SI's Jon Heyman and FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal posted new columns this morning. A few hot stove highlights…
- Heyman received indications that Tom Gorzelanny will remain in the Cubs' rotation when Ted Lilly returns Saturday. That would mean Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Randy Wells, or Carlos Silva heads to the bullpen. Given his past experience in the Cubs' pen, Heyman finds Dempster the most logical choice. I respectfully disagree, as Dempster is the Cubs' best starter. I'd make Silva the long man and continue to scour the trade and free agent markets for relief help. Promoting Andrew Cashner merits consideration, if the Cubs don't think a temporary move back to relief would stunt his development. UPDATE: Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune tweets that Zambrano will go to the pen.
- Rosenthal finds a Rays sell-off unlikely, instead envisioning them as bullpen buyers. He notes that the Rays have attempted to trade for various star players the last two Julys.
- Rosenthal believes the Giants' biggest need is "a strong two-way threat in right field." He says potentially available players like David DeJesus and Corey Hart don't quite fit the mold. I'm just throwing it out there…could Elijah Dukes be a fit?
just one man’s opinion, but elijah dukes, owner of a career 104 OPS+ and 2.1 UZR/150 in right, seems more “two-way placeholder” than he does “two-way threat”.
It makes no sense at all to put Dempster in the pen. Rosenthal really seems to be losing it lately, it’s a shame because he was really good once upon a time.
Heyman talked about the Cubs and Dempster, Rosenthal did not.
That makes more sense.
pro-tip to jon heyman: before you print your daily “dempster to the ‘pen” geniusing, at least check with buster olney to see if you could maybe trade for pujols. john grabow seems like a fit. this is news!
Moving Dempster to the pen would be horrible. He IS their best starter. What a reward for being a solid SP, a nice trip to the pen. Geez….A short term glut in SP for Cubs?? Can JHen even try and trade either Gorz or Silva yet? Jackson and Cashner looking good in minors to make SP even more crowded down the road. Doesn’t seem like converting these guys to the pen is best move.
Elijah Dukes…LOL just what we need…an underachiever with a bad attitude!! Our underachievers are GAMERS!! 😛
“…Could Elijah Dukes be a fit?”
NO.
I disrespectfully disagree. That is horrible logic by Heyman.
Well, yeah, it’s freaking Jon Heyman. The guy has shown time and time again that while he’s a great reporter, his analysis skills freaking suck. He should just go find news and report it, because his thoughts and ideas border on worthless.
I was about to say pretty much the same thing, alxn. I believe Tim was being exceptionally diplomatic. There is a ZERO PERCENT chance they will move Dempster to the bullpen, considering how well he has pitched as a starter, how much they are paying him, and the fact that Carlos Silva is in that equation. Heyman is such a poor analyst it’s not even funny.
Of course it is Silva. Gorz would be the fourth lefty in the bullpen. The Dempster thought is idiotic.
Silva to the pen.
Silva to the pen. But if we want to submit stupid ideas like Dempster, I’d like to suggest Soriano.
It’s going to be Silva. Sending Dempster would be idiotic cause he is in my opinion the Ace of our staff. Lilly will be slotted as a number 3 guy and once he proves he’s back a will be moved to #2. This is what I think will come.
Dempster
Lilly
Zambrano
Wells
Gorzelanny
Anyway we could trade Zambrano to someone who needs pitching like LA Dodgers. Maybe for George Sherill, a prospect another person
Doesn’t Zambrano want to stay with the Cubs? I know he has a no-trade clause, and I’m sure I read somewhere that he wouldn’t waive it.
Pitching is definitely not the issue with this team, timely hitting is! It is pathetic right now! I think they need a spark and maybe that spark is Starlin Castro. If other teams are looking for starting pitchers, then I wouldn’t hesitate to move Big Z, Gorzelanny, or Dempster and bring up Cashner and/or Jackson. This team, as it is, is going no where fast!
I hope the Cubs don’t call Cashner up. He’s dominating AA right now as a starter. He’s got all 3 of his pitches working and I’d hate to see him come up as a reliever and stop using his changeup. I can just see the Cubs screwing up his development as a starter like the Yanks screwed up with Joba (or like we did with Samardzija, though it’s highly debatable that he would have been any good anyway).
It’s probably going to be Silva going to the bullpen, but wouldn’t it be fun if it were Zambrano? I think his aggressiveness and mentality on the mound may work better out of the pen. Give him one or two innings to give it everything he’s got. Of course, he doesn’t have the kind of control that we need coming out of the bullpen but I still find the idea intriguing.
