What to Do with Wade Miller?

[CuseCubFan69]

STUNNING DEVELOPMENT!!

 

Wade Miller is unsure whether he will pitch for the Cubs. Ever.

 

Low risk my ass. $1M is still $1M.

 

1M plus expenses. Hmm...some things the Cubs could have done with 1 million dollars:

 

Hire a team of stat guys and roving coaches

Put money into scouting and go international

Give to DJAXX (the team) and other minor league teams to upgrade facilities

Feed Rusch for a week

[NCCubFan]

1M plus expenses. Hmm...some things the Cubs could have done with 1 million dollars:

 

Hire a team of stat guys and roving coaches

Put money into scouting and go international

Give to DJAXX (the team) and other minor league teams to upgrade facilities

Feed Rusch for a day

Fixed. :lol:

[E.J.]

Miller has been throwing 83-85mph in his rehab starts. That's not gonna get it done. Waste of a $1 million. It would have been nice if Hendry got a healthy pitcher this offseason instead of another rehab experiment. Once again, why did Hendry get an extension?

[YearofDaCubs]

Miller has been throwing 83-85mph in his rehab starts. That's not gonna get it done. Waste of a $1 million. It would have been nice if Hendry got a healthy pitcher this offseason instead of another rehab experiment. Once again, why did Hendry get an extension?

Not surprised one bit. I had a feeling his FB would be Maddux-like velocity.

[CubsBullsBears]

STUNNING DEVELOPMENT!!

 

Wade Miller is unsure whether he will pitch for the Cubs. Ever.

 

Low risk my ass. $1M is still $1M.

It should be high risk b/c Hendry signed him and depended on him being ready by May.

[frostwyrm]

It's obvious Miller won't help anybody this year which means his trade value is zero, he's not under contract past this season, and the Cubs are out of the contention. The only reason I can see for not releasing him is to offer him an extension. The gamble would be that he recovers his velocity and gives the Cubs a bargain deal for 2007 out of gratitude.

[CuseCubFan69]

It's obvious Miller won't help anybody this year which means his trade value is zero, he's not under contract past this season, and the Cubs are out of the contention. The only reason I can see for not releasing him is to offer him an extension. The gamble would be that he recovers his velocity and gives the Cubs a bargain deal for 2007 out of gratitude.

 

Who was that left handed pitcher Siroka or something like that, that the Cubs signed after someone else payed for his rehab.

[frostwyrm]

I do know the "low risk, high reward" defense ain't cutting it. Its not low risk because the organization inappropriately puts too much stock in the people's recovery.

Yeah, that's how I see it too. We had some very questionable pitchers in the rotation coming into 2006 and Hendry's awesome insurance policy was Wade Freakin Miller. That's not a low risk strategy, regardless of the money involved.

[CubsBullsBears]

I do know the "low risk, high reward" defense ain't cutting it. Its not low risk because the organization inappropriately puts too much stock in the people's recovery.

Yeah, that's how I see it too. We had some very questionable pitchers in the rotation coming into 2006 and Hendry's awesome insurance policy was Wade Freakin Miller. That's not a low risk strategy, regardless of the money involved.

Excatly. It would be low risk insurance if you get him for 1M, but you also get some other guys who WILL be healthy in April.

[NCCubFan]

Who was that left handed pitcher Siroka or something like that, that the Cubs signed after someone else payed for his rehab.

Mike Sirotka. He had some good years with the White Sox, then was traded to Toronto. He immediately came up with shoulder problems, and Toronto asked for compensation or to void the trade (I don't remember which), claiming that he was damaged goods at the time of the trade. I think they lost that grievance. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, and I believe may have pitched some at Iowa, but he never pitched for the Cubs at the major league level. Unlike Miller, I think he was signed to a minor league contract.

[frostwyrm]

I do know the "low risk, high reward" defense ain't cutting it. Its not low risk because the organization inappropriately puts too much stock in the people's recovery.

Yeah, that's how I see it too. We had some very questionable pitchers in the rotation coming into 2006 and Hendry's awesome insurance policy was Wade Freakin Miller. That's not a low risk strategy, regardless of the money involved.

Excatly. It would be low risk insurance if you get him for 1M, but you also get some other guys who WILL be healthy in April.

Yeah, Miller is a guy you acquire as supplemental insurance, not as your primary insurance.

[CubsBullsBears]

Who was that left handed pitcher Siroka or something like that, that the Cubs signed after someone else payed for his rehab.

Mike Sirotka. He had some good years with the White Sox, then was traded to Toronto. He immediately came up with shoulder problems, and Toronto asked for compensation or to void the trade (I don't remember which), claiming that he was damaged goods at the time of the trade. I think they lost that grievance. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, and I believe may have pitched some at Iowa, but he never pitched for the Cubs at the major league level. Unlike Miller, I think he was signed to a minor league contract.

Yeah, he never got an MLB deal. The reason Toronto lost the grievence is b/c the exam for the trade to go thru he passed. An exam a month later found the tear, therefore, MLB said the trade stands.

[NCCubFan]

Yeah, Miller is a guy you acquire as supplemental insurance, not as your primary insurance.

In other words he's AFLAC, not Blue Cross. :D

[cbbryan]

Who was that left handed pitcher Siroka or something like that, that the Cubs signed after someone else payed for his rehab.

