According to Bruce Levine, the Cubs are interested in Pedro Martinez because Rich Harden's "struggles have team officials nervous." According to Levine, the Cubs have watched a couple of Martinez's workouts in the Dominican. They realize he is a five-inning pitcher, at the most, at this stage in his career but "throwing at 83 or 84 miles an hour with his variety of off-speed pitches might get Pedro by a majority of big league hitters for a couple of months."
The Cubs are concerned about Rich Harden and his command. Harden has given up as many home runs already this season as he did a year ago. Levine reported if Harden continues to be inconsistent they might need another starter or help in the bullpen.
Pedro Martinez could be used in the bullpen according to Levine as either a setup man or a closer "if the back end of the Cubs' staff begins to falter in the dog days of the season. Martinez is smart enough to be able to reinvent himself as a reliever and outfox hitters for one or two innings."
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The rumor that will not die.
no kidding....at the same time though, I think they better get it over with already, because the longer he's down in the D.R., the longer it'll take for him to make an impact over here.
If the Cubs are so dead set on only giving Patton an outing every 2 weeks, yet are in a "win now" mode, it's really counterproductive to have him on the roster, especially with all the games in a row we have coming up. Either you DFA him, or play him, and it's pretty clear they have no intention of playing him.
Similarly, with Aaron Miles, either you play him everyday, or you get rid of him. Making $2.5 million, outside of Derrek Lee, he's the highest paid infielder we have right now. Either DFA him because of ineffectiveness and bring up a more deserving Bobby Scales, or someone like Tony Thomas, or play him everyday (which has OBVIOUSLY NOT worked out too well for us).
I'm kind of pissed off with this dead roster space we have. Soriano is hurt, and not performing. Bradley and Soto were hurt earlier this season. Yet, every last one of them refused to go on the DL, thus hand-cuffing our team, playing one or two players short at times, and being forced to use Zambrano countless times as a pinch hitter.
The only position players that we've placed on the DL (at least from my memory) have been Miles, Freel, and ARAM. ARAM was obvious. I think Miles was more "ineffective-itis" that he went on the DL, and Freel....Well, last we heard of him, he was rehabbing in AAA, and now he seems to have vanished. Did I miss something while I was out of town?
Just DL Soriano, and bring up Fuld, Adducci (both Fuld and Adducci have 18 SB thus far), Deeds, or Colvin. Fuld would make more sense since he's on the 40-man, but Deeds, historically has had fairly decent power, and did alright for us in Spring Training. It's such a shame Brad Snyder fractured his wrist, otherwise, with his power, he'd be the ideal choice.
As I said, the dead weight on the roster with injured players is really killing this team, and we need some leadership to step up, and tell these guys, "either you go on the DL, or you'll be a part time player the rest of the year"
Aaron:
I agree with all but the Fuld call up.
On a side note, In college did you play with/pitch against Ben Zobrist? Have you seen what he has done this year? Now that is a guy I would love to see the Cubs get. I thought you may have mentioned him a year ago or so.
Actually, yes....Did I mention that before or something? I can't remember....my wife loves to mention to people that I struck him out in college....LOL...not like it's a big accomplishment, considering he hit against hundreds of pitchers, but nevertheless, it'll be a cool story to tell my kids some day if he ends up becoming a star.
Zobrist is awesome. He was actually kind of intimidating, I can remember that...because he came with a lot of hype, so I knew I had to be careful with him...plus he was fairly tall, like a Cal Ripken Jr. I would love to see the Cubs go after him, and if memory serves me correctly, I believe he was actually a Cubs fan. My brother's best friend was a teammate of his in college, and so he got to hang out with Ben a few times, and I'd have to ask my brother for sure, but I think he went to several Cubs games with him before he transferred to Dallas Baptist. So, it'd probably be a neat homecoming sort of story. I just don't see it happening in any possible way. He's too valuable for the Rays, and unless they fall completely out of contention, he's not going anywhere. He can play virtually anywhere in the IF or corner OF.
On a side note...Our 2nd round selection, LeMahieu had quite a game in the College World Series last night, hitting a home run, a game tying double in the 9th, and scoring the winning run in extras after he walked, stole second, and advanced to 3rd on the wild throw from the catcher.
