Let him go Jack
Nov/080
The Cubs want Raul Ibanez. Let them have him. Off of MLBTR.
Ibanez would play right field for the Cubs, even though he allowed 18 more bases than the average left fielder this year.–MLBTR
They’ve got to be nuts. You could watch one Mariners game and see how bad Ibanez was in the outfield. Pick one of the 153 and you’ll find a bad play, guaranteed. I’m no whiz with defensive metrics, but without Ichiro and Reed in center I could see that number being even higher. He definitely doesn’t have the arm for right, that’s for sure. Ibanez is best served being a DH or a bad first basemen at this point.
This move has all the fingerprints of Lou Piniella wanting more bats. (It’s like he played all those years with Bucky Dent and said to himself “Never again.”) The lineup would be pretty deadly (At best Ibanez bats fifth in that lineup, more likely sixth), but they’d need to score a lot to make up for Soriano and Ibanez in the corners. A lot, a lot.
Seriously, Jack. If there is rumors that both the Mets and Cubs want Ibanez, he’s not going to stay. Offer him arbitration, get turned down, take the draft picks and let his defense become someone else’s problem.
