Please, Jim Hendry, I'm Begging You...

If you will all indulge me in a baseball-related vignette...

Those of you who were around the law school today may have heard me ranting about this article. (Original source article here, hat tip to MLB Trade Rumors)

For those of you too lazy to read it, it suggests that the Cubs may indulge Manager Lou Piniella's left-handed-power-hitting-outfielder jones by signing Jim Edmonds, recently released from the San Diego Padres and formerly of National League Central Division rival St. Louis Cardinals.

I cannot even begin to emphasize how terrible of an idea this is. But hey, I'll take a shot:

A) The San Diego Padres have a run differential of 128-173. Opponents have outscored them by 45 runs this season. I don't have Baseball Prospectus' preseason PECOTA prediction for runs scored handy, but it suggested that they would go 79-83, suggesting a 48%-52% run differential for the season. One major reason for this? The presence of Jim Edmonds.

B) Jim Edmonds is 37 years old.

C) St. Louis gave Edmonds away last winter while agreeing to pay part of his salary. Generally speaking, trading for/signing guys other teams are so desperate to get rid of that they agree to pay part of their salary is not good business sense (see, ex., Monroe, Craig, all of 2007 season).*

D) Jim Edmonds' 2008 line: .178/.265/.233. His 2007 line: .252/.325/.403. His 2006 line: .257/.350/.471. His 2005 line: .263/.385/.533. See a trend in those numbers?

E) Super-nerd stat time: From 2005 through 2008, Edmonds' EqA: .307, .285, .260, .187. (.260 is average). From 2005 through 2008, Edmonds' WARP3: 10.4, 4.6, 3.8, 0. Similar declines in both WARP1 and WARP2. Ditto for defensive numbers. About the only thing that didn't change was his K/BB rate, except this year (and as with all 2008 numbers, there's a SMALL SAMPLE SIZE ALERT attached to them).

Now, the obvious point I've been trying to make with all these stats is that Edmonds simply isn't a productive player any more. Granted, his production this year should not be this bad - his BABIP is .227 (average is .290), so he's probably "due" to improve his overall numbers. Of course, Edmonds' BABIP has also been consistently declining at the same rate as the rest of his numbers over the past few years. Edmonds, though, being a formerly dominant left-handed hitting power-hitting outfielder, has emerged on the Cubs' radar to replace/platoon with Felix Pie and Reed Johnson. Which brings me to my next point...

F) This plan, if it came to fruition, would take valuable at-bats away from Chicago's best outfield prospect. Now, I will grant you that Felix Pie is having a rough start to the year. He's largely been replaced as a starter by Reed Johnson, who was rather inexplicably cut by the Blue Jays to start the year (Note: I am also not a fan of Reed Johnson being a starter - great utility guy, though). As of this morning, though, Felix Pie has 264 career major league plate appearances. You know how he gets better, how he becomes more comfortable at the plate? BY GETTING MORE PLATE APPEARANCES. Giving up on one of your best prospects and sending him back down to Triple-A (where he was mashing minor league pitchers, by the way) in favor of an ancient 37-year-old with bad knees is the definition of short-sighted madness.

I know the Cubs have a real chance to contend this year, and that they are probably only a piece or two away from making a spot in the postseason certain. That said, sending Felix Pie back down to AAA is probably not going to help his development at all, nor will sending Jim Edmonds to patrol the outfield help the Cubs' postseason chances. If you're really that hard up for a final piece to the puzzle, make a Godfather offer to Cincinnati for Ken Griffey, Jr. (and send Kosuke Fukudome out to patrol center), talk to the Marlins about Luis Gonzalez on a one-year rental, or try to grab Matt Stairs from the Blue Jays. Hell, you could even try to talk the Giants out of Randy Winn if you really wanted to. I'm not advocating any of those moves (although seeing Griffey in a Cubs uniform would be pretty cool), but they would all be better than signing Jim Edmonds. Plus, let's not forget that if you want a young, left-handed hitting center fielder who plays good defense and has the capacity to be a star, you already have that in Felix Pie. Please, Jim, I'm begging you. You've made so many strides this year (signing Fukudome especially) toward allowing me to forgive you for the craptastic Juan Pierre and Craig Monroe trades and the Jacque Jones and Jason Marquis signings. Don't put yourself back to square one with me.

*I know, I know - gross overgeneralization. It's still a pretty damn bad idea, though.