Cubs sign Pena

[bschmaranz]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/cubs...e-to-terms.html

 

Carlos Pena and the Cubs have agreed to terms on a one-year deal believed to be worth $10MM.

 

Me thinks Hendry Just made D-Lee a bit more expensive.

[Princess Dye]

Peña is younger and Lee would be more appreciative of multiyear deal at his age, willing to take the larger total than big annual.

[chunk23]

Low low low BABIP last year, yet still had a nice Iso. He should bounce back nicely against the NLCentral's terrible pitching.

[SoxFan1]

Low low low BABIP last year, yet still had a nice Iso. He should bounce back nicely against the NLCentral's terrible pitching.

He hit .186 on the road last year with a .222 BABIP. He hit .207 at home with a .221 BABIP.

[Leonard Washington]

Low low low BABIP last year, yet still had a nice Iso. He should bounce back nicely against the NLCentral's terrible pitching.

He also started hitting about twice as many ground balls....it wasn't purely bad luck.

[Jordan4life_2007]

He also started hitting about twice as many ground balls....it wasn't purely bad luck.

 

Not to mention a significantly lower LD%. No way to spin Pena's year. He was bad. But he was probably still recovering from the broken hand he suffered at the end of '09. I think he should be much better next year. Not a bad move for the Cubs.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Jordan4life

[joeynach]

Wow so Pena is getting 1 year 10 M. I guess that good in terms of length but are you seriously paying a 1B that hit .197 with 28 HR about 4M less than what Dunn got and about 12M less than what Paulie was getting. Wow, Id have to say I defiantly saw something like 6-7M for Pena with an option for $10M on the back end.

Edited December 8, 2010 by joeynach

[joeynach]

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/12/cubs...e-to-terms.html

 

 

 

Me thinks Hendry Just made D-Lee a bit more expensive.

 

Me thinks Hendry is an awful GM, awful talen evaluator, awful at budget allocation, awful at valuing player worth....aka a sports agents dream.

 

In my opinion Hendry has shown a history of handing out money and contracts based on position, not player, not performance history, not even expectation. For example set up men make $5M so John Grabow you get 5M, corner outfielders make $12M so fukudome you get $12M per year, 1B make around $10M therefore Pena here is $10M, SP make $12M so Ryan Dempster here is $12M, big name free agents get 7/126 deals so Soriano here is your 7/126 deal.

 

HENDRY = BAD!

Edited December 8, 2010 by joeynach

[GREEDY]

Jack Cust is screaming at his kids right now.

[witesoxfan]

Wow so Pena is getting 1 year 10 M. I guess that good in terms of length but are you seriously paying a 1B that hit .197 with 28 HR about 4M less than what Dunn got and about 12M less than what Paulie was getting. Wow, Id have to say I defiantly saw something like 6-7M for Pena with an option for $10M on the back end.

 

Not sure how defiant that really is, considering quite a few people predicted around the same value...mmmmk.

[joeynach]

Not sure how defiant that really is, considering quite a few people predicted around the same value...mmmmk.

 

Though a bit younger, most players coming off career worst performances look for some sort of rebound deal (low base + incentives) to prove themselves, similar to what Vlad got last year which I think was 1 year 6M, same thing you will see Manny get, etc. Pena is coming off a year where he hit .197 and posted an OPS of .732. For comparison even Anduw Jones posted an ops 100 points higher last year.

Edited December 8, 2010 by joeynach

[Jordan4life_2007]

Though a bit younger, most players coming off career worst performances look for some sort of rebound deal (low base + incentives) to prove themselves, similar to what Vlad got last year which I think was 1 year 6M, same thing you will see Manny get, etc. Pena is coming off a year where he hit .197 and posted an OPS of .732. For comparison even Anduw Jones posted an ops 100 points higher last year.

 

So he had an off year in which he was suffering lingering effects from a broken hand the year before. From '07 to '09 he sported a .935 OPS. I really don't see this as a bad move. And at only 1 year? Worth the risk, IMO.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Jordan4life

[caulfield12]

It's not a bad deal at all...not for one season.

