The Cubs have been watching Carlos Silva's spring starts closely as they decide whether he deserves a spot in their starting rotation, but Chicago hasn't been the only team following Silva's progress. According to Bruce Levine of ESPNChicago, the Yankees and Nationals are among the clubs scouting the right-hander.
When the Cubs acquired Silva in exchange for Milton Bradley last winter, the Mariners agreed to send $9MM to Chicago in the deal. Seattle will pay $5.5MM of that money this season, reducing the weight of Silva's $11.5MM salary on the Cubs' payroll. Still, given the presence of younger, cheaper starting options, it makes sense that the Cubs would move Silva for a decent offer.
Levine reported last weekend that scouts were on hand to watch Silva's earlier spring start, in which he allowed six runs in the first inning and had a dugout confrontation with Aramis Ramirez. The scouts who watched Silva pitch today presumably came away a little more impressed, as the 31-year-old turned in his best performance so far this spring.
The Yankees???
Remember Rothechild likes him and he is their pitching coach.
I feel like it was just yesterday Carlos Silva was one of the worst pitchers in baseball…now teams are interested in him…funny how things change…
He’s still the worst pitcher in baseball
I disagree Dana Eveland
That’s ridiculous. He’s not even in the bottom 20. Jeff Suppan? Jeff Weaver? Ryan Rowland-Smith? Oliver Perez? Todd Wellemeyer?
Silva was worth 2.1 WAR last year and is projected to be around the same this year. 189 starters were worse last year.
Not even close to being true.
He’d fit right in at LT for the Yanks
Would this be a pure salary dump or would Chicago want something decent in return?
Mostly a salary dump, I’d say. I’d rather his spot in the rotation be given to Samardzija or Cashner.
I think this would hurt more than help both the Yanks and Nats.
Wow, add Silva to Burnett, Mitre, Nova along with NRI’s like Bartolo Colon, Mark Prior, and Freddie Garcia. What a staff! If only Sabathia and Hughes could pitch every 3 days the Yanks would be solid.
I wonder what Cashman was doing this winter and how has he kept his job?
What did he do wrong? Cliff Lee took less money to go to Philly and they had their doubts about Greinke.
In alphabetical order, some of this years free agents:
Correia, Duchscherer, Francis, Garland, Harrang, Kuroda, Lilly, Penny, Webb.
I don’t recall the Yanks being involved or even discussed with any of these pitchers. Some are shaky, like Silva, but several are much better than the existing starters they have now.
Cashman put all his eggs in the Lee basket with no plan B.
Let’s take that list one name at a time:
Correia ERA over 5 in a pitchers park
Duch Hasnt pitched in 2 years
Francis: maybe would have taken a flyer on him but hasnt done anything since 07
Garland: west coast guy, needs a big ballpark
Harang: proved he doesnt have it anymore in Cinci
Kuroda: was either staying in LA or going back to Japan
Lilly: I would have liked to see him back, but he re-signed with LA before free agency started
Penny: proved he cant stay healthy or pitch in the AL East
Webb: overpaid in Texas, I think he;s done
I think NY is better off with Nova, Banuelos Noesi or even Garcia. I’d rather break in some young arms. Having said that, how good would Ian Kennedy look in pinstripes now?
THANK YOU. Very good post and is was well articulated. So often ppl blather on about something w/o offering proof or evidence.
Sooner or later ppl will realize that the Yanks are in need of front of rotation (#1-#3) guys who can push AJ and Hughes further down the rotation. If all a guy is good for is being a #4 or#5 then why go out and overpay for them when those types are readily available.
Look at the elite teams right now. Sox have Lackey and Dice K (switch out Lackey for Beckett if you want) and the Phillies have Hamels and Blanton as their #4 and #5 guys. If we can fortify our rotation with front end guys then it’s best to spend minimal amounts of money and make as little commitments as possible to pitchers like the ones we have until someone much better becomes available in the trade market or one of the kids pokes his head out and shows he’s ready to become a mlb starter. Signing Garland, Correia and Duchs (who can’t be counted on for more than 10 starts) don’t solveany of our problems.
Of those listed, the only ones appreciably better than what the Yankees have now are Kuroda and Lilly. Kuroda took an under market deal to stay with the Dodgers. Lilly signed an extension. Both were before Lee was signed btw.
The rest, really who cares? Either awful or tremendous injury risks. I like Harang for 2011 but a lot of that has to do with the park and division he’s playing in.
Guys can we please stop these jokes before they start. We have heard the cashman jokes with every flyer they took.Here are the arguments:1. it cost nothing so what is the big deal, they need to take a chance2. cash is desperate, how did he fall asleep at the wheel, the yanks are doomedSo now we have that out of the way please lets just have a discussion.
Could NYY be a return of the old Braves “Spahn, Sain and pray for Rain” jingle with Sabathia and Hughes? I mean.. Fishing around for folks of the likes of Silva when they already have 2 exactly like him in Garcia and Colon?
What do Yanks fans think of this? This can’t be going on.. Can’t see a big pocketed contender, especially in the AL East really considering any of those guys a viable and serious rotational guy to hang their hat on.
Sadly, you’re right. I don’t know why we would go for Silva. This is big boy territory (no pun intended), and the likes of Silva could possibly make it in another division, but not the AL East. I don’t see Colon or Garcia succeeding either, but maybe they’ll be serviceable enough to let the offense win games for them. The problem is… there really isn’t anyone else out there, and Cashman is just taking a flyer on these guys to see if one of them sticks. Hopefully the scene is different once trade deadline rolls around and teams are out of it.
Fingers crossed…
If the Cubs release him why not take a chance. He was having a good year till he had the heart ailment. Maybe Rothschild liked what he saw last year and thinks he could follow through on it in the East. I have my doubts, but if the Cubs and Mariners are paying his salary, and he doesn’t cost any prospects, why not?
I don’t see any harm in scouting the guy. I think ppl are making wayyy to much of this. IF he’s brought in, it will be for nothing. If he is brought it then it’s to be a better option for the #5 spot over Garcia or Colon. What’s the big deal? I mean is there a radical difference between what Silva might do vs Garcia? No. Could Silva be a slightly better option than either Garcia or Colon? Possibly. If that accounts to 1 or 2 more “W”‘s and 30 more innings pitched then so be it.
I predict the Yankees will be the frontrunner to win the 2006 World Series.
wow people are dumb as hell. yankees have the #1 offense + #1 bullpen and cc, hughes, and burnett are a pretty good top 3. burnett had 1 bad season guys get over it. hes inconsistent but still a good pitcher with a career 3.99 era and colon, garcia and nova is more than capable of holding the fort until the killer b’s are ready or we make a trade. get a clue pepole.
LOFL, #1 pen. The Padres were far and away the best pen in the league and still are, its not even close. The Yankees were 15th in xFIP and 17th in bullpen ERA. Just so you know, the Reds offense produced a higher WAR than the Yankees too, all the while having a pitcher hit.
You do realize that they didn’t have Feliciano/Soriano last year…With those additions its pretty safe to say that the Yankees have the best bullpen in the AL atleast, probably even in all of MLB.
Oh, Pedro Feliciano? The guy who had a 1.5 WHIP? Yeah, he’s for sure gonna make them better.
Actually, he will. He was misused and overused as a Met. We have depth in the pen, and can use Pedro for his specialty: getting lefties out. It’s not brain surgery.
Feliciano will be a lefty specialist. Maybe you should take more time to look up some stats
Against lefties- .211/.297/.276
He almost struck out as many lefthanded batters (35) than the number of hits and walks combined that he allowed against lefthanded batters (36)
I can’t predict the future but I sure can read a stat. Pedro is being brought in to be a lefty specialis which is different than how the Mets used him. The Mets used him vs lefties and righties and his splits are quite different.
139 LHH faced and 141 RHH faced
2.31 FIP vs LHH and 4.22 FIP vs RHH
1.09 whip vs LHH and 2.02 whip vs RHH
.292 BaBIP vs LHH and .398 BaBIP vs RHH
See…big difference.
The Yankees also added the #1 closer a year ago to set up the best closer in the history of baseball… Mo > Bell (Although that’s with anyone) and Soriano > Gregerson… Also SD depleted their bullpen to improve their offense.
Ahh Yankees fans crack me up. In what world was Soriano the #1 closer? He was unbelievably lucky last year, his BABIP was .199, nearly 50 points below his career avg. SD has the absolute best setup man in any league in Mike Adams, somebody you somehow forgot to mention, he has had an ERA+ of 523 and 210 the last two years.
You really should stop reading articles online and watch some baseball, the Padres gave up four average relievers. Mujica was a mop up guy who gave up a ton of bombs. Webb has potential but was decent at best, and the guys they gave in the Bartlett trade were either minor leaguers or enjoyed a very bland cup of coffee.
BTW, its not 10 years ago, MO is not the best reliever in the league. His K’s were way down and he was lucky last year, his BABIP was 40 points lower than his career average and his xFIP was 3.65. Expect him to give up a few more homers, considering his HR/FB percentage was only 3.6, and a lot more hits to drop in, thats if he doesnt decline.
Ahh stat nerds crack me up. How can you compare pitching to the AL East hitters, playing half your games in the homer friendly Yankees Stadium to pitching in the NL West in the spacious confines of Petco? Of course they’re going to have better numbers, all you have to do is pitch around Tulo and CarGo and you’re set.
You really should stop calculating stats online and watch some baseball.
Actually if you knew anything about advanced stats, you’d know that many of them (like ERA+ are ball-park adjusted). But I’m sure you don’t need stats, huh? You have your own two eyes?
So you’re saying you agree with me? Because ERA+ shows Mariano Rivera (238) was better than Heath Bell (191) last year. It only further proves my point.
I’m not saying throw out all stats. And if that’s the conclusion you came up with from reading my post… then I suggest you read again, this time a bit more carefully, ya?
Apology accepted. š
The Pads had one guy throw over 20 innings with an ERA+ under 100, including 5 above 190. The Yankees had one guy above 148, two if you include Wood
Maybe you should figure out what these stats mean before spouting off. ERA+ is league adjusted, so thats how I can compare it
All right, let’s compare then.
Yankees 7/8/9 guys to Pads 7/8/9 guys, shall we?
Robertson (112) Soriano (228) Rivera (238) = 578
Gregarson (114) Adams (210) Bell (191) = 515
You may think the Pads have a greater pen, I think the Yanks do. We just disagree. But this time, you are going against the numbers and facts. Isn’t irony grand?
I didnt know bullpens consisted of three guys, learn something new everyday
Except the 7/8/9 pitchers are the arguably the most important pitchers in a bullpen.
Ok, but it is totally without argument that those three guys cannot throw everyday.
Yes but more often than not the games they pitch in are the close ball games. Several other relievers pitch long relief or have mop up roles.
Yeah, but the Yankees still only have two top guys. And with their rotation they need a deep bullpen more than most teams.
Well hello contradiction.
Ahh Yankees fans crack me up. In what world was Soriano the #1 closer?
and
BTW, its not 10 years ago, MO is not the best reliever in the league.
Followed by
Yeah, but the Yankees still only have two top guys.
Check and mate. Enjoy the season. Cheers.
You’re just looking for anything aren’t you? Soriano was NOT the #1 closer in the league last year. MO is NOT what he was 10 years ago. They both are still two of the top relievers in the league. Im not sure of the confusion, maybe a reading comprehension class would do you well
Ha! More like take your own advice. We’re getting nowhere. So let me reiterate. San Diego has a good pen, but their huge stadium has a lot to do with it. And if you don’t believe me, check your precious ERA+. (ERA+ is ballpark adjusted, did you know?) Yankees have a better 7/8/9 trio than the Pads. Go ahead and argue against the numbers.
7/8/9 are the most important members of the pen. So don’t tell me about your long relief guy or whatever…it simply doesn’t matter. Specialists are a wash – Feliciano was misused last year, and will flourish in his new role now that he doesn’t have that circus of the Mets dictating when he pitches.
Main point, don’t just look at one stat and disregard all other factors like ballpark size, competition, etc., etc.
So… go ahead and pick your argument so I can shut you up again.
Actually, the real test will come when hitters that now know the SD pen will face them after making adjustments. Pitchers always have the advantage first few meetings of a matchup.
