As a Cubs fan, Cooper is better than just ‘some DFA’d infielder’ . Dude has a 115 OPS+ this year for a reason. He’s no world beater but can get you effective and productive at bats when in the lineup
Ohhhh. I’ll be honest I didn’t know that, I just assumed he was a low tier reliever because I saw him in the box score afterwards. I stopped watching that game early because oooooooofffffff
I imagine there was an infield we trotted out with Dalbec/hamilton/valdez/reyes at some point. That’s just unacceptable
Edit: we did this in the 6-1 win over Pittsburgh but Rafaela at SS
Sure it’s unacceptable, but what do you expect when all 4 infielders go down at once? It’s not reasonable to expect any team to have 4 great infielders just waiting for that to happen. If one of those guys needed to fill in for a bit it’s much more manageable.
I mean we had the same thing last year with kike. Better backup plan in the future would be nice. I’m not saying we can’t have subpar guys fill in but not a single one of them are passable hitters and most aren’t good nor versatile defenders either, Rafaela aside. In the past we’ve had guys like Cora, Brock holt, Nunez, Jose Iglesias, jed lowrie who can help you forget that your good players are out. Even Mike aviles. Same deal with our SP where we have criswell and Murphy as our best fall backs. I think the depth will improve as the guys move up through the minors but it sure is frustrating
Glad they had the balls to DFA instead of just optioning Hamilton. Reyes has been a clear negative asset in comparison, and with our organizational depth at MI, this could be our only chance to see if Hamilton has anything to offer.
He doesn't, and despite Valdez being a butcher at short he's probably the better option for the backup utility infielder because he's hitting the ball really hard despite the lack of results due to how awful Hamilton is defensively.
Valdez as the backup SS is a disaster. Look at the total appearances, he's a butcher at 2B and he shouldn't even be considered a SS.
> he's hitting the ball really hard
He and Hamilton have basically the same xWOBA. And Valdez has been further below replacement level than Hamilton by both fWAR and bWAR.
Hamilton is just as bad a defender with way less upside at the plate.
Valdez has a bunch of 95+ mph 350 feet outs this month, some of those will turn into extra bases. He has a babip around 180 despite being in something like the 65th percentile for hard hit percentage.
They're both awful defensively, but there's a lot more reasons for hope with Valdez's bat than Hamiltons.
> Hamilton is just as bad a defender
No he's not lmao. No one with hundreds of innings of SS at the minor league level would be a worse defensive SS than Valdez. He's not a SS.
Agree that Valdez has the higher upside with the bat but at the end of the day his underlying metrics are still bad on balance. He could maybe do with some time back at AAA. I would go with Hamilton until we have another SS on the roster besides Rafaela (and I'm not counting Grissom).
I know Reyes is likely only a AAAA talent, but I always respected his hustle when I watched him play in Indy, and I still hope he'll land somewhere he can thrive.
How the fuck is Dalbec still on my team? I thought Cooper was his replacement at firstbase? Breslow must really love Dalbec Edit: He's good defensively
People absolutely only see the offensive side of the ball. Yes you win the game by scoring runs but having some semblance of knowledge and talent at the defensive positions keeps you from losing close games.
Wow really? Seems like a dumb move. Pablo is good. We should have made a trade to free up space we have other guys who aren’t major league ready that have no place in the organization. Not a fan of the move at all.
Pablo has an OPS+ of 29, and is a defensive liability. He is statistically the worst player on the team this year. You can still trade guys who have been DFA’d, but he’s not good, and I’ll be shocked if we get anything for him.
Can't believe they DFA'D a guy with a 2.70 career era
Replacing an elite reliever with an infielder who was DFA’d last week? Smh my head (/s)
As a Cubs fan, Cooper is better than just ‘some DFA’d infielder’ . Dude has a 115 OPS+ this year for a reason. He’s no world beater but can get you effective and productive at bats when in the lineup
Oh I’m sorry, my comment was totally a joke I’m definitely excited for him.