I personally like the idea of Zambrano in the pen too. If he could give it his all for an inning. It seems he thrives when the pressure is on, because he really has been brilliant when he pitched in the play-offs. If memory serves correct, he gave up something like 1 ER in 2007 and maybe 1-2 ER in 08. He’s a bull dog who steps up when the heat is on, I’d love to see what he could do in the 7,8, and 9 innings. His stuff is certainly good enough, it’s just hard to justify 18 mil in the bullpen, but intriguing none the less.
I’m with you on the first one too. Granted, he probably needs the call up to AAA since dominating the southern league and striking everyone out is certainly good for your confidence, but probably not so good for development. I think at Iowa, he actually would have to pitch, instead of just throw and still be able to blow it by everyone. I was hoping he would start at AAA this year and hopefully dominate there with the outside chance he makes it to Chicago when someone goes down, but that obviously isn’t what the Cubs thought. Do you think he will have good enough stuff to be an ace, or simply a top of the rotation starter? Only time will tell, but one encouraging thing, it really does look like the Cubs have some exciting players that will be knocking on the door soon.
With regard to Cashner, I think if the command he’s shown in his first 3 starts is for real, he’s an ace in the making. I think you’d have to go back to the days of Mark Prior, Angel Guzman and Carlos Zambrano to find the last time the Cubs had a starter with the kind of front of the rotation potential Cashner has. Then again, none of those guys are aces now, but there’s no question that Prior was an ace in his short time with the Cubs. Before injuries curtailed his career as a starter, Guzman wasn’t far behind. Zambrano was a tick or two behind those two and was supposed to be a #3 type guy from the beginning — and it looks like that’s about what he’s turned out to be.
Putting Cashner at AAA with Jay Jackson may be kind of interesting – a glimpse into the future. Jackson has been doing pretty well himself so far, though I think he’s probably a #3 guy in the majors…maybe, a #2 if he can also maintain the command he’s shown early on.
I do agree, unfortunately, that the 18M salary will probably prevent the Cubs from utilizing him in the pen too.
Guess not.
I’m thinking this is a precursor to a trade. Zambrano’s probably not happy in the bullpen and will gladly waive his no trade clause now. I consider this a trial run for the rotation without Zambrano. If all goes well over the next month or so, we should start seeing Z trade rumors on this site soon…. Well, that’s my prediction anyway!
Its kind of sucky because neither Silva or Gorzelanny have pitched their way out of the starting rotation. In fact its safe to say that the Cubs starting pitchers probably have one of the best, if not the best ERA’s in baseball, even with Z’s masterpiece on opening day. The Cubs need short relief help and they need it stat. Bring up Cashner (who is tearing it up in AA) and dangle either Gorzo or Marshall as trade bait along with trading either Theriot (as much as I hate to say it), Font, or Baker to get some relief.
Also, Byrd has been destroying out of the 1 and 2 spot, why not keep him up there at least in the 2 hole?
I think ultimately any rotation surplus will be resolved by someone getting hurt.
Have you heard any rumblings about the Cubs dealing a starter, particularly Zambrano?
If Sabean doesn’t want Dye, with a .913 OPS against lefties, even after watching that horrible offense waste three good-to-great pitching performances in the last three games, then he isn’t going to reach for any help at all. As I said in a thread downstream, the last three games have shown us that you cannot be considered a playoff team just because of your pitching when your front office has been so negligent in building an offense.
Jut because Rowand and DeRosa may come back in the next two weeks won’t change the fact that Panda is heavier than last year and ineffective, and the rest of the batting order is no better than an AA farm team. This is the dreck that Sabean and Bochy have been foisting upon the fans and apologists like Baggarly and Schulman for years, and nothing will change.
Sandoval is heavier and ineffective???
He’s 15 lbs lighter and is hitting .321….how is that heavier and ineffective?
If Giants signed Dye, everyone here would go off about him signing another over the hill guy!
It’s APRIL!!!
He didn’t hit his weight target, and his swing and defense are not up to where they were last year. And the defense that it’s only April doesn’t mask the fact that what you saw the last three days will be the norm this year. They have no one who can drive in runs against lefties, which is where Dye comes in.
Unless you want to keep relying upon the same guys to hit into DPs and leave men in scoring position the rest of the year.
Not hitting is weight target and being “Heavier” are two totally different things…He is eating MUCH healthier which in turn will give him more energy.
I still don’t understand your saying his swing is not where it was last year….He is hitting .321 with 2 HR’s….where do you expect him to be?????????????
His defense is not gold glove caliber but isn’t expected to be.