 

You'd like to have gotten it down to $7-8-8.5 million, but I think with the Werth signing and the fact that they really weren't all that interested in LaRoche, it makes sense and doesn't have the backside risk of the dopey long-term deals they gave out like free crack samples.

[maggsmaggs]

Just another reason to hate the Cubs.

[Chicago White Sox]

So he had an off year in which he was suffering lingering effects from a broken hand the year before. From '07 to '09 he sported a .935 OPS. I really don't see this as a bad move. And at only 1 year? Worth the risk, IMO.

I've got to be honest with you, that .935 OPS is a pretty skewed stat. In 2007, he had an absolutely crazy and complete outlier of a season. He put up a 1.037 OPS, which was due to an usually high BA of .282 and SLG of .627.

 

Pena, if healthy, is more like a .870 - .890 OPS player IMO. That is incredibly valuable for a team that needs a left-handed power bat. I think it's the perfect signing for a team like the Cubs.

[iamshack]

Honestly, I would have rather signed Pena at 1/$10 than PK at 3/$39 or whatever it is that we are supposedly offering.

[Brian]

Low low low BABIP last year, yet still had a nice Iso. He should bounce back nicely against the NLCentral's terrible pitching.

 

Yeah, those guys namaed Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Gallardo, Cueto, Volquez, Arroyo, Leake, Chapman, Meyers, and Rodriguez are all terrible.

[sircaffey]

Yeah, those guys namaed Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Gallardo, Cueto, Volquez, Arroyo, Leake, Chapman, Meyers, and Rodriguez are all terrible.

+ Marcum + Happ....The NL Central is actually stacked with good SP outside of the awesome Pirates rotation.

[SoxFan562004]

it's an OK move by the Cubs, I expect Pena to have a solid bounce back year, however it doesn't magically make them a contender or anything like the media and Cubs fans will spin it... lots of old and bad contracts on that team still and their pitching still has some holes.

 

I'm not so sure the deal is that over-market. It would have been a risk for a contending team to take Pena since his awful year last year but I'm sure teams who have had trouble spending their cash, Baltimore and Oakland jump to mind, would be willing to offer something just to get a FA at this point... also, Pena may have had 2/16 or 2/18 numbers out there but his camp felt he needs one year to bring his value back up.

[SoxFan562004]

Yeah, those guys namaed Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia, Gallardo, Cueto, Volquez, Arroyo, Leake, Chapman, Meyers, and Rodriguez are all terrible.

Marcum isn't an ace, but what he did while pitching in the AL East last year was solid.

[SoxFan562004]

Honestly, I would have rather signed Pena at 1/$10 than PK at 3/$39 or whatever it is that we are supposedly offering.

i see where you're coming from, I like Pena, but he's still a risk at this point after last year. I know he's two years off a hand injury now, but still, Sox seemingly going balls to the wall this year, not sure if Pena at that price would have been the ideal move.

[joeynach]

i see where you're coming from, I like Pena, but he's still a risk at this point after last year. I know he's two years off a hand injury now, but still, Sox seemingly going balls to the wall this year, not sure if Pena at that price would have been the ideal move.

 

Well considering Pena got 1/10 and the Dbacks offered Konerko 3/30 I dont really see that the sox overpaid that much. Obviously the sox were going be the team that offered the most Paulie, your paying for the man, the myth the legend, so he gets $2M more than Pena. Konerko's power from the right side is better than Pena's from the left and yes that probably worth an extra $2M. Pena will be ok, but dont believe anything you hear from him or the cubs camp about how this is perfect fit and he wanted to be there....blah blah. Its the same move as Adrian Beltre signing a 1/10 contract with the red sox last year. Get paid $10M, have a solid bounce back year, leave for multi-year deal in the offseason. Thats all this is.

[whitesoxfan101]

Not sure why an ownership group with financial issues is giving a 1 year/10 million deal to a guy who will turn 33 early next year, is coming off a bad season, and likely isn't in their long term plans. The deferred money thing makes it even weirder. 5 million next year for him to play on a team going nowhere, then 5 million deferred down the toilet for your 2012 payroll when maybe you have a better shot at contending. Only way I get this move is if they plan to hope Pena gets hot and trade him for something in July, or hope he's a type A free agent and get 2 picks. But is Jim Hendry really that smart?