Posts tagged Trade

Pitchers and catchers will be reporting for work only one week from today. The Cubs have a lot of questions that need to be answered going to this season:

Can Mike Quade continue his success this season like had at the end of last season as an interm-manager?

Will players play up to their salaries (Soriano, Fukudome, Ramirez, and Zambrano, I’m loooking at you)?

Will Pena rebound hitting in Wrigley and with the help of Rudy Jaramillo?

How will the Cubs handle a rotation with all right-handed pitchers and what other options do they have?

I will be start a five-part series this week examining how I would personally build the final 25 man roster for the Cubs. These parts will include: Rotation, Bullpen, Infield, Outfield, Bench, and Minor League outlook. In my first part of the series, I’m looking at the rotation and how it should be put together to start the season.

The following starting pitchers were invited to spring training as non-roster invitees: Braden Looper and Todd Wellemeyer. These two pitchers are back of the rotation pitchers, which happens to be place where the biggest unanswered questions reside.

The way I see it, three of the five spots are spoken for entirely, with a fourth being a player’s to lose. The opening day starter will be newly acquired Matt Garza followed by Ryan Dempster and Carlos Zambrano. I like Zambrano down lower in the rotation to take of any sort of pressure off of him. He ended the season strong when there was nothing left to gain for the season. Hopefully, being lower in the rotation will help him keep that sort of mentality.

The fourth spot is Randy Wells to lose. He’s had some pretty good success on the mound after converting from catcher. He thinks he tried to jump to high too fast season, which lead to a poor sophomore campaign. He’s also had some pretty poor run support in his short career.

That leaves the following hurlers to fill the final spot: Carlos Silva, Jeff Samardzija, James Russell, Casey Coleman, Braden Looper, and Todd Wellemeyer.

Carlos Silva was involved in a “I’ll take your junk if you take my junk” trade with the Mariners last season, and it turned into ‘gold’ for the Cubs in comparison to what Milton Bradley has done for the M’s. If Silva doesn’t make a start this year, that trade will end up in the Cubs favor. Congrats Jim Hendry, you actually might have gotten something right for once. The change of scenery did Silva well last season by starting off the season 8-0 and an ERA in the 2′s. He slowly came down to earth and ended the season 10-6, and ended up on the DL

Jeff Samardzija is out of options and will need to make the roster, be designated for assignment, or be traded. I’m just not sure how I feel about Samardzija. He had a fantastic rookie season as a back-end bullpen pitcher in 2008. Since, he’s been up, he’s been down, he’s relieved and he’s started. Over the last two seasons, the Cubs have eaten up all his minor league options. I would have no problems with him being the fifth starter, if he’s figured out this off-season on what he’s missing. His upside is better than what Carlos Silva can bring to the table. He did pitch fairly well at the end of the season as starter going 2-1 in three starts. He had a good year at AAA going 11-3 (7-2 as a starter), but his ERA was still over 4. The Cubs could actually trade him in hopes of getting one to two young minor league players in return as well. Just figuring that’s a fifth pitcher, those stats would be more than fine. I like his chances at making the rotation.

Casey Coleman is a third generation MLB’er and found great success at the end of the season as a starter opposed to the bullpen featuring a 4-2 record with a 3.36 ERA. He’s not flashy or overpowering, but considered a finesse Greg Maddux type pitcher. That could prove to be a good change of pace in the rotation. I would imagine that he’ll begin the season in AAA as a starter and will fill in as injuries come up in the season. I like this kid a lot and I think he’s got a bright future as middle to late pitcher in the rotation.

Russell spent most of the season as the lefty reliever due to the John Grabow injury. It was a good, solid rookie campaign for him. He’s the lone left handed option for the rotation this season, so it’s planned he’ll be stretched out this spring as a starter. He’ll start the season in AAA as a starter, and will fill in as needed. I think with the number of lefties vying for bullpen spots, he’ll be an odd man out in the bullpen.

Finally, that leaves us with non-roster invitees, Braden Looper and Todd Wellemeyer. They both signed minor league deals, so if they don’t make the rotation, they have options at accepting a minor league assignment to add depth in case injuries occur. I don’t think either of these two pitchers will begin the season on the 25 man roster. It’s possible that Looper, with a strong spring, could find a home on a different rotation, so I’d look for him to be cut and picked up by another team if he pitches well. If he doesn’t he might be fine accepting a spot on the AAA team to build up his strength again. If this situation occurs, I’d look to him as the potential first call-up in an injury occurs in the staff. I think he’ll pitch reasonably well and find a new home by the end of spring training. Wellemeyer as originally drafted by the Cubs back in 1999. He’ll begin the season in the minors, but even in the minors, the Cubs have so many better, younger pitchers.

Andrew Cashner was originally thought to stretch out the innings this spring as a possible candidate for the rotation due to the acquisition of Kerry Wood, but with the trade of Matt Garza, I don’t think Cashner moving to the rotation even needs to be a consideration anymore. I’m aboard the Andrew Cashner train. He had two bad outings last season that ballooned his ERA where he gave up 12 earned runs in 1.1 innings. If you take out those outings, his ERA is under three. His effortless heat is something to be desired in the pen in conjunction with Wood, Marmol and Marshall, but with that said, he’s spent his short amount of time in the minors mostly as a starter, so it would be something he’s use to. With the amount of starting pitching on the roster now, his talents can help shore up one of the potentially best “end boss” bullpens in the majors.

Taking this all in, here is how I would construct the rotation:

Matt Garza
Ryan Dempster
Carlos Zambrano
Randy Wells
Jeff Samardzija

This leaves no left handed pitchers in the rotation, but prior to signing Ted Lilly as a free agent in 2007, There was only one season since 2000 where they had consistent LHP in the rotation for the entire season. That was in 2003 with Sean Estes, and we all know how that season ended. Rich Hill and Sean Marshall have been in and out of the rotation, but as far as a year long pitcher, Estes was about it, so I don’t think it’s necessarily as big of a deal. With Russell, Grabow, Maine and Marshall, there could be plenty of lefties coming out of the bullpen this season.