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• Wrigley Rooftop Directory
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Derrek Lee - Hee Seop Choi trade IIIThursday, July 15, 2004
If you knew me when the Derrek Lee - Hee Seop Choi trade went down, (before I started this Cubdom thing), you would have heard me complaining about how much I liked Hee Seop and how I thought this was another Rafael Palmeiro trade, where the Cubs were giving up a potential All-Star for years to come in return for an opportunity to win now. At the time, I was resigned to knowing with my head that the trade was necessary to win this year, but disappointed because Hee Seop was a Cubs farm product, and I wanted to see him stay. In fact, I still feel this way about the trade. Please don't get me wrong, looking at the numbers now, I still would have made this trade, but it doesn't make the pain subside. At the end of April and May I wrote a post comparing D. Lee's performance with his trade-brother Hee Seop Choi.When we last left the D. Lee / Hee Seop analysis, I had this to say... going to the way, way, way, back machine.
Which brings us to the here and now. At the ASB, our two heroic first basemen are pretty well matched on the percentages. D. Lee has a sizable advantage in batting average, and a marginal lead in SLG. Hee Seop has a decent sized lead in OBP and OPS. However, the major difference is that Lee has been more durable, and has had more opportunities. Lee has nearly 60 more plate appearances than Hee Seop and has hit twice as many doubles, leading to a significant lead in RBI's (49 vs. 35). However, the two are tied in Runs scored, which kind of indicates that Lee is the last consistent hitter in the Cubs' attack while Hee Seop is being moved across the plate by his teammates. Despite being pretty equal in the mid-year numbers, Derrek Lee caught fire again in June, as his reputation indicated.
Indeed, the annual Hee Seop Choi, post april slump has set in. The Cubs look to have achieved what they wanted when they traded for Lee. They have a more consistent bat heading into the Summer months, and the glovework between the two isn't even comparable. Derrek has clearly been superior to Choi since June 1, and frankly his numbers on the year are better than Hee Seop's as well. The Salary difference however might come back to bite the Cubs later on, as we could sure use the spare $5 million this winter. On the other hand, if the Cubs are to win a World Series this year, Lee's added performance over Hee Seop will be one of the major components. This post is in no way declaring one team "a winner" of the trade, and another team "the loser." In fact, both players are pretty young and their careers and length of stay with their team will have a bigger impact in deciding who won, than the June 2004 statistics. However, both sides will tell you that they got exactly what they bargained for... and thats a relief. The Second Half Starts Tonight and all I have to say is GO CUBBIES! Posted by Byron at July 15, 2004 5:18 PM
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