Edmonds and Johnson raking on the North Side
Has anyone noticed that Jim Edmonds has quietly hit 13 home runs since he was acquired the Cubs in May, and has surreptitiously resurrected his career?
Talk about moves that paid off! Jim Hendry’s astute mid-season acquisitions Reed Johnson and Edmonds are exhibit A that sometimes lefty-righty platoons actually do work.
Playing exclusively against right-handed pitchers, Edmonds is batting .275 with the aforementioned 13 dingers and a .936 OPS since he came over to the Cubs. Edmonds has also put to rest fears that he can no longer play centerfield, playing at least passible defense and even making the occasional spectacular play in center for the Cubbies while avoiding injury so far (perhaps the extra days off when lefties pitch helps).
Meanwhile, Reed Johnson, who now only plays against left-handers, is batting .318 with a .410 on-base percentage and an .865 OPS when batting against lefties.
Put that together and you have some truly impressive offensive production out of the centerfield spot, cobbled together from other teams’ scrap heaps.
July 31st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
What a timely post. You might want to edit this to read 13 homers for Edmonds, he hit 2 today against the Brew Crew. He hit a solo and followed it up with a grand slam, to put up the Cubs’ first 5 runs. These 2 guys have been awesome for the Cubs. Reed Johnson has been a guy that’s been extremely valuable due to Soriano’s injuries. This team would definitely not be as good without these two guys. Hendry has really made some great acquisitions this year if you include picking up Harden and Gaudin and not giving up anyone that was going to make a difference this season or possibly ever. If the Cubs are playing late into October it will be in part due to these guys producing.
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July 31st, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Oh, right you are, Melissa! I had started this post this morning, and I hadn’t even seen that Edmonds had hit two more! Wow!
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July 31st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
As a lifelong Cubs fan, I can honestly say I didn’t want the Cubs to pursue Edmonds… mainly because he killed the Cubs so much while wearing a Cardinals uniform. I’m happy to be wrong though and I’m happy Edmonds is playing a lot better than he was for the Padres. One thing though… I’m pretty sure the Cubs just picked him up after he passed through waivers. They didn’t trade anyone for him. Nice post though, and what a great game today for Edmonds!
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July 31st, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Yeah, Wes is right:
http://umpbump.com/press/padres-release-jim-edmonds/
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/05/cubs-considerin.html
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July 31st, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Good call, Wes. I’ve amended the post.
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August 8th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Edmonds hit two out today. I really thought that this guy was done. Whoops.
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