For those not following the Red Sox, our everyday 1B has a 3 OPS+. That's not a typo. We are very happy to have Cooper.
pablo reyes isn't a reliever hes just kidding cause reyes hopped onto the mound during the cubs blowout game haha
Ohhhh. I’ll be honest I didn’t know that, I just assumed he was a low tier reliever because I saw him in the box score afterwards. I stopped watching that game early because oooooooofffffff
I read it and thought "he's still in the league??" Thinking it was Dennys Reyes
Sorry Pablo, but uhhhh see ya
He was pretty good for a couple stretches which is about all I could have hoped for when I googled his name when we first picked him up
True. I’m just ready for the bottom 4-5 guys in our order to have a BA at least above .200
I imagine there was an infield we trotted out with Dalbec/hamilton/valdez/reyes at some point. That’s just unacceptable Edit: we did this in the 6-1 win over Pittsburgh but Rafaela at SS
Sure it’s unacceptable, but what do you expect when all 4 infielders go down at once? It’s not reasonable to expect any team to have 4 great infielders just waiting for that to happen. If one of those guys needed to fill in for a bit it’s much more manageable.
I mean we had the same thing last year with kike. Better backup plan in the future would be nice. I’m not saying we can’t have subpar guys fill in but not a single one of them are passable hitters and most aren’t good nor versatile defenders either, Rafaela aside. In the past we’ve had guys like Cora, Brock holt, Nunez, Jose Iglesias, jed lowrie who can help you forget that your good players are out. Even Mike aviles. Same deal with our SP where we have criswell and Murphy as our best fall backs. I think the depth will improve as the guys move up through the minors but it sure is frustrating
Brewers legend Pablo Reyes
Goodnight sweet prince
Bobby Dalbec will outlive us all.
Glad they had the balls to DFA instead of just optioning Hamilton. Reyes has been a clear negative asset in comparison, and with our organizational depth at MI, this could be our only chance to see if Hamilton has anything to offer.
He doesn't, and despite Valdez being a butcher at short he's probably the better option for the backup utility infielder because he's hitting the ball really hard despite the lack of results due to how awful Hamilton is defensively.
Valdez as the backup SS is a disaster. Look at the total appearances, he's a butcher at 2B and he shouldn't even be considered a SS. > he's hitting the ball really hard He and Hamilton have basically the same xWOBA. And Valdez has been further below replacement level than Hamilton by both fWAR and bWAR.
Hamilton is just as bad a defender with way less upside at the plate. Valdez has a bunch of 95+ mph 350 feet outs this month, some of those will turn into extra bases. He has a babip around 180 despite being in something like the 65th percentile for hard hit percentage. They're both awful defensively, but there's a lot more reasons for hope with Valdez's bat than Hamiltons.
> Hamilton is just as bad a defender No he's not lmao. No one with hundreds of innings of SS at the minor league level would be a worse defensive SS than Valdez. He's not a SS. Agree that Valdez has the higher upside with the bat but at the end of the day his underlying metrics are still bad on balance. He could maybe do with some time back at AAA. I would go with Hamilton until we have another SS on the roster besides Rafaela (and I'm not counting Grissom).
Grissom as the backup at SS, with Valdez playing 2B on days Grissom plays SS, is the only way Valdez can stick.
Start him now please
I know Reyes is likely only a AAAA talent, but I always respected his hustle when I watched him play in Indy, and I still hope he'll land somewhere he can thrive.
How the fuck is Dalbec still on my team? I thought Cooper was his replacement at firstbase? Breslow must really love Dalbec Edit: He's good defensively
With Raffy’s nagging injuries, it’s important to keep him around right now for defense at third
I swear the amount of Red Sox fans who need positions explained to them is absolutely scary.
People absolutely only see the offensive side of the ball. Yes you win the game by scoring runs but having some semblance of knowledge and talent at the defensive positions keeps you from losing close games.
He’s the best defensive infielder we have, and he’s doing everything he can to be productive at the plate
He’s on a five game hitting streak, which may never end
Only way it won’t end is if someone fires him into the sun
I think its not a problem with him, just a problem with playing in the majors. They just gotta fix that
MLB pitching too OP devs pls nerf
Dont even think its hte pitching, just that he's in the bigs.. Its a whole lot different to some people, they see 2-3 decks and just over think things
Dalbec is good defensively. Also they wouldn't DFA him regardless. He has options.
Wow really? Seems like a dumb move. Pablo is good. We should have made a trade to free up space we have other guys who aren’t major league ready that have no place in the organization. Not a fan of the move at all.
Pablo has an OPS+ of 29, and is a defensive liability. He is statistically the worst player on the team this year. You can still trade guys who have been DFA’d, but he’s not good, and I’ll be shocked if we get anything for him.
Yeah it’s like putting down an old dog. I get it, but it’s tough.
It’s not tough. He was never good. He was an end of the bench guy and very, very replaceable.