Hopefully we can sign this kid...seems to be a gamer.
I think it's very dark where Levine has his head on this one. He gives not one good or credible reason why the Cubs would sign Pedro. The last successful guy who's fastball topped out at 83-84 in the bigs was.....Hoyt Wilhelm. And Hoyt only threw his once every twenty innings or so.
I'm exaggerating some, but the Cubs big need almost certainly won't be right handed pitching or even pitching in general--even if Harden's arm falls off. Samardzija is a better five inning bet than Pedro. Marshall is too.
Finding a proven lefty reliever is a higher priority in my view. If it happens (as I hope it does) that we are legit contenders in a couple of weeks, I think JH goes for a proven bat and the lefty reliever.
The ownership situation may enable only a minor "involvement" vs. a significant "commitment". To understand the difference, envision a breakfast of ham and eggs. The chicken is involved and the pig is committed. LOL
nooooooooooo !!!!!!!!
Stupid !!!!
Remember how well it worked to bring back pitchers at the end of their careers like Traschel and Lieber ??? UGH
sooooo cub !!!
I hope this becomes the Brian Roberts of this season. Pedro really makes no sense whatsoever...unless he's willing to take a minor league contract like the Yankees
were interested in giving him...and if he's willing to do that...between the Yankees and Cubs...he should go to the Yankees.
Part 1: This I believe. The existence and relationship of an Alpha Dog with his team--or possibly, a couple of semi-alpha dogs with their teams--is/are a lot more critical to team success than is generally realized. Pujols is the ultimate Alpha Dog because he is the dominant player in all of baseball, and his underplayed "style" pecludes "stylin' in others. He inspires "blue collar" success.
We formerly had two "Semi-Alpha Dogs" in Aram and DLee--both not quite ultra dominant, both having "blue collar" attributes and both very low on "stylin'". Soriano came to the ballyard as an Alpha Dog. He is one long on "stylin'" and inspiring only when he is streakin'. Aram and DLee were OK with subordinating their Semi-Alphas, because they preferred to limit their dominance to their performance on the field.
Soriano's Alpha has proven not to play well in terms of team success, in part because his highly productive streaks are not frequent enough. In the 8 cylinder engine, Soriano causes sputtering too often. DLee is now stepping up his Alpha and igniting some other team cylinders. We can only hope that Aram will too because Soriano has flunked his Alpha role.
Part 2: Some ideas are fast and others slow. These may be half-fast. If it turns out in a couple of weeks that JH participated in two deals that turned out badly, why not reverse them? Cubs get Woody, Aaron Laffey (LRP), Rick Rundles (LRP) and AAA third baseman, Wes Hodges, and the Indians get Bradley, Hart, Barney and Colvin. Bradley and Wood's contracts are very similar in terms of amounts, years and options.
Both teams could could continue to be embarassed by the Bradley and Wood deals--although Mr. and Mrs. Nots little boy, Maybe, is still lurking. Laffey and Rundles are lefties and Laffey can be a ground ball machine out of the pen. He's been starting with so-so effectiveness and is coming off the 15 day DL for an oblique strain. Hodges was an early draft pick with power who is struggling at AAA. But at age 24 and with a line of .275-1-15 in 102 AB's, he could still regain his power stroke. I think Colvin and Hodges have similar upsides and Hodges could be handy if Vitters moves to first.
I agreed with everything you said, until you mentioned the Indians trade. They would trade Wood, but not take on Bradley. The reason is simple...they want to offload contracts. They'd love to rid themselves of Hafner too. If they get rid of DeRosa, land a king's ransom for Cliff Lee, then they'll have enough talent to compete without big contracts. The only big contracts they'd have would be Sizemore (who had his arby years bought out for a reasonable amount) and Victor Martinez. The prospects you spoke of absolutely make sense. Hart, Barney, and Colvin really don't seem to fit our plans for the future. Bradley doesn't either, as he's more suited for the AL with the DH. By the way....I know you're a baseball purist like me....Did it not piss you off the way Bradley went up there last night to pinch hit, and looked completely disinterested in trying to help the team win. It was almost like, "you didn't start me, so I'm going to pout" sort of thing, as he half-heartedly struck out swinging at that pitch in the dirt.
