I See a Theme Developing

Things have been going pretty well lately for the Cubs, so while we wait for whatever freak accident will pop up next, I have to wonder where the Jake Fox Chronicles will take us next.

Remember, this is a guy that was beating the hell out of the ball all spring long, but there was no room for him on the roster because he is such a bad fielder and we already had Micah Hoffpauir destined to make the Opening Day roster. So he went down to AAA and kept beating the hell out of the ball.

Milton Bradley got hurt early on, but the Cubs didn't want to put him on the DL, so Jake stayed in Iowa and kept beating the hell out of the ball.

Then Aramis Ramirez went down, but the Cubs didn't think that Jake could handle third base, so we were treated to Snap, Crackle, and Pop on the infield with Derrek Lee, who suddenly looked like Andre the Giant out there by comparison.

The Cubs were afraid to play Fox in the outfield, surely he wouldn't be able to handle playing third base. He wouldn't catch anything out there. So he stayed in Iowa and beat the hell out of the ball.

Finally, the Cubs told Aaron Miles that he was hurt and they brought up Fox to get some looks at third. He started almost immediately beating the hell out of the ball, and as a bonus, he was catching and throwing the ball pretty well too.

I may not be a baseball expert on par with He Who Must Not Be Named down on the South side, but when I saw Casey McGehee trying to play defense and failing miserably, that is what I had expected from Fox after hearing so much about his deficiencies. I believe I remember seeing Matt, from The Friendly Blogfines make a comment that McGehee was making Fox look like Brooks Robinson, and he was absolutely right.

Since Jake has been called up, he has continued to beat the hell out of the ball, posting a line of .315/.356/.565. He has five homeruns and 21 RBIs in only 104 plate appearances. If you extrapolate that out to a 550 PA season, he would be on pace for 26 HRs and 111 RBIs.

On the fielding side, he has made two errors all year while taking his supposedly stone glove to play third base, first base, right field, left field, and catcher. Yes, the Cubs who didn't think he could play any one position at all, have had him in FIVE different positions so far this year.

The golden god, Mark DeRosa played six positions last year, but that includes one inning at shortstop and two innings at first base. Fox has six innings in two games at catcher as his smallest sample size. Catcher. Supposedly one of the hardest positions to play and we have Jake Fox out there calling pitches and blocking balls in the dirt for a pitching staff with some nasty stuff, and he still goes out and beats the hell out of the ball.

So what can we make of this? Are the Cubs getting too dependent on a guy who is overachieving his skills in the field? Do the Cubs scouts not know how to judge defensive talent? Would the Cubs have been running away with the division if they had just stuck Fox at third when Aramis first went down?

I honestly don't know, but Fox has been one of the few things that has gone right for the Cubs this year and I thought I should point it out. Keep beating the hell out of the ball, son, that's why you're here.