The Cubs and Nationals are stepping up their pursuit of Brandon Webb, according to ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (on Twitter). A number of other clubs, including the Dodgers, Pirates, Twins, Rangers and Rockies, are interested in the former Cy Young Award winner.
Webb, 31, has missed virtually all of the past two seasons with shoulder surgery. He finished in the top two in Cy Young voting every year from 2006-08, when he averaged 233 innings and posting a 3.13 ERA with 7.2 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9.
Go to the Nats Webby. They’ll treat you right.
Yeah, they will pay you a few million for a year of service in which he does absolutely nothing. Have we learned nothing after giving Wang $2 mil to rehab on our dollar?
I love the my Nats, but at this point we are just grabbing straws and hoping we don’t get stuck with another bum.
Suprised to hear Dodgers in there; Padilla a better fit because he can be depended on in relief
I’d love to see the Cubs get him. If he’s healthy, he would immediately make our rotation pretty nasty.
Not to sound uneducated…but who else is in your rotation that would help make it nasty? so i guess i am uneducated in this respect
Well maybe not nasty, but formidable.
Hopefully he can make a healthy comeback for the team willing to give him a chance.
It would be interesting to see what clubs are or are willing to offer him. I would think 1 year 8 MM with incentives and a vesting option would be a starting point. Too low, too much?
He’ll need to show he can throw. I’m not sure if he could just throw a bullpen for scouts or what, but $8m is wicked high for a guy who hasn’t done anything in two years. I’d be all for a small base and a ton of incentives that let him be paid well if he pitches well. Say $2m plus $2m for every 50 innings he throws and maybe vest another year at 180 IP or something.
I like the lower dollar amount. These low risk high reward type signings can often be too risky. I think it’s worth a shot, especially if he regains his form. I haven’t heard good news from his camp on his current abilities though.
I really like Webb for the Cubs, if he’s healthy. The Cubs obviously don’t have the money for Lee but they need an ace type starter. The back of the rotation scraps that are still left on the market aren’t going to make any difference in the Cubs chances of contending but a healthy Brandon Webb would do a lot for their chances.
I really LOVE Prior when he’s healthy too!!!
there is a massive difference between the two players you are comparing first of all…
That is a really big IF. When the Ricketts are allotting so few dollars to improve the team, now, I’m not sure it’s worth the gamble. As you said, the Cubs are not doing to contend next season, so why not put the money towards the rainy day fund?
I agree. The Cubs aren’t going after Cliff Lee and likely wouldn’t get him even if they tried. It’s a creative solution for the Cubs if they can get him on an incentive laden deal. As long as it’s a low risk offer, and with Ricketts holding the purse strings I assume it will be….then what’s not to like?
Really bored with the Nationals being attached to literally every free agent and claiming to come up short 98% of the time. Apparently they’re really interested in Carlos Pena, Derek Lee, and Lance Berkman. I’d bet $500 right now that none of them sign with the Nationals.
But Webb makes sense for them. Wang and Marquis worked out, so why not? Oh wait….nevermind, they’re going hard after Cliff Lee. Totally forgot about that. Hopefully they don’t come up short on all of Crawford, Werth, Lee, Soriano, Beltre, and Pavano. They have the prospects to land Justin Upton or Greinke, but they might come up a bit short. Hardest working PR group in baseball, apparently.
To be fair, they have been interested in Pena and his Mendoza-esque batting average for a while now… much to the chagrin of nationals fans.
Another year, another 90+ losses.
Out of those three Derek Lee is the most likely to sign for a incentive contract that would be worth no more then 5-7 mil.. He’ll go to the NL West more then likely
You were saying something? I believe the very same Nationals landed some guy named Jayson Werth.
Serious question: when was the last time one of these low risk, high reward signings actually worked out for a team with a starting pitcher? And by worked out, I mean the pitcher actually came back from his injury to pitch as well as he did before? Brett Myers comes to mind as one, but he’s about the only one in recent memory I can think of. And he wasn’t having shoulders problems I don’t think (correct me if I’m wrong)
Besides that, I can’t think of even one. Or at least one with serious shoulder problems like Webb has had. Something to think about for the Cubs/Nats before they hand him 6-7 mil +
Ryan Dempster is a pretty good example.
Ok, that makes two. I thought of Chris Carpenter too (can’t believe I forgot him) for three. So far, that makes three I can think of over the last decade or so. Lol
*Actually, I change my view on Dempster. Nice success story for coming back from his injuries, but he wasn’t one of these risk/reward signings like Carpenter/Webb/etc. He was acquired while he was still relatively cheap, and not depended on to anchor a rotation like most people would want Webb to do
Joakim Soria, Billy Wagner, Fransisco Liriano. Granted now I am just listing pitchers who have successfully come back from major injury…
Chris Carpenter bounced back pretty well, I’d say.
Tim hudson, pavano
Hudson was acquired before he started having injury problems; he wasn’t the same as a risk/reward free agent signing. And he had elbow problems, which are scary…but not quit as terrifying as shoulder problems are. Pavano though, I’ll give you
Tally: Myers, Pavano, Carpenter
But Hudson was in his final year, coming off an injury and only got into a handful of games in 09. He was resigned AFTER his injury, so technically it falls into that category. But elbows are different stories, like you said.
That is a good point; I didn’t think about that. That makes four
My point in emphasizing this though is that the number of failures seems to far outnumber the success stories. Just last year, you have Sheets/Harden/Penny/Webb/Wang/Bedard, previous year you have Penny and Smoltz (for the BoSox), among others. And of course, there’s Mark Prior. I used to be an advocate of these kinds of signings, but recently they just don’t seem to be worth the risk. Especially when you consider how serious Webb’s injuries have been. If you have a solid staff and you’re adding him on a contract more in line w/ what the Astros gave Brett Myers, then that might not be such a bad deal. But if you’re planning on handing Webb 6-7 mil + guaranteed and expecting him to be a top of the rotation starter, I have a feeling you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak
I keep reading about serious shoulder surgery.. I just read somewhere, maybe Stark that Webb had a debridement, which is cleaning up scar tissue. He had nothing repaired. No labrum, no rotator. He had surgery in end of 2009 season I think and was throwing in 2010, just not strong enough. It seems like serious shoulder surgery is a bit over stated. Maybe so many teams are into Webb because the surgery wasn’t so serious?
I’m sure a D-Backs fan could answer that better than I can. I read articles that indicated the same thing. He had the surgery in August 2009 to clean out the scar tissue, which doesn’t sound too serious. But it seems like he should have been ready to go early last summer. It sounds like he’s had some setbacks w/ his recovery, and that’s what would worry me.
This isn’t exactly the same thing, but I know w/ Josh Hamilton’s injury in September, they originally diagnosed him w/ bruised ribs and said he would only be out for a week to 10 days. But he never felt better after that, and they eventually realized his ribs were actually broken, which is why he couldn’t come back sooner than he did. Point being, if Webb’s having setbacks, it makes me wonder if there’s something else going on w/ him that doctors haven’t figured out yet. Or if it’s a sign of things to come
And for the record, don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for the guy, and I’m rooting for him to come back. I just have a feeling this is Chein Ming Wang Part II for someone next year
No Vasquez or De la Rosa available anymore…get Webb and Pavano, please.
Webb for Zambrano, Ramirez, Soto, and Soriano straight up.. If Webb is healthy which he has not been in 2 yrs.. it would be the first Ace the Cubs had since Wood and Prior.. they haven’t had an ace in roughly 5 yrs now