Anyway, back to your ideas....Outside of Bradley, they'd have every reason in the world to do that deal. The other problem might be that Laffey, Hodges, and Rundles actually fit their future plans with their ages.
just my two cents...but I like your thinking
I liken Soriano to a shapeshifter.
One day he is a dog, one day he is a wolf.
Since I live in TX Rangers country, I have seen Edwin Jackson pitch more than once and know that the Cubs are in for a VERY challenging game tonight. Jackson is considered to be right behind Verlander on the Tigers' staff, but he has pitched more innings and has a better ERA (2.39) than does Verlander. Look for some strikeouts since Jackson has 72 K's and only 25 walks in 94 innings so far this year. If it's true that the Cubs are destined for trouble against GOOD pitchers, then tonight's contest could turn ugly for this mostly inconsistent Cub offense. Sounds as if I don't have very high expectations for this game...well, that's right; sorry about that but recent performances don't make me very confident.
no kidding...combine that with a somewhat pitcher's park in Comerica Park, and we're screwed. Unless Z has a no-hitter (even then, our offense might not show up), we don't stand a chance.
Every time this season, I've had people jump all over me, telling me, "I told you we'd break out"..."I told you it's not over"...blah blah blah...I keep telling them, you have Soriano, Lee, Bradley, Soto, Fontenot, etc. putting together a streak of solid games (not just 4 games), and the team putting together a stretch longer than 8 games of solid offense, and I'll say that we might be pulling out of our funk. But we're not.
This team continues to underachieve...and underachieve very badly at that. Lee is the only offense we have right now, and he's impressed me with his consistency, bringing his average almost to the .290 range, which is VERY impressive, considering where he was last month. I still don't believe we have what it takes to even make the playoffs. We're a power hitter short (don't waste your time hoping ARAM comes back 100%, because even he was quoted as saying that...so don't expect much from him). Soriano is garbage. Even if he goes on one of his patented tears of hitting 10 home runs in a month, he'll go silent by the time it really counts in September and October, as his streaks are usually every other month---combine that with his injury, and it looks ugly for us in LF.
Lee can't possibly continue this power surge, so I expect he'll settle in around 20 hr on the year, which isn't much for a 1B. Bradley is an absolute joke, and we got the twirling "Cinderella" Fukudome holding this team back as well.
The name of the game right now is offense. Offense trumps good pitching, because you can still get that big home run when you need it....when a guy like Vazquez is giving up singles, and makes one mistake, right down the middle to a guy like Andres Blanco...If it were Fontenot circa 2008 in a bench role, it would've either been a grand slam or a bases clearing double. If it were DeRosa, it'd be much the same.
With any lineup that includes the likes of Blanco, Fontenot, Miles, Bradley, Fukudome, and a non-streaking Soriano...your team is in for a collapse of epic proportions. There simply is not enough power in that group, much less propensity to even get hits. So on any given day, you have about 60-70% of your lineup that can't drive runners in, and doesn't have enough power to overcome good pitching, much less bad pitching. If you look purely on last season's stats, our main "power threats" should be Soriano, Bradley, Lee, Soto, and ARAM. With Bradley coming off a career year of 22 hr (I believe 20 hr is the bare minimum bench mark to even be in a discussion of "power hitter"), it was clear he wouldn't show the same power this year...so that's down one. ARAM is injured...down 2....and Lee was right at 20 hr last year, capping off 3 consecutive seasons of dwindling power totals. (granted one was due to injury..but still)He's averaging about 4 hr, 12 RBI each month this season, which would put him on pace for 24 hr, 72 RBI.
We won't even have a player with over 100 RBI this year...Not a chance....I will bet all my money on it. We might not even have anyone with 85 RBI...which is quite likely at this point. In fact, Lee, with an estimated 72 RBI might just be our team leader in that category.
It's time to get some offense, and outside of Josh Vitters, Rhee, and Hak Ju-Lee, I could care less who we have to give up in order to get some offense.
As the old saying goes..you can't win if you don't score. We can have the best starting rotation in the world, and still miss the playoffs because of our inept offense. DeRosa is not the cure...though he'd go a long way. Uggla is NOT the cure. If you thought Dunn was bad for defense, average, and K's....wait until you see this guy.
