Jerry Crasnick on the Cubbies

I hate the Cubs. Everyone who's an idiot roots for the Cubs. They're turning into the Seattle Mariners of the NL. Big free-agent signings (Alfonso Soriano, Ted Lilly?, Kosuke Fukodome) that aren't really that good and on the wrong side of thirty. When Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez carry that team.

Anyway. Crasnick wrote this article. And, to be fair, he does a pretty good job discounting the idiocy that the Cubs front office is using to justify Aaron Miles as a platoon at second base.

Here we go:

DeRosa: OPS: .857 Pay: $4.75 million
Miles: OPS: .753 Pay: $1.4 million
Fontenot: OPS: .909 Pay: $405,000.

Miles == not good value compared to the other two. Actually, the DeRosa trade was a good trade because it allowed the Cubbies to shed payroll and add production (hopefully). However, Miles is 32. He had a good year last year. His career OPS is .693. So, he's going to be a $1.4 million backup. I just don't understand this. Seriously. Why do teams sign some veteran player to be a backup? It don't make sense. Why not give the job to some AAA player who has upside or perhaps some veteran who has upside. Why pay for mediocrity instead of mediocrity with the possibility of a pleasant surprise?

Whatever. That's not really the point. The point is, Miles kinda sucks. He's pretty cheap. But he kinda sucks. And then there's this paragraph:

DeRosa's departure leaves second base to switch-hitter Aaron Miles, who has a .316 career average in day games (and a .224 mark in 61 at-bats at Wrigley Field), and lefty bat Mike Fontenot, who's a bundle of offense in a 5-foot-8, 160-pound package.

Yeah. I hate stupid stats. They're so worthless. .316 during the day? .224 in 61 ABs in Wrigley? Who gives a shit? That's what I really wanted to bitch about. None of the other stuff, really. And I wanted to do a little baseball analysis before I had to go do homework.