Is Jim Hendry Reading This Blog? If So, Please Continue To Do So

The Cubs offense is already putting new hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo to sleep.

A couple of years ago, my roommate and I were discussing the upcoming Major League Baseball offseason.  It started as a hot stove chat and turned into me analyzing who would go where and for how much.  Back then, I wrote a blog that was not TBDS and made predictions on a handful of players.

I was spot on in each prediction.  He would later suggest MLB execs were reading my blog. So, Jim Hendry, if you're out there reading.  Thanks.  Click a link and help some brothas get paid.  Oh!  And stay tuned for my offseason guide to not fucking up building a contender.  Maybe you'll see something you like.

There really is no denying this timeline:

• Alert Jim Hendry: Rudy Jaramillo (Not A Dozen Glazed Donuts) Is The Must-Have Item Of The Offseason (The Big Dead Sidebar, Oct. 6)
• Is Rudy Jaramillo On Cubs Radar? (Chicago Tribune, Oct. 14)
• Cubs are in contact with Jaramillo via@SI_JohnHeyman (via @bigdeadsidebar)
• Cubs to interview Jaramillo (Chicago Tribune, Oct. 16)
• Cubs to meet with Jaramillo next week (MLB.com's Carrie Muskat, Oct. 17)
  
• SI's Jon Heyman tweets: "hitting guru rudy jaramillo likely to join #cubs. expected to become baseball's highest paid coach at 800 G's per." (via @SI_JonHeyman, Oct. 19)
  
• Cubs hire Jaramillo to be hitting coach (Cubs.com, Oct. 21)
  

Hiring Jaramillo is truly a step in the right direction for the Cubs.
  
Critics are quick to point out (and rightly so) the Texas Rangers offense struggled in 2009 as they struck out 1,253 times, scored only 782 runs and posted a team OPS of .764.  In fairness, the 782 runs and .764 OPS would have ranked fourth in the Natioal League in 2009.  As a comparison, the Cubs scored 707 runs and posted a .738 OPS ranking 10th in the NL only one season after being among the league leaders in each of those categories.


His success stories are plentiful.  Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Pudge Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Michael Young, Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler learned under Jaramillo's watchful eye.  So, did Mark DeRosa, who was a career .246 hitter before joining Jaramillo and the Rangers.  Since then, DeRosa has moved on to balance the budget, revive the United States economy, find a cure for every known sexually transmitted disease ever known to man and solve every unsolved mystery in Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Miami and Chicago.

Jaramillo won't be without pet projects in Chicago.  He'll be looking for a way to refine Alfonso Soriano's swing in Chicago as he drops to the middle of the order.  In 2004, Soriano was the Rangers' No. 3 hitter and posted a slash line of .280/.328/.476/.804 with 22 home runs and 78 runs batted in to go along with 11 stolen bases.  Soriano became the team's No. 5 hitter in 2005 and had slash stats of .270/.315/.523/.838 with 30 HRs and 93 RBIs.  Those are the kinds of numbers Soriano needs to put up over the next few years as he attempts to justify the remaining five years, $90 million on his contract.

If the impossible happens and Milton Bradley is welcomed back to Chicago with open arms, Jaramillo can proudly raise his hand and say helped Bradley focus his talents on the baseball diamond where he led the American League in on-base percentage and OPS in 2008.  But remember kids, anything is possible ... but not everything is probable.

Other projects Jaramillo should look to conquer are as follows:

• Geovany Soto, who fell flat on his face after a rookie season in which he slugged 23 homers and posted an .868 OPS.
• Mike Fontenot, who went from Lil' Babe Ruth to lil' bitch in one season.
• Ryan Theriot, who absolutely sucks in September.
• Aaron Miles, who hit 15 percentage points higher than his listed weight.

Jaramillo will make approximately one-third of Miles' salary.

While some might dismiss the hiring as a placebo effect or as a patch work job.  Those are the same people whose pants tightened when the thought of Dave Duncan coaching the Cubs' pitching staff crossed their mind.

Welcome to Chicago, Rudy.  Now, may you be blessed with talented hitters for the next three seasons.

Alert Jim Hendry: Rudy Jaramillo (Not A Dozen Glazed Donuts) Is The Must-Have Item This Off-Season

The Cubs gave their bats a lot of stupid looks throughout the course of the 2009 season.

The Chicago Cubs dismissed hitting instructor Von Joshua, who proved to be the most meaningless mid-season acquisition in the history, on Sunday.  On Monday, the chatter of Ryne Sandberg possibly replacing him began, but was shot down shortly thereafter.

Remember when I questioned the vastly popular idea that Dave Duncan could cure cancer whatever ails the Cubs' pitching staff?  Yeah, that was fun.  And while Dave Kaplan and Bob Verdi think that Duncan and Tony La Russa are basesball's top free agents, they totally are overlooking the guy that could help fix the Cubs' biggest problem.

Mark DeRosa was one of Rudy Jaramillo's star pupils in Texas. OMG! Mark DeRosa!

 
Texas Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo's contract expires after the season, and T.R. Sullivan suggests he could be highly sought after if and when he hits the open market.  If Jaramillo does not return to the Rangers in 2010, the Cubs should quickly scoop him up, bring him in and sit him down with the team's hitters.

I know the Cubs have already interviewed minor league hitting instructor Dave Keller for the position, but if the Cubs look at the production it has gotten from its minor leaguers that have made it to the big show, they might want to reconsider giving Keller a similar promotion.

Jaramillo is one of baseball's most respected hitting gurus, yet it was a down year in Texas.  The Rangers struck out a club record 1,253 times, had a team OBP of .320 and hit a collective .260, but at the same time, Jaramillo oversaw an offense that scored 782 runs and posted a .764 OPS.  Compare that with the Cubs, who scored 707 runs and posted a .738 OPS only one season after being among the league leaders in each of those categories.

By the way 782 runs and .764 OPS would have ranked fourth in the National League.  For the record, the Cubs ranked 10th in both categories in 2009.

Jaramillo comes highly acclaimed and has been credited for the hitting success of Jeff Bagwell, Juan Gonzalez, Pudge Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Michael Young and ... wait for it ... Mark DeRosa.

DeRosa was a .246 hitter before busting out in a big way under Jaramillo's watch in 2006.  That season, DeRosa set career highs in home runs, runs batted in, doubles, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and total bases.  It was a career year for DeRosa, who flipped that into a three-year deal with the Cubs.

You guys know the rest of the story after that.

Heck, even Alfonso Soriano posted an .814 OPS and 64 dingers in his two years under Jaramillo in Texas.

Another reclamation project Jaramillo helped transform was ... oh the suspense is killing me ... Milton Bradley.  Crazy Uncle Milton had himself quite a one-year career in Texas, posting a .321/.436/563/.999 line with 22 HRs, 32 doubles and 77 ribbies.  Like DeRosa, Bradley parlayed that success into a three-year contract with the Cubs.

That story didn't end so well, I guess.

First baseman Derrek Lee suggested the Cubs didn't need to do much tweaking in the offseason, especially if the team could get a full, healthy season out of third baseman Aramis Ramirez while returning Geovany Soto and Alfonso Soriano back to their 2008 form.  If there is anyone that could do it, Jaramillo would be the guy.

But, you know, a good lead-off hitter and a true run producer wouldn't be bad additions, either.