I'd do whatever it took to unload Bradley. I'd do whatever it takes to unload Soriano as well. The fact is, this team would be so much better off without them. Hell, when Manny gets back, I'd approach the Dodgers about a straight up swap of bad contracts (Bradley or Soriano for Pierre...maybe even "Funko"Dome). Pierre has a .337 avg, .392 OBP, 17 SB, and 70 hits in 62 games, and is very difficult to strike out. I'd take him over Soriano anyday to tell you the truth, and just replace Soriano's power with Dunn, or someone like that.
We need guys that consistently get on base, and guys to drive them in.
A lineup like:
Pierre-CF
Christian Guzman-2B
Fox-LF
Hoffpauir-RF
ARAM-3B
Lee-1B
Soto-C
Theriot-SS
...that might really do some damage, as your 3-7 hitters can drive runners in, and Pierre and Guzman are difficult outs at the top.
Aaron, when you metion Soriano and Bradley in the terms that you did, I want to shake your hand in agreement! These two guys will NOT lead this team to victory, not this year nor any other year. Wish as we might, I just can't see Hendry unloading them to some unsuspecting victims. Despite Bradley's good year down here in Texas, he's a headcase who shoots himself in foot, some way, some how. If Soriano had a prime, he's far past it now and hurts the Cubs, offensively and defensively. I can't stand to watch him now.
Aaron,
Unless the cubs pay about 80% (seriously) of Soriano's contract, NO ONE is going to take him. Why would they ? The guy has 5 years remaining at $18M / yr and will only get worse as he gets older. Why in the world would you want him ? You only look at things from the cubs side of these deals, but it takes 2 teams to make a deal. And it has to make sense for the other team too, or it would never happen.
and Juan Pierre ?? LOL.
Sorry, been there, done that. I don't want anything to do with a guy who can't throw better than my 14 year old daughter. no way.
actually, I don't look at trades only from the Cubs perspective. In fact, when I often mention trading Bradley and/or Soriano, I try to be vague as possible, often times saying, "I'd love to trade Soriano or Bradley, but we'd have to take on an equally undesirable contract..." or..."if we were to trade Soriano or Bradley with their no-trade consent, we'd probably have to eat most of their salary in order to even get a decent prospect out of it"...stuff like that. I try never to come up with ridiculous trades, opting instead for research to find a win-win for both teams. I've stated many times that if we were to find takers for Lee, Soriano, and Fukudome, it'd have to be on the West Coast. Lee grew up there, it's closer to Japan for Fukudome, and 3 of the 4 times that might even consider taking Soriano and have the money to do so, are on the West Coast...Dodgers, Angels, and Giants (Mets are the other). With Manny coming back, there's no way the Dodgers take Soriano now, so that takes them out. That leaves the Mets, Angels, and Giants (which also happen to be suitors for Lee).
If, in the unlikely scenario that we convince Lee, Soriano, and Fukudome to waive their no trades, I say practically give them away, but offer to pay no more than half their salaries if we have to. The reason for this, is Soriano would cost us $9 million, Lee $6.5 million, and Fukudome $6 million per year. Lee has one year left, while Fukudome has 2 years left. Paying $45 million for the remainder of Soriano's deal would be a steal in my mind. You would insert Hoffpauir at 1B, Fox in LF (unless you could find a decent trade), and Reed Johnson or one of our minor leaguers in CF. But any way that you look at it, our window of opportunity to win it all has closed, for the forseeable future. Why? Because all the no-trade clauses, and big contracts prohibit us from making logical moves, signing younger stars, making trades with our veterans, etc. In fact, with the no-trade clauses, we most likely couldn't even have a white flag trade even if we wanted one. The only option you have left at that point is to DFA big contracts like the Tigers did with Sheffield...and might even do with Dontrelle Willis, and at that point, you are paying them an enormous amount of money to play for another team.
Fact is, if Hendry were smart, he would've looked at it from other team's perspectives regarding Milton Bradley. If he doesn't fit in well on the North Side, who will take him? At $10 million, he's a health risk, AND an anger management concern. See, nobody in their right mind would give a guy that averages 85 games played per season, can't ever stay healthy, and is a suspension waiting to happen---anywhere close to $10 million/season. In fact, I heard estimates that put his value around $5 million across the league. $5 million makes it a lot more easy to swallow when you bench him for poor play, or DFA him outright if he can't perform....but $10 million?!? Even if we DFA Bradley, I'm not so sure he'd find a home. I remember when the A's DFA'd him, hardly anyone wanted him, and the Padres pretty much got him for free. Nothing much has changed with him.
