Cashner grabs last rotation spot (Confirmed 3/26, Silva out)

[Derwood]

yep, the Orioles lineup is crazy different from last year. Lee, Reynolds, Hardy, Guerrero......won't be enough, but at least they're trying

 

Plus already having Jones, Markakis, Scott and Roberts, plus looking for a rebound year from Wieters. That's not a bad team at all.

 

They'll score runs, but the pitching will screw them

 

Rotation looks like:

 

Jeremy Guthrie

Brian Matusz

Justin Duchscherer

Jake Arrieta

Brad Bergesen

 

yikes

[Sammy Sofa]

Baaarrrrrrf.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Agreed. I was a fan of signing Bradley with the idea he would have been hitting #2 (yeah, I know the Cubs foolishly viewed him as a #5 based on his 2008 numbers) with at least a very productive OBP with a little pop, but he was a concern injury-wise. I've always been a fan of picking up Dunn, and wanted them to do it then with the idea of moving him to 1st after Lee.

 

As much against the Bradley signing as I was, probably the worst thing that could have happened to Bradley was him being hyped as a big-time power hitting "RBI machine" who would slug like crazy in the middle of our lineup. When healthy he's generally been a very productive player, but more in the Fukudome way and not in the Adam Dunn way.

 

People probably would have been more accepting of him had they expected a better (though less healthy) version of Kosuke rather than the next Sammy Sosa.

I don't think it mattered whether the fans accepted him or not. It wasn't the fans that got to him (and if it was, I wish they would have got on him even more because he was really good at home and terrible on the road). The Cubs signed a guy with severe mental issues, so it really wasn't a surprise when he went off considering he was on a losing team with a manager like Lou. It was a gamble by Hendry that, predictably, didn't pay off.

 

In hindsight, the best thing to do probably would have been to simply keep the 97 win team together, and if a need came along, fill it during the season. Unfortunately, those 3 fateful games in October yielded a knee jerk reaction that the team wasnt left handed enough, and we needed a lefty. Several were available, but none were particularly impressive. Bradley was probably the best overall player of the bunch, but was both physically and mentally fragile, both of which came out in his short time as a Cub. From an offensive standpoint, theres no question that Adam Dunn was the best choice, however, there were legit concerns about his fielding ability, and to this day, I dont think that right field at Wrigley would have been the best place for him. I wonder how things would have turned out if theyd just tried to squeeze a but more juice out of Jim Edmonds in 2009 and kept Pie in Iowa as insurance.

 

Pie was out of options. Another example of the kind of non-obvious damage that can occur when incentives are misaligned. Hendry knew that Piniella wouldn't commit to Pie. But Lou is gone and Pie just turned 26 and has been decently productive in the AL East.

 

And that roster spot ended up going to Joey Gathright who eventually morphed into Ryan Freel. That offseason was just a series of awful moves and decisions. At the end of 2008, we already knew that Fukudome was streaky, so we should have had a viable 4th outfielder. Had we kept Pie, he wouldnt have exactly been wasting away on the bench. Still, there was no reason to ever sign Aaron Miles or Joey Gathright. We could have kept Edmonds and Pie, and then Reed Johnson as the 5th outfielder. The bench would have been Fontenot, Johnson, Edmonds/Pie, Hill, and some utility middle infielder.

[dew1679666265]

I don't think it mattered whether the fans accepted him or not. It wasn't the fans that got to him (and if it was, I wish they would have got on him even more because he was really good at home and terrible on the road). The Cubs signed a guy with severe mental issues, so it really wasn't a surprise when he went off considering he was on a losing team with a manager like Lou. It was a gamble by Hendry that, predictably, didn't pay off.

 

You don't think the fans jumping all over him and booing him, given the issues he already has, had any effect on him? I think the fan negativity was a huge factor in him blowing up. And a lot of that negative fan backlash was due to the preseason expectations that he would be a middle of the order type slugger who would be an "RBI machine."

 

Maybe he still blows up even with the proper preseason hype, but the booing and criticizing likely would have been lessened if Bradley hadn't been signed with the intent of being the missing power piece we needed.

[dew1679666265]

And that roster spot ended up going to Joey Gathright who eventually morphed into Ryan Freel. That offseason was just a series of awful moves and decisions. At the end of 2008, we already knew that Fukudome was streaky, so we should have had a viable 4th outfielder. Had we kept Pie, he wouldnt have exactly been wasting away on the bench. Still, there was no reason to ever sign Aaron Miles or Joey Gathright. We could have kept Edmonds and Pie, and then Reed Johnson as the 5th outfielder. The bench would have been Fontenot, Johnson, Edmonds/Pie, Hill, and some utility middle infielder.

 

Keep in mind that was the offseason we traded DeRosa for Archer/Gaub/Stevens, so you'd have to take into account the opening at second.

[CubColtPacer]

I don't think it mattered whether the fans accepted him or not. It wasn't the fans that got to him (and if it was, I wish they would have got on him even more because he was really good at home and terrible on the road). The Cubs signed a guy with severe mental issues, so it really wasn't a surprise when he went off considering he was on a losing team with a manager like Lou. It was a gamble by Hendry that, predictably, didn't pay off.

 

You don't think the fans jumping all over him and booing him, given the issues he already has, had any effect on him? I think the fan negativity was a huge factor in him blowing up. And a lot of that negative fan backlash was due to the preseason expectations that he would be a middle of the order type slugger who would be an "RBI machine."

