The Cubs avoided arbitration with infielder Jeff Baker, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports, agreeing to a one-year, $1.175MM deal. Baker, 29, hit .272/.326/.413 in 224 plate appearances for the Cubs this year while playing mainly second and third base. Arbitration eligible for the second time, he receives a $200K raise for 2011.
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Wow that’s a lot of money. Why was he tendered?
It seems fair to me for a bench guy with a little pop. He would have gotten at least that much on the FA market.
I’m more surprised he was tendered. Couldn’t Darwin Barney or Bobby Scales do the same thing for less?
Um Bobby Scales? LOL no way. Baker isn’t great, but he absolutely kills lefties and has some pop. Bobby Scales is NOT a ML quality player. nice guy and all, but not a legit big leaguer. As for Barney, I think he’ll still make the roster, someone has to backup Starlin
I’m not to pleased with this 1…… I like Baker as a bench guy but there’s plenty of them in triple a much cheaper that can fill the same roll. This has been a very quiet offseason so far for the cubbies, maybe it’s a good thing.
1.1M for an experienced bench guy is fine. You cant have a bench full of rookies. And Baker is OK if used properly (ie dont face righties too often). But he can give you a 900ish OPS vs lefties, and there is value in that
At the price, it’s not bad. He’s pretty much the platoon partner for DeWitt at 2B unless they get another option, and he can back up Ramirez.
That said, if he’d the second option at 3B if Ramirez gets hurt again, the Cubs are hosed.
This is another bad Hendry move this spot should have gone to Darwin Barny
But Hendry likes to make AAAA Players and leave them in the minors to to waste away .
He talks about building from the system and never gives anyone a chance.
Its time for this team to Rebuild Starting With Jim Hendry.
Wrong. Baker doesn’t take Barney’s spot. They need two backup infielders. Baker is a solid bench bat that’s great vs. lefties
You are correct there.
but still this just makes me think about Grabow last year.
I think they could have spent less money ad gotten someone better.
At this point except maybe Castro all we have is backup infielders.
Baker is what he is, nothing special. The signing is okay I guess but what concerns me is that this is where they’re spending their money instead on their big hole at 1b. I would rather have them address that first and then if there is any money left take care of guys like Baker then. If not, go with a youngster. It’s good to have someone like Baker for the bench but it’s better to have a good hitter starting at 1b. If the options were Carlos Pena or Jeff Baker and Lyle Overbay, I’d go with Pena.
edit: spelling