As a Cubs fan I hate Albert Pujols, but as a baseball fan I respect the guys' numbers. He is arguably the best right handed hitter the game has ever seen. But I found these numbers regarding Pujols very interesting:
Since 2001, with Pujols in the lineup, the Cardinals have a .559 winning percentage, a batting average of .272 and a runs per game of 4.8. Without Pujols, they have .551 winning percentage and a .266 batting average while scoring 4.7 runs per game.
These stats tell me two things. 1) Tony LaRussa is the best manager in baseball and 2) baseball is about more than just one guy. I don't point out these numbers just because I'm a St Louis hater, but because it should give Cubs fans insight into what we need this off season.
If the Cubs think signing Prince Fielder is the only thing they need to accomplish this offseason, they are in for another long season in 2012. We need pitching, CJ Wilson and CC Sabathia are the top free agents. We also need young outfielders as well. A nice buy low candidate might be a left handed hitter like Grady Sizemore to play right.
We have nearly 60 million coming off the books after the season, we need to reload. I know a lot of my friends want to re stock the farm system, which I'm all for, but we also have a payroll comparable to the New Yorks and Boston and we need to start acting like it. And just because the Soriano signing was a gigantic failure, doesn't mean the next big free agent signing will be.
Try this lineup on for size in 2012:
Sizemore
Barney
Castro
Fielder
Ramirez
Soriano
Soto
Brett Jackson- current minor league CF star
Wilson/Zambrano/Dempster/Garza/Cashner
Boom, Done.... Next.
No comments:
Post a Comment