If there weren't injuries, Aroldis Chapman probably wasn't making the Reds out of spring training either.... it doesn't say much about him though.
The Cubs outfield is set at Soriano, Byrd and DeJesus. Soriano was an absolute lock barring an injury. I do find it funny that his AVG is 22 points higher than his OBP this spring though. Byrd is making $6.5M this year and was an All Star in 2010 and wasn't terrible by any means in 2011. DeJesus is struggling this spring, and wasn't that good for Oakland last year, but he has been a pretty good player over his career. He is making $4.25M this year as well.
Money comes into play here with Sappelt. He didn't hit much this spring, but, it is still just spring. He out hit DeJesus while having as many walks as strikeouts. The back up is Reed Johnson, who Sappelt also out hit this spring. Can't figure out how Reed Johnson gets the spot over Sappelt unless they just want Sappelt playing every day. Johnson has 10 walks and 110 strikeouts over the last two seasons.
Wood.... he did himself in. Didn't have a good spring at all after struggling in 2011.
It doesn't sound as if Sappelt was the victim of a numbers game, just by reading some recent articles. Plus it seems as if he will not be the first OFer called up either.
Sappelt kind of grew on me, but then he did little to nothing when he got the call up. He doesn't have any basestealing speed, and he's not going to hit a lot of homers. He's an even slower Fred Lewis who might hit .300 with not much slugging.
The Reds won't miss him. But I wish him well.
Wood is going backward.......regressing. It's sad to see.
At the time it didn't appear that the Reds traded 3 minor leaguers(fact is they could make the big league club on a franchise not likely to be all that competitive this year)for a guy that will likely close out ballgames for the next three years.Certainly things could change but yes, right now it's working out well for the Reds.
Last edited by Captain Hook; 03-29-2012 at 08:12 PM.
n/m
Sean Marshall had refused a long term deal with the Cubs-there was a good chance they were going to lose him for nothing at the end this year. At the time, the Cubs were really weak with their starting rotation depth. I can see why the Cubs made the trade at the time, even if it may not work out for them.
Lets talk about Wood. Scouting-wise, what is up with him? The sniff test says he has stunk up the joint since ~ a year ago. With the Reds, with the Bats, and now in the spring. I don't discount stats such as FIP one bit, but I'm not interested in that stuff right now. I'm talking mechanically, physically, etc......what is going on?
While I haven't gone through and looked at the amount of video needed to make this as a strong claim, I think it is simple: He used to have a good ability to control his fastball and cutter and now he doesn't. In 2010, both his fastball and cut fastball were above average in terms of effectiveness. In 2011, his fastball was basically just average (but that was a long fall from where it was), while his cutter went from solid to very poor in terms of effectiveness. His manager with the Cubs noted last week at some point that he wasn't able to locate the pitches either, so there is probably some truth to it. Why he can't do it now and could in 2009/2010, I can't say.
the only one I will really miss is the little guy. What he would have down in Bakersfield this year
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