Cubs Sign DeRosa

[love_that_reefer]

The Cubs and Mark DeRosa have agreed to terms on a three-year deal worth about $13 million, ESPN's Buster Olney reports.
It's way too much of a commitment to someone who only figures to be an asset against left-handers. A platoon of Jacque Jones and DeRosa in right field would be very productive, but the Cubs are probably going to give DeRosa a chance to be their primary second baseman. DeRosa turns 32 in February and is a career .260/.316/.366 hitter against righties (to put that in perspective, Neifi Perez is a career .268/.298/.376 hitter). Versus lefties, he has an impressive .306/.367/.497 line.

Way too much money for this guy. He had a good year last year but who thinks he can do it again, besides the Cubs of course. They needed to get a real middle infielder.

[redsrbetter]

DeRosa is definitely one of the better options in the outfield for anyone looking for a stick. The Reds were looking at him and I wasn't dissapointed in the thought. There aren't too many options in RF right now, and DeRosa is one of the good ones. Nice signing.

[love_that_reefer]

One of the better OF options with a stick? Where are you getting this? A career infielder who has one good year gets a $3 mil raise and this is a good signing? Aren't too many options in RF? J.D. Drew, Trot Nixon, Jose Guillen, Shannon Stewart, David Dellucci and even Jose Cruz Jr. are all better than DeRosa. Jones is 80 times the player DeRosa is.

[redsrbetter]

Drew, Nixon and Stewart are a bit better and Dellucci is more of the same IMO. Guillen had an off year, but I agree he should be a better option due to his career abilities. Carlos Lee is better too, but would be far too expensive.

My top 5 RF options?

Drew
Stewart
Lee
Guillen
DeRosa

I just think the options in RF are slim. And yes, he had a nice stick this year. Career year? Maybe, but then you have to say that the money just was too much. But he is a player that will help out for sure.

I do agree that the contract may be a little fat, but its what all the FA get these days. Fat contracts. Just wait and see what guys like Stewart and Drew end up getting.

[love_that_reefer]

Stewart, Nixon and Guillen are all coming off injuries and won't get that much of a better dea. At least play a lot better than an infielder in RF. Carlos Lee in RF is a gross idea. Plus the Cubs will more than likely stick him at second base so this is a dumb argument. The Cubs have made the most noise thus far but DeRosa doesn't help matters in this division. Belliard, Kennedy or even Durham would have made a real difference.

[Saber]

Considering the cost, it's not a huge risk in this market to find out how much of a fluke Derosa's season was. Of course, I say that without knowing his home/road splits. I also don't think the Cubs are the team that should be signing a mid-30s infielder.

[nick]

gross gross uber gross.

a career utility player, now wrapped up for 13 million over 3 yrs... thats just disgusting. even in a platoon role, that's disgusting.

i know we planned on going with some cheaper position players if we wanted to land a big outfielder in addition to re-signing aramis, but christ... it's not even like we're getting a bargain here.

[McKain]

At the least, it puts Ronnie Cedeno's pathetic bat to the bench while getting a huge upgrade against lefties.

At the most... well the most isn't all that much.

DeRosa's a nice player if only for the versatility and the fact that he can hit lefties, and throw one of Cedeno (.553 career OPS vs lefties), Jacque Jones (.677 career OPS vs lefties), or Cesar Izturis (.506 career OPS vs lefties) to the bench.

He can play second, third, short, either corner outfield spot, first base. It's nothing too special but it's an overlooked capability.

but like Saber said, the Cubs have no business doing this. This helps them in no way at all for the foreseeable future because they won't be competing unless they get at LEAST one more starter, another hitter at either the middle infield or centerfield, and a couple other spare parts.

At least Dusty's gone, otherwise this would mean they re-sign Juan Pierre and dump Matt Murton to the bench and go DeRosa-Pierre-Jones all season in the OF with Cedeno-Izturis up the middle.