The Cubs avoided arbitration with Koyie Hill, the team announced. MLB.com's Carrie Muskat first reported the agreement (on Twitter). The catcher earned $700K last year as a first-time arbitraiton eligible player and Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com reports (on Twitter) that his 2011 deal is for $850K.
Hill, 32 in March, hit .214/.254/.298 in 231 plate appearances as Geovany Soto's backup last year. He threw out 18% of would-be base stealers, down from his career average of 28%. Welington Castillo and recent pickup Max Ramirez could also compete for a 25-man roster spot this spring.
As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, the Cubs have four arbitration eligible players who aren't yet under contract for 2011: Soto, Sean Marshall, Carlos Marmol and Tom Gorzelanny.
No point with Castillo and Ramirez.
Bring back Hank White
Joy and rupture…
Hmm.
I was hoping they’d just let him go.
Should have kept Robinson Chirinos.
I actually think Max Ramirez is better than Chirinos based on both minor league records. I think with the waiver pickup the Chirinos part is a non issue.
I don’t understand why he’s on a team, but whatever.
Isn’t Garza arb eligible too?
Ya, you forgot Garza.
I really don’t get this move from the cubs point of view..Koyie is a decent back up but when we have max and castillo he isn’t needed. On top of it Koyie is out of options, if he gets beat out during spring training what are they gonna do?
Not a devastating move by the cubs but a completely unnecessary one
Koyie is a decent back-up? I would hate to see what you consider to be a bad back-up. Koyie Hill should have been out of baseball 7 years ago.
Don’t have stats infront of me but it would be interesting to read what they say on games that Koyie Hill catches Obviously he isn’t gonna hit big or throw hard, then he wouldn’t be a back up, but the last few years he has handled the staff well enough and he seems to get a good amount out of our pitchers
Don’t have stats infront of me but it would be interesting to read what they say on games that Koyie Hill catches Obviously he isn’t gonna hit big or throw hard, then he wouldn’t be a back up, but the last few years he has handled the staff well enough and he seems to get a good amount out of our pitchers
I was a little surprised by it as well, but it’s obvious they value his defense over Ramirez or Castillo or otherwise it would make no sense whatsoever.
LOL
Ramirez’s career minor stats are much better than Chirinos. Ramirez was ranked 84th prospect going into 2009. He is also younger than Chirinos.
Career AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS
Ramirez .298/.396/.476/.872
Chirinos .260/.350/.422/.772
I’d say its non issue since we got Ramirez off the waivers.
I mostly agree.
As a younger prospect with a better offensive track record than Chirinos but recent struggles, how you’d rank Ramirez versus Chrinos, who is older, but coming off more recent success, is up to you.
Ramirez seems like he’s in that bat-heavy catcher gray area, where if he doesn’t improve his receiving, he’ll be moved to 1B or DH, but his bat may not be quite good enough for those positions. I can’t think of a good comparison who made it as a catcher off the top of my head, but there must be some. I guess if he doesn’t make it behind the plate, he’s essentially Rob Fick.
I’d probably rank Chirinos higher right this minute, because his overall game is better, but Ramirez replaces much more of his value than anyone had a right to hope for coming off a waiver claim.