Cubs Trade Izturis to Pirates and Call Up Jake Fox
"The Chicago Cubs dealt Cesar Izturis to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday" along with cash for a player to be named later reports MLB.com. They also called up Jake Fox from AA Tennessee.
Izturis had lost his starting shortstop job to Ryan Theriot, as he has only started two games in July. He hit .246/.298/.304 for the Cubs this year in 207 plate appearances, after coming over from the Dodgers last year in the Greg Maddux trade. I noted then that "Izturis is a younger Neifi Perez." In 2006, he hit .233/.282/.260 for the Cubs in 79 plate appearances. Despite a defensive reputation, having won a Gold Glove in 2004, Baseball Prospectus rates him as just 2 runs above average at shortstop during his career.
Here's what the Chicago Tribune's Mike Downey had to say when the Cubs traded Maddux for Izturis last year:
"In one of the Cubs' smartest maneuvers of this century." "Izturis is a beauty, a gem." "A shortstop like this does not come along every day." "[T]he acquisition of Izturis comes as a pleasant surprise. No, more than pleasant ... a truly delightful surprise." "If this kid stays healthy—I know, I know, don't even go there—then the Cubs have acquired a genuine star in the making."It's absolutely shocking that did not come true.
Izturis is making more than $4M this season and has a $300K buyout on a team option for next season, so it's no surprise that the Cubs are picking up part of the tab.
The call up of Fox is puzzling. He's a catcher who, apparently, can't catch and has thus been playing the outfield and first base. He does have 23 doubles and 18 homers, so he has obvious power. But he also has 72 K's in 359 at-bats against just 17 walks.
What is his role on this team? Is he going to platoon with Floyd in rightfield, as Paul Sullivan indicates? I do not see how he is a better option than Matt Murton (932 OPS since he was sent to Iowa) or Ronny Cedeno (989 OPS for Iowa) as a call up.
Joe at View from the Bleachers agrees with me that Fox is overrated.
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Fox
Really? I'm surprised that you would say that. I don't think it's all that shocking at all.
As for Fox, I assume he's up just because he hasn't been before, so Hendry hasn't had an opportunity to feel let down by him yet.
Izturis
Really? I'm surprised that you would say that. I don't think it's all that shocking at all.
Did my sarcasm really not come through? Or are you being sarcastic to my sarcastic comment? Arghh! The internet can be a frustrating medium at times ;)
re: Izturis
Huh? "Sarcasm"? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the meaning of the word. I tried looking it up, but my dictionary was damaged in a move a few years back, and now it's missing everything between "irony" and "snark".
Additon by subtraction
It's nice to see Neifi Jr. gone. I just hope Hendry does not go out and get another one. Hendry may have survived last summers purge, but the book is still out on him in my opinion. I have no doubt that Dusty Baker would have loved to have had a whole team of Neifi Perez's. That is to be expected from a man who can actually say with conviction that walks just clog up the bases, but it was the front office who kept supplying Baker with those types of players, and not all of that can be blamed on MacPhail.