Our OF in 2011 will look like this, most likely:
Soriano-LF 35 years old
Fukudome-CF 34 years old
Bradley-RF 33 years old
Isn't this what the Giants and Mets battled through in recent years?!? You simply CANNOT have an OF consisting of mid 30-something players. The wear and tear on their bodies is huge, and with their production, they're almost always overpaid. In fact, you're better off having an OF that would consist of 20-something prospects that haven't played a lick of ball above AA. They have more upside and certainly won't break down like veterans will be now post-steroids era.
Aaron,
I think you made my point in there. Here's what I'm saying. Assuming the cubs pickup 50% of Sorianao contract, and if you are another team, why in the world would you want to pay Soriano $9M for the next 5 years ?
You said yourself, you would do anything to unload him (which I agree with - I would LOVE to see the cubs dump him) BUT, if we know he is garbage and don't want to pay him, what in the world makes you believe some other team would think differently and want to take our "garbage" and add $9M / yr to their payroll ? IT MAKES NO SENSE. NO way that will ever happen.
I wish we could, but the only way it will happen is if the cubs pickup about 80% - 90%. and even then, why would anyone want a guy who can't field, strikes out 160 times, and gets hurt all the time ??
Per MLB TradeRumors, and as I'm sure many knew here already..."Milton Bradley's 2011 option will vest if he plays 75 games in 2009. In other words, Bradley will earn $12MM in 2011 if he plays 22 more games this year."
Just great!
This might help ...
http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2009/05/cubs09_payroll.php
We have discussed Milton's 75-game vesting option more on the show than on the blog.
As far as it goes...the Cubs got 2 so-called "good years" out of Soriano.
What do you do with a guy making 18 mil a year...for the next 5 years after this...AND he hurts the team? I can't seem to get over this hump....I have to believe Matt Murton would done as well as Soriano this season for next to nothing....
Bradley...there is nothing endearing about the guy.
As '84 launched the Cubs to prominence.
These 2 guys alone will definitely equate to empty seats at Wrigley eventually....What do you do?
At the moment...just patience...but if this continues...which I suspect it will...anger will follow...and after that...
apathy.
Hope it doesn't happen that way.
Aaron....In a relatively few words (which I know is difficult for both of us), of course the Indians would rather not have Bradley. But, if they perceived the cost/benefit of Bradley + for Wood + to be advantageous, AND they had no reasonable takers for Wood' remaining contract their thinking might end up being: O.K. maybe Bradley can be of some help for a year or two as a DH and we get some other pieces we need.
Yes, I know that is a long shot, but I learned the Law of Returns a long time ago. That law says, "Something beats nothing by a long shot." That same rationale, faulty or not, is why I say putting Zito and Soriano in the same pot would have the GM's who want a better overall result to say, "O.K. let's talk (very quietly) about that." Those contracts too are very similar (and bad). It would be the other players involved that could be perceived as helping both teams that would prompt a deal.
Re. the Indian's lefties, they do have a bunch of them on the 40 man and among their prospects. So putting a couple in a deal isn't prohibitive.
I absolutely agree with you on Soriano for Zito, as I have in the past. Two "very bad" contracts makes sense to me, and like Ted Lilly, perhaps Zito, even though he's a fly ball pitcher, might benefit by joining our rotation...who knows? He already plays in a relatively pitcher-friendly stadium...but sometimes change of scenery is all a player needs, and he's a former "Ace", so it might make sense.
I totally agree with you guys on seeing what could be the possibilities with a Soriano move. HOWEVER, even though it seems totally logical to us to pursue something along these lines, do you think there is any faint possibility at all that J. Hendry shares our concern and would be creative and see what he could do? For all I know, he may still think Soriano (and Bradley) are the greatest things since sliced bread and to think otherwise would show weakness and admitting to bad judgment. We all hash out things that make total sense to us, but he lives in another world...sadly!