What Happens to Hill if Everyone Is Healthy?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

We have Zambrano.

 

We signed Lilly, Miller, and Marquis to major league contracts.

 

What if Miller and Prior are healthy when this team breaks camp.

 

Our second best pitcher behind Zambrano may not have a spot in the rotation.

 

What would we do with Zambrano, Lilly, Marquis, Miller, and Prior to make room for Hill?

 

Putting one in the bullpen isn't an answer since we have Dempster, Howry, Cotts, Ohman, Eyre, Wuertz, and Wood there who also cannot be optioned.

 

We may end up sending Hill down just because he has options....or does he?

 

Just another reason why signing Marquis to a 3/21 contract is a bad, bad, horribly bad idea.

[Soul]

My guess is we aren't done trading, and if no pitchers are dealt Miller gets cut loose in your scenario.

[tkenm356]

I'd rather move Miller to the bullpen. He's got the most potential for injury of the bunch with the lowest upside. Out of him and Prior, Prior's upside is leaps and bounds better. Not to mention that, IMO, Hill's talent and potential far exceeds anything Wade Miller can accomplish in a Cubs uniform

[don_kessinger_was_good]

I responded to you in the other thread Vance, but my answer is you're wrong. If, by some unfathomable turn of events, Mark Prior is healthy, he gets traded. Period. Buh-bye. The only reason he hasn't been traded to-date is because he's a broken-down bust.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I'd rather move Miller to the bullpen. He's got the most potential for injury of the bunch with the lowest upside. Out of him and Prior, Prior's upside is leaps and bounds better. Not to mention that, IMO, Hill's talent and potential far exceeds anything Wade Miller can accomplish in a Cubs uniform

 

So who on the bullpen do we DFA? Dempster? Ohman? Wood? Wuertz? Eyre? Novoa? Howry? Cotts? None of those guys have any options remaining.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

Trading Prior might be the dumbest move of the bunch, even worse than signing Marquis and Lilly in the first place.

 

If Prior is healthy, and yes big if, he is likely the second best starter on the team and has the potential to be the best.

[tkenm356]

I'd rather move Miller to the bullpen. He's got the most potential for injury of the bunch with the lowest upside. Out of him and Prior, Prior's upside is leaps and bounds better. Not to mention that, IMO, Hill's talent and potential far exceeds anything Wade Miller can accomplish in a Cubs uniform

 

So who on the bullpen do we DFA? Dempster? Ohman? Wood? Wuertz? Eyre? Novoa? Howry? Cotts? None of those guys have any options remaining.

 

I don't know if I'm the only one, and this is just me talking, but I'm not much of a fan of Novoa. In fact, I wish he weren't wearing a Cub uniform, truth be told. I'm also not much of a fan of Ohman. Wouldn't mind getting rid of one of them to make room for Miller

 

EDIT: Assuming Miller comes back healthy, that is and there's no spot in the rotation for him

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I'd rather move Miller to the bullpen. He's got the most potential for injury of the bunch with the lowest upside. Out of him and Prior, Prior's upside is leaps and bounds better. Not to mention that, IMO, Hill's talent and potential far exceeds anything Wade Miller can accomplish in a Cubs uniform

 

So who on the bullpen do we DFA? Dempster? Ohman? Wood? Wuertz? Eyre? Novoa? Howry? Cotts? None of those guys have any options remaining.

 

I don't know if I'm the only one, and this is just me talking, but I'm not much of a fan of Novoa. In fact, I wish he weren't wearing a Cub uniform, truth be told. I'm also not much of a fan of Ohman. Wouldn't mind getting rid of one of them to make room for Miller

 

You'd probably have to get rid of two of them. Unless we're going to have a 3-man bench.

[baseball7897]

I would say that having too many SP is a luxury. You can never have enough SP.

[b_wiggy_66]

I don't think you can ever have a problem with to much starting pitching. Problem and to much starting pitching don't even sound right in the same sentence.

[oldstyle81]

if Hill pitches like he did the last half of 2006, there is no way they would send him down.

