vitters will be taking over at the hot corner next season so Stewart's days as a Cub are probably over.

Jeff Baker has some value, but not all that much. He can hit lefties well and play  multiple positions. Every year these types of players are acquired and every year teams get C prospects in return. 

Carlos Marmol entered the season as an interesting player if things went right. He was coming off a down season, but the guy has potential nobody can deny. He also has some of the worst control anyone has ever seen at the MLB level. This year the control got the better of him as he's walking more than 9 per 9. He's had a terrible season, lost the job as closer and even since returning from the DL hasn't been very good. He's thrown 19 innings, walked 16 and has an ERA over 4. He's due $9 million next year and based on the last season and a half it's hard to imagine any team wanting much at all to do with him. The Cubs could throw in a lot of money, but even then it's going to be difficult to get much of anything in return. 

David DeJesus was signed a 2-year, $10 million contract in the offseason with a 3rd year team option. About the best that can be said of DeJesus's season is that he's produced .6 fWAR and .4 rWAR. He had a fantastic May, but other than that he's been pretty bad. His contract is more than manageable, but he's working on his second consecutive season of being a below average hitter. He is the kind of a guy a contender might like to acquire to be a 4th outfielder though. The Cubs will probably have to pay some of his contract and the Cubs won't get much in return.

There's Travis Wood who was off to a good start before falling apart. He's still relatively young and cost controlled so the Cubs probably won't be actively shopping him, but they'd definitely include him. Wood was part of the Sean Marshall trade so at best the team would be looking at a marginal prospect in return. 

Alfonso Soriano is owed way too much to be appealing to teams and teams have appeared unwilling to even trade for him with the Cubs paying almost all of his remaining salary. That could change in the coming days, but I'm not betting on it. Even if they do trade him, it's just to free up a spot in the outfield. That's the best thing the Cubs will get in return because any prospect won't be worth much.

There's Reed Johnson, but he's a 4th or 5th outfielder so there's not much to acquire there. There are far too many C prospects and below to even speculate on what the Cubs could get, but it won't be impressive. 

The Cubs entered the season hoping for rebounds from Ryan Dempster, Geovany Soto and Carlos Marmol because it would have helped increase the potential return on trades. They got a very nice rebound from Dempster, but his no-trade rights takes the leverage away from the Cubs when negotiating any trades. Soto and Marmol didn't rebound and even took a step back. Matt Garza was the other obvious trade candidate and he's injured. Look for a few minor trades, probably even one including Dempster, but don't expect much in return. The Cubs rebuilding process is on hold until the offseason. 

BREAKING: MLB vacates all of Ryan Dempster’s Cubs wins

In a very surprising twist, Commissioner Bud Selig has announced that all of Ryan Dempster's wins, as well as all no-decisions, as a Cub have been vacated. 

We have to make a strong statement and by vacating all of his non-loss appearances we believe we have done just that. It's well past the time that a grown man in a baseball uniform be given the option to think for himself and make decisions on his future. We have 30 Major League Baseball teams who can think for these guys. They're more than willing to tell them what to do and when to do it. If they want one of these men to do something, they will do it. 

It's likely Dempster has played his last game as a Cub and as a result of this swift penalty by MLB, Dempster will finish his career as a Cub with an 0-65 record.  Also as a result, the Cubs finish tied for 1st with the MIlwaukee Brewers in the 2007 NL Central, but due to Dempster's behavior, the Brewers are now the 2007 National League Central Champions. The Cubs finish the season at 83-79. In 2008 the Cubs lose 17 wins and now finish 80-82. 

Obstructed View's investigative team contacted several people inside baseball to get their reaction to today's news. One GM told us "Dempster has crippled the Cubs organization for years with this selfish decision that shouldn't even be his to make in the first place." Another GM said "These actions by players have got to stop because they're limiting our ability to do shit." Yet another GM eloquently said "Can you believe this motherfucker?" No, we absolutely cannot. 

Executives aren't the only ones harmed by these decisions. Managers and coaches are around the players on a day to basis and witness first hand what has happened to America's game. They're clearly frustrated that grown men no longer do everything they're told. 

One longtime former manager told us "we used to trade these guys whenver we wanted, pay them next to nothing and treat them like real men and look at it now. " The manager continued "nowadays, you can't even hit the guy in the nuts with a bat when he makes an error." The players are clearly out of control today and Selig's measure here should help restore the game to it's glory days.

This all came about becasue of a trade and we spoke to another executive and Dempster's trade value now. "The guy hasn't won a game since 2003 so what team is going to want a guy like that?"

He's right. Not only is Dempster 0-65 over the last 9 years, he also has a 6.94 ERA. He's thrown less than 300 innings since his surgery in 2003 and has accumulated about -3.5 WAR. That executive is right inthat Dempster has no value at this point. He's a below replacement level player. The projections haven't been updated yet so I did a back of the napkin update and I come up with a 6.5 ERA and about 20 innings of work the rest of the season. One has to wonder why he's been in the league this long. It's clear he hasn't recovered from surgery in 2003 yet.

Becoming more optimistic about Josh Vitters (Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster, Ryan Dempster)

Josh Vitters entered the 2007 Draft as one of the best bats in the class. Matt Wieters was considered the best college bat in the country and scouts debated whether Mike Moustakas or Josh Vitters was the best high school bat. Some scouts even said Vitters had the best bat in the draft. David Price would be selected 1st and Mike Moustakas next. Then the Cubs picked and took Josh Vitters. Wieters fell to 5th because of contract demands. The Cubs would sign Vitters for $3.2 million. 

Moustakas made his big league debut last year and Vitters is waiting for a call-up. At the time of the draft, Vitters was very nearly a full year younger than Moustakas. Vitters was very young for the draft (just 17). Both of the two played only a minimal amount in 2007, but Moustakas hit well in 47 PA while Vitters struggled in 55 PA. Moustakas entered 2008 as the 18th best prospect in baseball while Vitters was 43rd. 

At the time of the draft, Baseball America offered this scouting report for Vitters:

Vitters' older brother Christian was a solid prospect who had an excellent career at Fresno State. While Christian was a 10th-round pick, Josh figures to go nine rounds higher. He entered last summer as one of the top hitters in the class, then blew to the top of the heap while dominating at the Area Code Games, doubling three times at the Aflac Classic and earning MVP honors at the Cape Cod Classic. While Vitters has solid defensive and running tools, that's not what earned him such accolades–his bat did. He has tremendous feel for getting the fat part of the bat to the ball, and with his tremendous bat speed and barrel awareness, he drives the ball more consistently than any hitter in the class. Scouts describe him as the rare righthanded hitter with a pretty swing, and he's shown the ability to handle different velocities and different styles of pitching with ease. Vitters' his hand-eye coordination and ability to make contact are almost too good, because at times he swings at pitches he should let pass, rather than waiting for one he can punish with his all-fields power. While his hands and footwork at third are sound, he tends to misread hops, and defense doesn't come easy to him. His bat should play at any position, however. His only speed-bump this spring was a bout with pneumonia that caused him to miss two weeks, but he was still considered a near-lock to be picked in the first five spots overall.

Still young in 2008, just 18, Vitters stayed behind at extended spring training and waited for the short season leagues to open. He began that season in Boise and in 277 PA he hit .328/.365/.498. He was bumped to full season Peoria for the final 4 games of the season. Vitters career had taken off. His defense was a concern, which we expected. His patience was also a concern. His NIBB%* was just 5.2%. 

*NIBB% excludes intentional walks from both the numerator and denominator, but includes hit by pitch. It's actually (NIBB+HBP)%, but NIBB% is easier.

A 5.2% rate in short-season A ball isn't all that impressive. The numbers will likely get worse as he plays in more difficult leagues. That's just how it works. The concern the scouts had that he swings at too many pitches was becoming much more of a concern. Still young though, there was no time to panic. 

In part because of the low walk rate, Vitters dropped from the 43rd ranked prospect down to 51st the following year. Vitters was still only 19 and he would begin his first season in a full season league. He returned to Peoria where he had played only 4 games the year before and hit .316/.351/.535, which was good for a .402 wOBA and 148 wRC+. After 70 games and 288 plate appearances he was moved up to High A Daytona and he struggled a bit. He hit just .238/.260/..344 (.277 wOBA, 71 wRC+).

2009 was a mixed bag for Vitters. He crushed the ball in Peoria and was still young for the level, but was eaten up in High A. What became even more of a concern was his inability to draw walks. His NIBB% in Peoria was somewhat decent (6%), but it included 9 HBP. His actual walk percentage was under 3%. On the year his NIBB% was 4.8%. As expected, the numbers were going down and he was only in High A. 

As far as hitting though, Vitters was doing pretty damn well. 

He had a .372 wOBA, 133 wRC+ the following partial season back at High A (120 PA). He was promoted to AA Tennesse and like the year before after a promotion, he struggled. Despite the struggles in AA, he improves his NIBB% to 9.2% in 2010. 

He spent all of 2011 in AA and hit just .283/.322/..448, which was good for a league average wOBA of .334 (99 wRC+). His NIBB% slumped to 6.5%. 

While that's not a fantastic rate, it has been an improvement on what he did early in his career, but despite that the hitting kind of went south for him. Now you had concerns about his ability to stay at 3rd base, his ability to hit well enough and his rather poor plate discipline. 

Vitters was unranked by Baseball America entering 2011 and 2012. He went to Iowa this year where he's been hitting pretty well. At just the age of 22 he's hit .303/.353/.511. His wOBA is .369 (116 wRC+). He's also hit 15 home run, which tied his career high at any one level (2009 Peoria), but he did hit 18 overall in 2009. 

Vitters doesn't have much speed. He had only 8 triples in his career that has spanned 6 seasons and nearly 2100 plate appearances. He has 20 stolen bases and has managed to be caught 18 times. If you know nothing about a player's defense, which as fans we really don't, speed is a good proxy for defensive talent. Vitters has never been known as a good fielder and it's been questionable if he can stick at 3rd base. 

At the MLB level, only Pedro Alvarez, Chris Johnson and Brett Lawrie have made more than 9 errors at 3rd base. Vitters, in the same number of games, has made 19 for AAA Iowa. The average number of assists for those 3 is 169. Vitters has 148. Pedro Alvarez and Chris Johnson each have a .937 fielding percentage, which is the worst among all qualified 3B. Alex Rodriguez and Hanley Ramirez are 3rd worst at .951. Vitters' fielding percentage is .913 and just .924 in his career. The only years Vitters has played in 100 games or more has ben in 2009 (104) and 2011 (100). He made 21 errors each of those seasons. 

I'll be the first to admit that it's very difficult to compare defense in the minors to the big leagues, but that's really all the information I have so it's the best I can do. Considering we know he's a below average 3rd baseman, those numbers just illustrate that fact. By no means do I think he's going to be the worst fielder. I just don't know. It's definitely a possibility. 

He's not a good fielder and he is definitely slow. He's terrible at stealing bases and based on the few number of triples he's had it might be safe to say that he's not going to excel at taking extra bases on hits. He could end up being a good baserunner, but I'd say the odds of that are pretty slim. Instead, it's likely he's a below average baserunner. 

But he can hit. He's always been able to hit and he's doing it at the highest level in the minor leagues. I entered this season thinking Vitters had little chance to become much of anything at the big league level, but he's hit well enough, shown enough ability to get on base without getting a hit that I'm definitely more optimistic than I was. Do think he'll be a superstar? No. There are way too many flaws in his game for that to happen. He doesn't hit for enough power, he doesn't play good enough defense, run the bases well enough and he's not going to be getting on base without a hit enough for that to happen.

He doesn't have to become a superstar to become valuable and I think that's where I am now. Whether he ends up being a platoon partner or a decent everyday 3rd baseman remains to be seen, but there's value in both. There's obviously more value in being an everyday player, but Vitters has crushed lefties in his career. This season he's hiting .331/.381/.621 vs lefties in over 125 PA. He's hit lefties well prior to this season too. 

The Cubs have nobody at 3rd base so I'm anxious to see Josh Vitters get called up and be given a chance to play everyday. I'm more optimistic now than I was a year ago that he might actually be able to hold the position down, but I don't think Vitters will be making any all-star teams. If Vitters has to move to the outfield or across the infield, which is definitely a possibility, the likelihood of him becoming productive drops considerably.