The Leadoff Man Cometh?

[apjurcik]

Just saw this posted on a Red Sox forum (went there to see if they were whining over the Jays supposedly signing BJ Ryan

Comments

[arettber]

This would be fantastic.

[arettber]

But: holy shit, have you seen this?

Looks like my earlier pondering of an acquisition of Soriano might not be just a wild guess after all.

What if these trades go off AND the Pierre one does? Wow. Just wow.

[arettber]

Key in that article is the mention of the Furcal deal being all but finalized. Please please please be right.

[apjurcik]

I can't imagine the Cubs doing all these deals, it's very un-Cubbish. That said, haly shit would that be awesome.

[loosestrudel]

How about these deals and NOT the Pierre deal? That would be exciting. And expensive!

[loosestrudel]

Juan Pierre just doesn't excite me. His stolen bases come with a lot of outs. He's got little stick. If you're talking for a year, maybe. But for longer, that's Felix Pie's position to lose.

[apjurcik]

Truth be told, Pierre, while anemic for power, does hit for average and has great speed. I'd take him over an unproven Pie until we can be sure Pie is the deal. Anyone remember Todd Van Poppel? How about Joe Borchard with the Sox? Yeah, highly regarded flops.

[loosestrudel]

Anyone remember Lou Brock? Young players can turn out to be good too.

While Pierre's career average is over .300, last year he hit around .270, with as you said, anemic power. It adds up to an 84 OPS+. That's offensive production 16% below the average MLB player. The stolen bases are nice, as long as keeps the caught stealing down. But overall, I'm not interested in below average players. An improvement isn't enough. The Cubs deserve a great CF, not just a better than Patterson CF.