[Drew Doughty]

I'd rather move Miller to the bullpen. He's got the most potential for injury of the bunch with the lowest upside. Out of him and Prior, Prior's upside is leaps and bounds better. Not to mention that, IMO, Hill's talent and potential far exceeds anything Wade Miller can accomplish in a Cubs uniform

 

So who on the bullpen do we DFA? Dempster? Ohman? Wood? Wuertz? Eyre? Novoa? Howry? Cotts? None of those guys have any options remaining.

 

I don't know if I'm the only one, and this is just me talking, but I'm not much of a fan of Novoa. In fact, I wish he weren't wearing a Cub uniform, truth be told. I'm also not much of a fan of Ohman. Wouldn't mind getting rid of one of them to make room for Miller

 

You'd probably have to get rid of two of them. Unless we're going to have a 3-man bench.

 

well, Zambrano and Marquis can handle the bat. Lilly says he can too.

 

Prior isn't bad either.

 

Just have to mix and match!

 

<_<

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I would say that having too many SP is a luxury. You can never have enough SP.

 

It sounds nice. But as a team you have 25 roster spots. If they have options, it's a nice luxury, but none of the bunch can be sent to the minors, save Hill. Hill may be the best of the 2-5 guys. Sending him down so that Miller or Lilly or especially Marquis can take the hill is a bad idea. However, with the money paid to some of those guys, I can see Hendry reluctant to DFA them.

[Electron Blue]

I would say that having too many SP is a luxury. You can never have enough SP.

 

well, kinda, but not really in this case. We have more than the 40-man/25-man roster can hold -- in a way that jeopardizes their spot on the team.

 

Ideally, a scenario of having "too many SPs" would feature mostly first or second year players, not mid-career, oft-injured vets.

[YearofDaCubs]

If he is outperforming the other pitchers he stays in the rotation.

[Drew Doughty]

Why not just go to a 6-man rotation until someone pitches himself out of the rotation?

[Jazz]

Here's what I think.

 

The only 2 pitchers that we can guarantee won't be moved are in fact the two guys we just signed, Lilly and Marquis for obvious reasons. Zambrano very likely won't be moved unless we cant extend him, in which case we would move him for top prospects or a big bat. After him if Prior, Miller, and Hill are all healthy, and performing near the level they are capable of, my guess is Miller would be the first to go as he is the oldest, and probably has the lowest "ceiling" when healthy. If we do end up having this luxury, Miller could net us a pretty nice bat when combined with a prospect.

[NewUserName]

If he is outperforming the other pitchers he stays in the rotation.

 

 

Are you sure?

[YearofDaCubs]

If he is outperforming the other pitchers he stays in the rotation.

 

 

Are you sure?

Of course I'm not sure, especially when it comes to this organization but they owe it to their fans to put the best possible rotation out there and if Hill is performing better than the other 3 or 4 projects we have out there then he should stay in the rotation.

[oldcubsfan]

I responded to you in the other thread Vance, but my answer is you're wrong. If, by some unfathomable turn of events, Mark Prior is healthy, he gets traded. Period. Buh-bye. The only reason he hasn't been traded to-date is because he's a broken-down bust.

 

Once again you spew out absolutes with out thinking the subject through. If he pitches well, you have him under control for several more years at a resonible rate, why would you trade him? Unless you get a lot, you hold him. If he doesn't pitch much, then there is nothing to do.

[jmajew]

We have Zambrano.

 

We signed Lilly, Miller, and Marquis to major league contracts.

 

What if Miller and Prior are healthy when this team breaks camp.

 

Our second best pitcher behind Zambrano may not have a spot in the rotation.

 

What would we do with Zambrano, Lilly, Marquis, Miller, and Prior to make room for Hill?

 

Putting one in the bullpen isn't an answer since we have Dempster, Howry, Cotts, Ohman, Eyre, Wuertz, and Wood there who also cannot be optioned.

 

We may end up sending Hill down just because he has options....or does he?

 

Just another reason why signing Marquis to a 3/21 contract is a bad, bad, horribly bad idea.

 

My bet is some of our pen will be traded by the start of the season. Most likely Dempster and Eyre. Then the one who doesn't fit best in our rotation will be put in the pen.

[Elrhino]

In the one in a million chance everyone is healthy, I see Miller becoming a great trade chip come July in which the Cubs will have gotten a pretty good return on such a minimal investment. Edited December 10, 2006 by Elrhino

[craig]

I'd rather move Miller to the bullpen. He's got the most potential for injury of the bunch with the lowest upside. Out of him and Prior, Prior's upside is leaps and bounds better. Not to mention that, IMO, Hill's talent and potential far exceeds anything Wade Miller can accomplish in a Cubs uniform

 

So who on the bullpen do we DFA? Dempster? Ohman? Wood? Wuertz? Eyre? Novoa? Howry? Cotts? None of those guys have any options remaining.

 

Both Novoa and Wuertz have an option year left.

 

Obviously Novoa is the first to go. That leaves you with 13 guys for the 12 roster spots.

 

The probability that all 13 are healthy, so healthy that neither Wood nor Miller nor Wood nor anybody else needs to get sent out for more rehab nor on DL, is vanishingly small. So, while there are plenty of other reasons to object to Marquis, this is not one of them, IMO.

 

Miller is the first to go. He's got a peanuts contract, and didn't have much arm last year. If he's looking so lousy that you can't trade him, then it will be no problem to release him or send him back to Mesa to build up see if more rehab can build up some arm strength.

 

Ohman or Cotts are next on the block. You got Cotts for Aardsma, a fringe guy. So it's not like Cotts is some superstud. You trade him for some prospect or next year's version of Bynum or whatever. If he's looking really impressive in spring, maybe you can get somebody pretty interesting.

 

Ohman has considerable trade value, given his K/BB/inning profile, his age, his stuff, and his contract. If you need to move somebody, some teams will be thrilled to give some very significant prospect(s) for Ohman.

 

You've certainly got an expendable (Miller), a limited value (Cotts), and some movables (Cotts, Ohman).

 

 

Another option might be Dempster. If somebody scouts him in camp and he's throwing really good, and they have a need (like when we got Alf), maybe you'd move him.

 

It's not going to be a problem.

 

And, the frequency with which teams have all 13 of their top 13 pitcheers all healthy at the same time is, well, very tiny teensy small insignificant. Especially when three of them come to camp as Prior, Wood, and Miller with the known problems that Prior has.

 

This kind of fuss reminds me of last winter. After Howry and Eyre were signed, there were similar fusses. Z-Prior-Wood-Rusch-Williams-Maddux-Miller, that was six roster locks plus guaranteed Miller, and some posters were Williams advocates. Dempster, Howry, Eyre, Wuertz, Ohman, Williamson, that was 6 relievers. How horrible, it seemed the roster was all locked up with 12 guys plus guaranteed Miller, before you even got to Wellemeyer, Hill, Novoa, or Guzman. How horrible to block it all up from those young talents, how dumb for the Cubs to block the hot prospects.

 

I sure hope things don't "unblock" as quickly this year as happened last year. But sheesh, this is not at all an overstuffed pitching staff when there is considerable reason to expect at least Prior to still be in his strengthening program, and little reason to expect miller to be any more thrilling a prospect next year than he was this past year.

[UK1679666180]

Miller is the first to go. He's got a peanuts contract, and didn't have much arm last year. If he's looking so lousy that you can't trade him, then it will be no problem to release him or send him back to Mesa to build up see if more rehab can build up some arm strength.

 

If I was in Mesa in ST, him and obviously Prior would be the 1st two I watch.

 

To be honest, I didn't watch the 20 or IP he had w/the Cubs, but unless it was an upgrade from his later performances w/Peoria, he's going to need to improve to make the rotation.

 

Everyone knows about his velo drop, but another concern has to be his curve, while still good enough to be a ML pitch wasn't nearly as sharp as his pre-injury days in Houston.

[Guest]

In all seriousness (as opposed to my trade rumor thread), I think Hill's fate is in his own hands. If he performs well enough to stay in the rotation, I don't think it will matter what else happens. There's not such an overload of pitchers (really there are 13 guys for 12 spots) that he'll be impossible to keep in the rotation if Prior comes back healthy. Miller would be the obvious candidate to get pushed to swingman if Prior is ready.

 

And as Craig likes to point out, the chances of everyone being healthy at one time are remote.