Wow.. Who the hell expected this? First drastic move Lou has made. Maybe he will actually start keeping his promise to Colvin and play him three times a week instead of having a worthless LF out there everyday.

Contrary to reports, I don't see Z being very happy about this. Unless there are bigger issues, like arm durability and injury concerns.

Not an improvement to the team at all if Silva and Gorzellany start sucking down the road. Could be a blessing in disguise though, Z can waive his no trade clause and can be another team's problem. Ofcourse Ricketts would have to eat alot of his salary but its worth it if you are getting something good in return.

Even better news.. This most likely means Samarjalkdf;ldh is heading back to AAA.

Cubs are sinking fast and its only week 3

Seems like a real desperate move by the Cubs, and I'm a Cubs fan. So much for this guy being the team's ace.

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/ne...id=5123176

$18 million set up man.. nice

I don't like the move. Z is a good pitcher. He has proven it over the years. I don't like this move one bit.

I'm a big fan of the move.. but I'm a White Sox fan. It just.. makes no sense. What set up man is worth a good starter? Hell.. I don't know if Matt Thornton is even worth an average starter and he's probably one of the three best in the game in the 8th inning.

This would have to be just a short term thing until they move someone, right? I don't watch the Cubs.. so I guess I'm not a fair judge here, but I can't under any circumstances see where an elite set up man is worth more then an average starter. I would argue that Z is much better than an average starter, making this even more perplexing. I mean, he will get probably 80 innings in a season as a setup man vs. 200 innings of production as a starter? And again, that's being generous, most set up men are closer to 70 innings.

Regardless of his salary, the value lost from him being a starter vs. him pitching so much less as a reliever just makes it ridiculous.

(04-22-2010 09:05 AM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  I'm a big fan of the move.. but I'm a White Sox fan. It just.. makes no sense. What set up man is worth a good starter? Hell.. I don't know if Matt Thornton is even worth an average starter and he's probably one of the three best in the game in the 8th inning.

This would have to be just a short term thing until they move someone, right? I don't watch the Cubs.. so I guess I'm not a fair judge here, but I can't under any circumstances see where an elite set up man is worth more then an average starter. I would argue that Z is much better than an average starter, making this even more perplexing. I mean, he will get probably 80 innings in a season as a setup man vs. 200 innings of production as a starter? And again, that's being generous, most set up men are closer to 70 innings.

Regardless of his salary, the value lost from him being a starter vs. him pitching so much less as a reliever just makes it ridiculous.

It does make some sense.. Silva is pitching way too well to get sent to the pen right now, Gorzellany would make for three lefties and that is not ideal. Dempter and Wells have been pitching alot better than Z has.
The BP needs serious help right now. I do not see it as a long-term deal at all, Silva and Gorz won't be pitching this well all year.
If it is a long-term thing, Z won't be a Cub in the second half, which will even be better. He will waive his no-trade clause to become a starter, the Cubs can dump half of his salary and maybe get something good in return for him.

The best part of it all is that Lou sent a message to the team, and hopefully it will motivate the team and the underperforming players. Soriano has been redhot since Lou had a talk with him. Now hopefully Aramis can start hitting.

So you're going to judge a guy based on 3 or 4 starts, over a career of being one of the best pitchers in baseball? Small sample size much?

The only message it sent is that Lou has no idea what he's doing.

(04-22-2010 12:58 PM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  So you're going to judge a guy based on 3 or 4 starts, over a career of being one of the best pitchers in baseball? Small sample size much?

The only message it sent is that Lou has no idea what he's doing.

Wow. We agree on something. This is a dumb move. Z is a proven starter that will give you 200 innings a year.

(04-22-2010 12:58 PM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  So you're going to judge a guy based on 3 or 4 starts, over a career of being one of the best pitchers in baseball? Small sample size much?

The only message it sent is that Lou has no idea what he's doing.

No matter what the media says and Lou says this is not going to be a long-term situation. And Zambrano for 2 years hasn't even been close to being one of the best pitchers on the Cubs, let alone baseball, he just gets paid like one.

Rotation has been good outside of Zambrano this year, the BP has been absolutely pathetic outside of Marmol and Marshall. A change needed it to be made. Who cares how much he gets paid and has done in the past, you're not dont win baseball games from previous years stats.

Letting someone else do the math for me (which btw says even in his "bad" year last season, he was still a very good pitcher.)

Quote:Pretend for a second that Zambrano turns in the best numbers a set up man can put up. He still wouldn’t equal his Wins Above Replacement numbers from 2009, and thus would put the Cubs in an overall worse position throughout the season to win games. Zambrano’s WAR last year was 3.6, which was equal to Dempster’s and .1 below Lilly’s.

Zambrano’s best possible WAR as a reliever would be around 2.9, which was Jonathan Broxton’s reliever-leading 2009 number. Just in case you were wondering, Mariano Rivera’s WAR was 2.0 and Joe Nathan and Jonathan Papelbon finished at 1.9.

Think I like this line best though:

Quote:Simply put, it’s a dumb decision only the Cubs would make.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/n...-decision/

His contract is irrelevant to the discussion, I never said it mattered.

What does matter is that he is a superior pitcher over Carlos Silva, and not only that, Silva has pitched in the pen before.

There is no doubt that he's superior to silva, but he isn't playing like it at the moment. Silva has been one of the best NL pitchers this year next to Halladay.

Yes.. in an extremely small sample size. Scott Podsednik is hitting over .400 right now. You can't use this year's stats to make any argument. It's ridiculous.

(04-22-2010 03:04 PM)HuskieFan84 Wrote:  Yes.. in an extremely small sample size. Scott Podsednik is hitting over .400 right now. You can't use this year's stats to make any argument. It's ridiculous.

Not to change the subject, you're correct on the small sample size but regarding Pods; he did lead the WS in BA, Hits, Triples and Steals last year. That performance plus what he's done so far this year, makes not resigning him look like a bad move.

An injury prone player who had one outlier season after being released outright? I think signing Pierre was stupid, but not signing Pods wasn't a bad move.

It could turn out that he has another good year, but a career of a guy whose game is based on speed turning around after 30 is an exception to the rule.

Edit: Trading for Pierre, not signing him.