Mike Sirotka. He had some good years with the White Sox, then was traded to Toronto. He immediately came up with shoulder problems, and Toronto asked for compensation or to void the trade (I don't remember which), claiming that he was damaged goods at the time of the trade. I think they lost that grievance. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, and I believe may have pitched some at Iowa, but he never pitched for the Cubs at the major league level. Unlike Miller, I think he was signed to a minor league contract.

Yeah, he never got an MLB deal. The reason Toronto lost the grievence is b/c the exam for the trade to go thru he passed. An exam a month later found the tear, therefore, MLB said the trade stands.

 

Sirotka was the main piece in the David Wells trade to the White Sox. I remember the debate well.

[beowulf28]

Hendry has no problem wasting money on the Perez/Miller types. I was against this waste of a million bucks from the beginning and once again the lightning in a bottle doesn't work but there's always next year to waste another million or 5 on has beens or never was. Maybe Hendry can search some garage sales and look for the next "project".

 

It's a massive stretch to call this a waste of payroll a la Rusch or Neifi. Like you said, it's a million dollars...pretty much chump change for these teams. It's a gamble, but hey, it's not big loss. Trying to prop it up like it's some kind of disaster is ridiculous. The biggest problem is that Hendry only made a few stopgap moves in the offseason instead of really stepping things up...had he done those big moves, the Miller deal would have looked fantastic. But even so, it's nowhere near being a waste like Neifi.

 

I'd take Neifi being used correctly for 2.5 than waste 1 million on a guy that won't pitch for you.

 

I'd take Neifi...to the airport!

[Laura]

It's obvious Miller won't help anybody this year which means his trade value is zero, he's not under contract past this season, and the Cubs are out of the contention. The only reason I can see for not releasing him is to offer him an extension. The gamble would be that he recovers his velocity and gives the Cubs a bargain deal for 2007 out of gratitude.

 

According to Will Carroll, the Cubs may 'cut bait' on Miller soon.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

It's obvious Miller won't help anybody this year which means his trade value is zero, he's not under contract past this season, and the Cubs are out of the contention. The only reason I can see for not releasing him is to offer him an extension. The gamble would be that he recovers his velocity and gives the Cubs a bargain deal for 2007 out of gratitude.

 

According to Will Carroll, the Cubs may 'cut bait' on Miller soon.

 

I would. He's not needed and the last thing we need to do is let him take away innings that could be better spent letting a pitcher like Guzman or Hill pitch in the majors.

[Wheelimus]

Wouldn't the best option be to demote him to the minors and assuming he makes it through, let him toil as the 5th starter at Iowa? If he gets some velocity back, say, late August, we would be able to trade him to someone still in the playoff race. But if we don't demote him first, we'd never get him through waivers when that time comes.

[CuseCubFan69]

Wouldn't the best option be to demote him to the minors and assuming he makes it through, let him toil as the 5th starter at Iowa? If he gets some velocity back, say, late August, we would be able to trade him to someone still in the playoff race. But if we don't demote him first, we'd never get him through waivers when that time comes.

 

He might have a stipulation in his contract about pitching in the minors.

[JC]

Will Carroll? Hack. Didn't he push some bogus report that Prior was injured during Spring Training? Pffft.

[soccer10k]

I agree with signing Neifi for cheaper, but I don't know, the Miller thing just doesn't bug me. If he can get to or near his career numbers or show some spark in the bullpen, that million is money well spent. If he doesn't do anything, hey, that lone million wasn't going to be used any more productively. Neifi's five has a much better chance of keeping or signing people this team really needed...ah well. Such is the life of a Cubs fan.

 

Yes indeed it is. Signing Perez for 2/5 is going to tie the Cubs down especially since Hendry wouldn't eat a contract if his life depended on it. After moving Hundley in that wonderful deal it seems as if the magic is now gone and you'd think if no team is interested in Perez there may be a reason why.

 

It's a miracle. We finally found something Hendry won't eat. Amazing.

 

Sorry, the joke was WAY too easy to make and somebody had to do it.

[soccer10k]

I don't really have a problem with the Miller deal for this year. If he shows signs of coming back healthy then I wouldn't mind the Cubs giving him an incentive-laden one year deal for next year as well. We did the same with Dempster and Williamson and those were 2 year deals. I doubt we'll be able to trade him though because nobody knows what he can do after the surgery.

[Outshined_One]

I think it depends on what his velocity looks like by the end of the month. If he's still in the 80s, then the Cubs might as well hang onto him and see what happens. If he's showing signs of improvement and stamina by month's end, I think a team might be willing to fork over a good prospect for him. Teams are always desperate for starters and will overpay.

 

Frankly, I think the guy is an injury waiting to happen. His delivery is even more screwed up than Wood's. Anything this team can get out of him, be it a prospect or a draft pick, should be taken.

[CubsBullsBears]

I don't really have a problem with the Miller deal for this year. If he shows signs of coming back healthy then I wouldn't mind the Cubs giving him an incentive-laden one year deal for next year as well. We did the same with Dempster and Williamson and those were 2 year deals. I doubt we'll be able to trade him though because nobody knows what he can do after the surgery.

Yeah, but when Hendry signed him, he did it with the intent of Miller being ready by Mid-May. That's why he didn't include an option the way he did w/ Dempster and Williamson.

[NCCubFan]

It's a miracle. We finally found something Hendry won't eat. Amazing.

Rusch would eat it, though. :lol: