Another Trade Target?

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I'd take any of Bedard, Harang, Sabathia, Harden, or Burnett.

 

At equal cost, my preference is probably Harden, Harang, Sabathia, Bedard, and Burnett.

 

Any of that quintet can help us. Not all of them will end up available. But I'd kick the tires on all of them and see where it leads.

[Jehrico]

Something's really wrong when people don't even want to entertain the thought of Bedard or Harang. Price tag aside, either of those guys would be great acquisitions.

Except that they're both having horrible years and would cost too much. We're not looking for long term acquisitions, we're looking to win it all this year. Neither of those guys are performing in a manner to justify thinking they could help us this year more than any inhouse options. If they were having normal seasons, then they'd be worth whatever we'd give up to get them.

 

Nobody that has been against either pitcher has talked about what they would cost in terms of prospects. All I keep reading is how both are struggling this year, when both have been around average pitchers this year who have a recent history of being among the top 20 in baseball. Both Harang and Bedard are better pitchers than Burnett, who most of the board (me included) would love. Again, I know balancing the cost in terms of prospects, Burnett probably makes the most sense, but to not be interested in Bedard or Harang at all is baffling.

Not really. There's no reason to expect either of them to do better than, say, Marshall, nor any expectation that they'll be good enough to bounce into a three man rotation in the postseason with Z, Demp, and Lilly pitching better than they can be expected to. We have few decent trading chips in the system. If we give up any of those chips for Bedard or Harang, then we have little left to bargain with, and we take ourselves out of the running for a legit #2 like we're all hoping to get. I don't want to make a move that may make sense in the long term at the expense of making a better move for the short term.

 

I think, given Bedard's and Harang's history, you have every reason to predict that they will pitch better than Marshall for the remainder of the season.

Not the way they're pitching this year. Regardless, they still don't improve what our three-man postseason rotation will be. We're not looking like we need help improving our chances of making the postseason, we should be looking for moves to improve our chances of winning the WS. Improving our 4th and 5th rotation slots doesn't accomplish that.

 

First of all, there's only a 3-man rotation in the 1st round. In all other rounds, most teams need a 4th starter. Secondly, all these people are clamoring for Burnett....he's clearly not as good THIS YEAR as Bedard and Harang. If Bedard and Harang aren't good enough, you are basically on the Sabathia or bust bandwagon, I must assume.

Harden is out there too. As we get closer to the deadline, I suspect there will be more teams entering sell mode and there will be more options.

[CoolHandLuke]

Sabathia, Harden, Harang, Bedard, Burnett.

 

That's how I'd rank these 5 guys. Any that I'm missing?

 

Sabathia is quite a bit ahead of Harden, and Harang, Bedard and Burnett are all bunched together quite a bit behind Harden.

 

The fact that Harden is hurt so often scares the crap out of me.

[davearm2]

Erik Bedard was right in the thick of the Cy Young race last year, until the O's decided to shut him down in September with something fairly minor (strained oblique or something).

 

I can certainly understand why some of these other guys might be preferrable, but to suggest Bedard wouldn't be amongst the Cubs' 3 best starters is pretty loony, IMO.

[AlwaysaCub]

I can see Pie/other people for Harang/token B level prospect becoming Brock/Broglio pt. 2

[Amazing_Grace]

Sabathia, Harden, Harang, Bedard, Burnett.

 

That's how I'd rank these 5 guys. Any that I'm missing?

 

Sabathia is quite a bit ahead of Harden, and Harang, Bedard and Burnett are all bunched together quite a bit behind Harden.

 

The fact that Harden is hurt so often scares the crap out of me.

 

You could add Vicente Padilla, Greg Maddux, and Randy Wolf to that list. I've seen all three names mentioned as possibly available. Of course, Maddux and Wolf would be worse than just letting Marshall or Gallagher start so they don't count as legitimate targets to me (but Hendry might think otherwise).

[jacey]

Can't be worrying now about how the rotation will shape up in the playoffs-you got to get there first. Remember 1969 and 1977...

[Jehrico]

Erik Bedard was right in the thick of the Cy Young race last year, until the O's decided to shut him down in September with something fairly minor (strained oblique or something).

 

I can certainly understand why some of these other guys might be preferrable, but to suggest Bedard wouldn't be amongst the Cubs' 3 best starters is pretty loony, IMO.

 

Bedard's numbers over his career have always dropped in the second half. He's been worse in the first half than he was before. Plus, his innings in the second half are down sharply from the first half due to injuries. I don't have confidence that he'll be healthy. If he does happen to be healthy, I don't have confidence that he won't decline in the second half as his career splits suggest. If he's not as good in the second half as he is right now, then there's no reason to predict he'll be amongst our top three at the end of the year. That's not loony at all.