 

Maybe he still blows up even with the proper preseason hype, but the booing and criticizing likely would have been lessened if Bradley hadn't been signed with the intent of being the missing power piece we needed.

 

I thought the fans were rather good with Bradley. They really were starting to rally around him in June and July before he criticized them and said he didn't want to be there in late July/early August. Then it started to turn ugly.

[dew1679666265]

I thought the fans were rather good with Bradley. They really were starting to rally around him in June and July before he criticized them and said he didn't want to be there in late July/early August. Then it started to turn ugly.

 

I'm going off memory here, so I could be wrong, but I thought the fans were good starting out the year but then began to turn on him late in the terrible start to the year. His rebound helped in May and June, but I was thinking the fans never truly bought into him because he wasn't giving us the power many fans expected. I thought that was the catalyst to him going off on the fans.

[Little Slide Rooter]

And that roster spot ended up going to Joey Gathright who eventually morphed into Ryan Freel. That offseason was just a series of awful moves and decisions. At the end of 2008, we already knew that Fukudome was streaky, so we should have had a viable 4th outfielder. Had we kept Pie, he wouldnt have exactly been wasting away on the bench. Still, there was no reason to ever sign Aaron Miles or Joey Gathright. We could have kept Edmonds and Pie, and then Reed Johnson as the 5th outfielder. The bench would have been Fontenot, Johnson, Edmonds/Pie, Hill, and some utility middle infielder.

 

Keep in mind that was the offseason we traded DeRosa for Archer/Gaub/Stevens, so you'd have to take into account the opening at second.

 

I meant had we kept things as were. DeRosa would have been at second.

[Sammy Sofa]

And that roster spot ended up going to Joey Gathright who eventually morphed into Ryan Freel. That offseason was just a series of awful moves and decisions. At the end of 2008, we already knew that Fukudome was streaky, so we should have had a viable 4th outfielder. Had we kept Pie, he wouldnt have exactly been wasting away on the bench. Still, there was no reason to ever sign Aaron Miles or Joey Gathright. We could have kept Edmonds and Pie, and then Reed Johnson as the 5th outfielder. The bench would have been Fontenot, Johnson, Edmonds/Pie, Hill, and some utility middle infielder.

 

Keep in mind that was the offseason we traded DeRosa for Archer/Gaub/Stevens, so you'd have to take into account the opening at second.

 

I meant had we kept things as were. DeRosa would have been at second.

 

Pass. That was definitely a much smarter move as it played out than if they had kept him. It's nice when the Cubs actually sell high for once when they can. The only problem was inexplicably settling on Aaron Miles afterwards, which they certainly didn't have to do. I don't think Edmonds coming back would have been a good move. I firmly believe there was a good reason nobody signed him in 2009, and it was probably injury-related and he needed that time off just to be able to come back in 2010 in the limited capacity that he did.

[dew1679666265]

I meant had we kept things as were. DeRosa would have been at second.

 

I wasn't a fan of the move at the time (primarily because it resulted in us signing Aaron Miles), but there's no way to argue it wasn't a good move at this point. DeRo dropped off considerably in 2009, while Stevens and Gaub have shown potential and Archer was excellent (until we turned him and Lee into Garza). Keeping DeRo wouldn't have been a good idea.

[UMFan83]

I meant had we kept things as were. DeRosa would have been at second.

 

I wasn't a fan of the move at the time (primarily because it resulted in us signing Aaron Miles), but there's no way to argue it wasn't a good move at this point. DeRo dropped off considerably in 2009, while Stevens and Gaub have shown potential and Archer was excellent (until we turned him and Lee into Garza). Keeping DeRo wouldn't have been a good idea.

 

DeRo was good for Cleveland, but got hurt and dropped off in St. Louis, then went to SF and got hurt. Who knows what he'd done if healthy.

 

Plus, DeRo was our glue dude, we win the Central in 2009 with him.

 

OK yeah maybe not :)

[dew1679666265]

DeRo was good for Cleveland, but got hurt and dropped off in St. Louis, then went to SF and got hurt. Who knows what he'd done if healthy.

 

Plus, DeRo was our glue dude, we win the Central in 2009 with him.

 

OK yeah maybe not :)

 

You're right, I forgot he was pretty good for Cleveland. I was taking his St Louis performance and crediting it to the whole season. I loved DeRo and hated to see him go, but that was a good trade.

 

And too, he couldn't be the glue guy - he was too good. You have to be bad to be a glue guy or gritty.

[Bote McBoteface]

He was the bell curve!

[Little Slide Rooter]

Carlos Silva Could Sign Soon

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [April 8 at 7:22am CST]

Free agent Carlos Silva has several offers and will likely accept one of them soon, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). The Cubs, who released Silva late last month, will owe him most of his $11.5MM salary and $2MM buyout for 2012 while the new club will cover the pro-rated MLB minimum for '11.

 

Ironically, the Cubs have had to place starters Andrew Cashner and Randy Wells on the disabled list since releasing Silva, who posted a 4.22 ERA in 21 starts last year. The Orioles are eyeing rotation depth and are one of the potential destinations for the 31-year-old right-hander.

 

 

I guess this is the best place for this since the other Silva thread is defunct and it really doesnt need a new one.

[Bote McBoteface]

lol at the orioles being interested in another crappy former cub