Can Silva Turn Things Around and Be Useful?

[CubsWin]

I think we have to wait and see. Today was definitely encouraging, but I think it's overstating thing to lump his start prior to this latest one in as looking as good. Yeah, it was a drastic improvement to that disaster of a first start, but he still got pretty lucky. I don't think any of us can really say what this last start potentially means at this point.

My thoughts exactly. It's too early, but today was encouraging.

[CUBZ99]

Rothschild sprinkled some of his pixie dust on Silva.

 

Seriously though, Rothschild is going to have to earn his paycheck this year with the pieces he has been given to work with. He has taken pitchers like Dempster and Marquis and gotten the most our of them and seems to do well with sinkerballers.

 

I'm not going to jump on the Silva bandwagon, but I would be extremely happy if Silva found a way to be an average to above average starter this year.

[cubsfan26]

it wasn't until he got to seattle that he became truly terrible.

 

Well is xFIP was only 4.64 in 2008. So he might have had some bad luck on a bad Mariners team to have a 6.46 era. Last year he was terrible with a 5.53 xFIP, but he was hurt and only had 6 starts in 8 total games too. I'm personally not sold on Silva yet, but I can easily see him being a Jason Marquis like 5th starter. Because thats pretty much what he's been in his career. Even in 2008 Silva had a better xFIP then Marquis.

 

 

Sure Silva might strike out a little less guys then Marquis, but he also walks alot less. Overall there simliar pitchers who could be really good some games when their sinkers are working. Then when their stuff is only average or bad on some days they will need some help from the defense or luck or they might get bombed. The only thing that worries me about Silva is his work effort and the drive to get better and improve(Ryan Dempsters a different pitcher because of that reason). Marquis I believe worked hard after his 06 season, and was willing to do the extra work to get back on track. I'm not sure Silva really cares all that much, and him coming to camp out of shape kinda shows that. Hopefully the Cubs find away to get him to care and get him to work harder on improving.

[dew1679666265]

its possible silva could end up being useful, but 2 spring training starts tell you nothing about that possibility.

 

If Rothschild has found something in his delivery that could improve him, that's a good sign. You're right, though, that we can't use a spring training start or two to decide that he can be effective.

[Guancous]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

[Cubswin11]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

:-s :-k

[Guancous]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

:-s :-k

 

I mean that the Cubs are paying 8 figures to a guy who will likely not be very productive. Imagine if the Cubs offered $20 million for the 2010 version of Pavano. There would be a riot on Addison.

[SouthSideRyan]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

:-s :-k

 

I mean that the Cubs are paying 8 figures to a guy who will likely not be very productive. Imagine if the Cubs offered $20 million for the 2010 version of Pavano. There would be a riot on Addison.

 

Tranny would probably pay 20M for the 2010 version of Pavano

[Soul]

Silva's on the "I'll believe it when I see it" list.

[CubColtPacer]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

:-s :-k

 

I mean that the Cubs are paying 8 figures to a guy who will likely not be very productive. Imagine if the Cubs offered $20 million for the 2010 version of Pavano. There would be a riot on Addison.

 

Since there is still a little confusion on how much the Cubs are paying Silva I'll nit-pick here and say they really aren't paying him 10 million per year when you include the Seattle money. It's 6 million this year, 8 million next year, and 2 million to buy him out in 2012.

 

Could Silva return to being an under 5 ERA type guy? Absolutely...in fact, I would call that one of the most reasonable outcomes for him this season. While ST could tell us if he was pretty much done though, I don't think it can tell us he's back to being servicable. That is the scary part because the Cubs will likely give him a month or two of pitching before we know if he is the 4.5 ERA type of player or the 6 ERA type of player.

[Cubswin11]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

:-s :-k

 

I mean that the Cubs are paying 8 figures to a guy who will likely not be very productive. Imagine if the Cubs offered $20 million for the 2010 version of Pavano. There would be a riot on Addison.

Got it

[Guest]

Tranny would probably pay 20M for the 2010 version of Pavano

 

We can only hope Silva will be as good as Pavano was after he was dealt.

[Outshined_One]

My hope is that he turns it around enough that the Cubs can trade him at the deadline or in the offseason for a useful prospect or two without eating salary.

[Backtobanks]

My hope is that he turns it around enough that the Cubs can trade him at the deadline or in the offseason for a useful prospect or two without eating very much salary.

 

fixed

[treebird]

i wish they didn't release the results of spring training games.

[TruffleShuffle]

He's really only got one year where he wasn't terrible

 

that's not really true. his xFIP's with the twins were 4.45, 3.94, 4.81 and 4.54. he was pretty close to league average in 2004 and 2007, above average in 2005 and below average in 2006. it wasn't until he got to seattle that he became truly terrible.

 

It's mainly those WHIPs scaring the crap out of me.

