Daaaaa Bears Blog
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2017 12:27 am
It has only been a few days, but new GM Bobby Fuhrman is making his presence known. The Bears have announced a re-shuffling of the middle infield and a four time All-Star will be relegated to bench duty despite a $31M salary. That's right, the first official presser coming from the Bears front office is that Rafael Suarez will no longer serve as the team's second baseman and there are rumors that he might not be a candidate for DH role either. It's looking likely that the Bears are content to let his $31M salary ride the bench and pay the $7.75M buyout on next year's salary. The California native, known as a clubhouse leader, is taking the news in stride and embracing his mentor role as the Bears look to rebuild. A proud yet humble ending to a career that's seen an .860 OPS with a career WAR of 58.3 seems to be slowly coming to a close.
When asked of the rationale for the move Fuhrman responded, "I respect the career Rafael has put together, but it is time to see what Javier Torres can do on an everyday basis. I don't think Rafael is suited to play the field much anymore anyways and Bryan Cleveland was out of place at shortstop. Our baseball analytics department certainly doesn't want to see Suarez and Cleveland up the middle together. We are very excited about the defensive upgrade we're going to see with Cleveland/Torres manning those spots in their natural positions."
Javier Torres peaked as the #10 rated prospect in the PEBA back in 2019 and finally broke through to the Major League level last year. In just 89 plate appearances, Torres slashed his was to a .256/.341/.397 line with 2 stolen bags. He should continue to develop his bat, but his move to shortstop and the corresponding shift of Cleveland has extreme groundball pitching ace Neil Maes ready to sign on the dotted line.
In Summary:
Rafael Suarez - To the bench you go
Javier Torres - Named starting shortstop
Bryan Cleveland - Moving from shortstop to second base
Neil Maes - In contract year, digging the new infield
When asked of the rationale for the move Fuhrman responded, "I respect the career Rafael has put together, but it is time to see what Javier Torres can do on an everyday basis. I don't think Rafael is suited to play the field much anymore anyways and Bryan Cleveland was out of place at shortstop. Our baseball analytics department certainly doesn't want to see Suarez and Cleveland up the middle together. We are very excited about the defensive upgrade we're going to see with Cleveland/Torres manning those spots in their natural positions."
Javier Torres peaked as the #10 rated prospect in the PEBA back in 2019 and finally broke through to the Major League level last year. In just 89 plate appearances, Torres slashed his was to a .256/.341/.397 line with 2 stolen bags. He should continue to develop his bat, but his move to shortstop and the corresponding shift of Cleveland has extreme groundball pitching ace Neil Maes ready to sign on the dotted line.
In Summary:
Rafael Suarez - To the bench you go
Javier Torres - Named starting shortstop
Bryan Cleveland - Moving from shortstop to second base
Neil Maes - In contract year, digging the new infield