Jock Jones & The State of Cubs OF

Jacque (or Jock which is what announcers who can't pronounce his name call him) Jones was traded today by the Cubs in what was likely a salary dump. Jones made 5.6 million last year. It seems very likely this deal was made to free up hot stove money. The Winter Meetings are a few weeks away and this is when deals are being negotiated to sign free agents and make trades between teams. It seems obvious that the team was not committed to Jones and will likely make an attempt at one of the top outfielders available on the free market.

We received Omar Infante and cash from the Tigers. Tell me if this sounds familiar, Omar is a 26 year old utility/middle infielder with a .270 batting average and an on-base percentage of 300. They've got to either trade him or trade another one of our players that are exactly the same (Theriot, Fontenot, Cedeno, Eric Patterson, etc). Infante has played a couple full seasons, so you know what you've got with him. The point is that he was not the reason they made the deal. The deal was to free up Jones' 5.6 mil, so they can spend that cash on an outfielder.

The Cubs currently have the following outfielders: Alfonso Soriano. The rest of the outfielders on the Cubs roster are backups at best and all of them are young and inexperienced. You might be able to start 1, but you can't start two of them every day. As much as everyone loves Red (Matt Murton), he wasn't an everyday player last year and might not ever have enough average or power for a contender. Also available are: Felix Pie (not ready), Eric Patterson (not ready and also a 2B), Angel Pagan (not ready), and Sam Fuld (didn't get a hit last year, but made that awesome catch). With only Soriano being a viable option as a starter for a contending team (which I hope we are), they need to make a splash.

BudManCubsFan hears (and I see quite a bit on the interweb about it), that the Cubs are aggressively pursuing Japanese free agent, Kosuke Fukudome. At the right price, he could have a lot to offer. I'm not sure why he only played 80 games last year, but his stats look great. A career on-base percentage of .400 and slugging of .550 are both awesome. Obviously he won't put up numbers like that in the MLB, but an OPS of .960 last year and 1.100 the year before is pretty stellar. Some of that should translate. The Cubs need guys who can get on base and Fukudome is one of them.

The top options available on the free agent market are:

Torii Hunter CF
32 Years old - 7 time gold glove winner
OBP (last 3 years): 337, 336, 334
SLG (last 3 years): 452, 490, 505

Andruw Jones CF
30 Years old - 10 time gold glove winner
OBP (last 3 years): 347, 363, 311
SLG (last 3 years): 575, 531, 413

Aaron Rowand CF
30 Years old - 1 time gold glove winner
OBP (last 3 years): 329, 321, 374
SLG (last 3 years): 407, 425, 515

Shannon Stewart LF
33 Years old - some injury issues
OBP (last 3 years over 100 games): 364, 323, 345
SLG (last 3 years over 100 games): 459, 388, 394

Geoff Jenkins LF/RF
33 Years old
OBP (last 3 years): 375, 357, 319
SLG (last 3 years): 513, 434, 471

So Taguchi LF
38 Years old
OBP (last 3 years): 322. 335, 350
SLG (last 3 years): 412, 351, 368

Barry Bonds LF/DH
Under no circumstances do I want Barry Bonds on the Cubs.