Second base is perhaps the position the Cubs could most readily upgrade at headed into next season. Mike Fontenot was given the job out of Spring Training, and rightly so - it looked like he would be far better than Aaron Miles. But he hasn’t been - he’s been atrocious as a hitter and while he plays good defense, it hasn’t been enough to make up for his bat. The Cubs shored up the position a little more when Jeff Baker came aboard - the right-hander has started 30 games at second for the Cubs and has been hitting lights out since he came aboard.

But Baker is a flawed player. He hits lefties very well, to the tune of a .916 career OPS, but he hits righties poorly, only OPSing .728 off them. Since Baker is a righty and Fontenot bats left-handed, one option for next season, it would seem, would be to platoon Baker and Fontenot at second. But Fontenot isn’t hitting lefties or righties very well, OPSing .685 off right-handed pitching this season, so he doesn’t seem like an ideal platoon player at this stage.

One could discount this season somewhat, though. Fontenot has had a rough go of it, having to spend 50 games at 3rd base and learn a new position. I don’t want to assume that’s the only reason he’s hitting poorly, but it may very well be a part of it. If he were to stay at second base all season his numbers might be more in line with his career numbers, where he OPSes close to .800 against right-handers.

Still, it’s hard to justify a platoon where the left-handed half may not be able to hit right-handed pitching. You’re giving up two roster spots for questionable production. So the Cubs are going to have to at least look at other options. Some Cubs fans will probably ask, “what about Bobby Scales,” but for purposes of this post I’m going to assume there’s a reason a 32-year-old rookie didn’t get a chance to play before.

The two obvious outside options seem to me to be Chone Figgins and Mark DeRosa. It’s rumored, of course, that the Cubs want Figgins. And there were rumors that they might try to reacquire DeRosa mid-season, before he went to the Cardinals. But both players will be free agents, and I’m not sure I like either one as a full-time second baseman. Here’s a graph of the career offensive numbers for each of the four players I’ve listed, by Weighted On Base Average:

I’d discount Baker’s numbers a little bit there - I think they’re contingent on getting most of his at-bats against left-handed pitching, and so that’s only playing about 30% of the time. But still, all four players are in about the same range. And then you look at what they’ve done as second basemen, by UZR/150:

That’s in runs above or below average over the course of a full season. Baker is a little bit above average, Fontenot is way above average, and Figgins and DeRosa have both been bad at second in their careers.

I worry a little less about Figgins’s defense than DeRosa’s. Figgins hasn’t played a lot of second base, and never consistently. And the fact that he’s a very good third baseman leads me to believe he could at least be a middling second baseman if given a chance to find his rhythm there - second is supposedly harder, according to the defensive spectrum, but I’m not sure it’s that much harder. Plus, he could certainly move to the outfield, or take over third base for the Cubs if Aramis Ramirez opts out of his contract after next season, so I’m not sure it’s a big deal if it turns out his defense can’t stick at second.

DeRosa, meanwhile has played the position more, so I’m more confident he’s just not a great second baseman. He’s also 34 and putting up his worst offensive season in years, leading me to believe he’s declining. So I’d stay away from him.

So that leaves Figgins as the likely free-agent signing. It’s going to cost a lot of money to get Figgins on the Cubs - maybe in the ten million per year range. He’s been worth that much almost every year of his career, but again, most of that time wasn’t at second base. So it would be a somewhat risky move for the Cubs to sign Figgins to play second every day. They might get their money’s worth, but they might not.

I think the decision comes down to money. I suspect Figgins will be better than a Baker/Fontenot platoon could be next season, but I’m not sure by how much. And Figgins is older than either of those players. If Ricketts intends to keep raising payroll, Figgins might be a good target. But if he’s only increasing it a little, the money may be spent better somewhere else, and a Fontenot/Baker platoon might be best. It’s cheap and at the cost of two roster spots you get great defense and a poor bat against righties and a great bat and average defense against lefties.