 

oh he's definitely not good and the big concern with him is that he pretty much walks the knife's edge all the time. his stuff was never anything more than average to begin with and it seems like he has lost velocity the past two years. if he's not able to locate his pitches and throw as hard as he did with the twins, he's probably going to be awful. but it's worth seeing if he's recovered from his injury and/or rothschild figures some things out with him. you're paying him a bunch of money the next two years; mineaswell see if you can get something out of him.

[davearm2]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

This isn't remotely accurate. The Cubs got paid $5M (IIRC) to take Silva off of the Mariners' hands.

[MWV]

Didn't feel this merited an entire game thread, but Silva left the game this afternoon with an injury of some kind. He pitched relatively well over the two innings prior to his departure: 1 H 1 R 1 BB 2 K 1 HR (2 GO, 2 FO).

 

edit: Sore right quadriceps. Worked a little longer in the bullpen after leaving the game.

 

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/03/carlos-silva-leaves-cub-start-with-sore-leg.html

Edited March 21, 2010 by MWV

[Guancous]

If Rothschild turns Silva into something serviceable, he doesn't deserve a raise, he deserves a MacArthur Grant.

 

The Cubs are paying 2 years/$20 million for Carl Pavano. Luckily the Brewers are doing the same thing with Jeff Suppan.

This isn't remotely accurate. The Cubs got paid $5M (IIRC) to take Silva off of the Mariners' hands.

 

True. The Cubs will have to pay $16 million in the long run unless they trade Silva. His value falls because the new team would be responsible for the $2 million buyout. The Silva deal was clearly the best offer on Hendry's table. The face he painted himself into this corner speaks poorly to Hendry's contingency planning.

[David]

1 Comments

 

I hope this injury is not a sign of things to come. Things look so good for the Cubs so far that injuries increase in importance. I can't see anyone productively taking Silva's place unless Marshall has a career year.

By cubbypm on March 21, 2010 6:08 PM

 

http://muskat.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/03/321_silva_leaves_with_tight_qu.html

 

lol

[Little Slide Rooter]

1 Comments

 

I hope this injury is not a sign of things to come. Things look so good for the Cubs so far that injuries increase in importance. I can't see anyone productively taking Silva's place unless Marshall has a career year.

By cubbypm on March 21, 2010 6:08 PM

 

http://muskat.mlblogs.com/archives/2010/03/321_silva_leaves_with_tight_qu.html

 

lol

 

All is lost.

[biittner77]

If Silva starts your in trouble!

[NCCubFan]

If Silva starts your in trouble!

That reference brings back memories.

[CubsWin]

We still haven't seen him in any regular season action, but since his first terrible outing, Silva's made 5 starts, the last two going at least 5 innings. He's pitched 19 1/3 innings, giving up 20 hits, allowing 2 earned runs, striking out 9 while walking 2, for an ERA of 0.93 and a WHIP of 1.14. Clearly, those numbers were gotten against line-ups filled with a lot of minor leaguers and he's unlikely to continue at that level once facing team's full major league line-ups, but it is a marked improvement over what he was doing in before.

 

Take it for what it's worth, but looking at his previous spring numbers, there is a loose correlation to how he fared that season. (Spring training stats courtesy of ESPN.com) In his two years in Seattle, he had springs of a 10.45 ERA in 10.1 IP giving up 22 hits (4 of them HRs) with 4 Ks and 2 BBs last season and a 9.21 ERA in 14.1 IP giving up 28 hits (2 of them HRs) striking out 5 and walking 4 in '08. Those are two terrible springs, as was his last in MInnesota (16.1 IP, 29 H, 11.02 ERA). In each of them, he gave up around two hits per inning.

 

This spring, including his crappy first start, he's allowed 27 hits in 21.1 IP, and his ERA is 3.80, striking out 11 and walking 2. He did give up 3 HRs, but 2 of them came in that horrible first game. Those numbers are more like the springs he had early on in Minnesota and Philly. In '06, Silva pitched 14.1 IP, gave up 15 hits and had an ERA of 3.21 with 0 HRs, 8 Ks/1 BB. In '05, he pitched 16 IP, allowing 15 hits with a 2.81 ERA, 0 HR, 6 Ks/0 BB. In '04, Carlos had 23 IP, giving up 21 hits with an ERA of 3.13, allowing 2 HRs, 14 Ks/3 BBs. And in Philly in '04, he had a 3.95 ERA in 13.2 IP, giving up 16 hits, all in relief.

 

Unfortunately, all we have to go on are spring training stats, but those numbers suggest that Silva has reverted to his old ways, which in this case is a good thing. I'm encouraged enough to believe that it's possible for Silva to be useful to the Cubs this season which is something I didn't think was possible before. Has his spring performance swayed anyone else?

[Guest]

Has his spring performance swayed anyone else?

 

No.