Career appearances, Bell 371, Adams 222, Gregerson 152, Thatcher 164. How long do you really think it takes for hitters to adjust
The Padres bullpen is called Petco
makes good arms great
The Padres play in the Grand Canyon, and several of those guys (Mujica, Webb, Russell) are gone. I’d say the Yankees pen is far better right now.
Russell? The guy who pitched 15 innings for them? Or Mujica, the replacement level player who when given the chance gave up crucial homers? Webb was hardly a big cog in their bullpen either, he was used in low leverage situations, he appeared after the 7th inning less than 10 times from July on
I’d still rather have Joba/Robertson/Feliciano/Soriano/Rivera.
Hey, try calculating the area or perimeter of Petco when you get a chance, ya?
Their bullpen ERA (3.47) was 7th, not 17th. Big difference
Just so you know, the Yankees offense was 1st in runs scored, first in OBP and that and their pitching led them to 95 wins, and in the best division in baseball.
The Reds offense ranked 7th in striking out, and only ranked 16th in drawing walks. The Yankees offense ranked 18th in strikeouts (remember in this case, the Lower the better), and 2nd in walks.
Wow!!! The Padres had the #1 bullpen? Gee I guess it’s good that we don’t play in the NL West or else we would be in trouble!!!
The guy exagerrated but the Yank’s bullpen did have the 3rd best ERA in the AL last year @ 3.47 and 5th best FIP and xFIP.
As for the Reds offense, that’s great. They had a WAR that was 0.90 better. As soon as games are determined by who has the most WAR and not the most Runs then I’ll be worried.
15 out of the last 16 years we made the playoffs its the lock of the century. god thats impressive and its not stopping anytime soon.
Since when was making the playoffs a Steinbrenner goal. I thought it was win the Series or bust.
Say what you want, 15/16 is still impressive as hell. Realistically, you can’t win the WS every year. That’s just common sense.
The difference between the Yankees payroll and the next highest team(Red Sox) is higher than two teams, the third highest payroll is the cubs, the difference between them and the yankees is enough to pay for 5 teams payrolls. The Yankees should make the playoffs as often as the Pirates finish below .500.
Ahh the good ol high payroll argument. If the team with the highest payrolls should always win, that would mean almost every year that:
The Angels or Mariners should win the AL West
The Tigers should win the AL Central
The Cubs should win the NL Central
The Mets should at the very least win the Wild Card
Bold faced lie….but go ahead. Spout some more. If you were Pinocchio and your wife bent over to pick up a……….never mind.
Spout some more what genius? Since when are facts lies? The yankees payroll obligations this year is 200,560,000, than Sox are at 162,582,000. A difference of 37.98. The Royals are at 32mill, the Pirates 34.7, and actually the Padres are just under that at 37.76.
who is we? Burnett posts on here now?
hurry cash deny it!!!!!!
garcia started 28 games last year and 18 of them were quality starts. colon if anyone has noticed is throwing 93 again and nova is a quality young arm as well. some yankees fans act like there too good for scapheap pickups. this team won 95 games last year and got absolutely nothing from vasquez and burnett and pettitte was out 2 months. every hitter in there lineup underperformed except for gardner, cano and swisher and there bullpen sucked the 1st half of the year. yet they still came within 2 games of the world series. yeah theyre that good!
uh guy they have 5 titles in that time period
jeter, hughes, cano, nova, gardner, montero, pettitte, joba, robertson, mariano, the killer b’s, romine and many others on there way. gimme a break with this payroll garbage there roster is littered with homegrown talent and other players like ian kennedy netted them curtis granderson and they combine money with developing talent to produce the winningest franchise in sports
Haha, you’re really going to say fossils like Jeter, Pettitte, and Rivera are homegrown talent? Sure, they were grown 15 years ago but put that core on any other team and see if they can keep resigning them to huge contracts, not going to happen. They came up with them, but they’ve been established for so long it kind of defeats the purpose.
And before you call me a Yankee hater and mention all the rings they won, that really isn’t the case. I’m just pointing out something that I think is funny and I don’t really have a problem with the Yanks. Sure they spend a ton but who can blame them when they bring in so much money. Wish other teams would follow suit.
They are also building a new core with Hughes, Montero, and Cano as well as the Killer B’s (I don’t want to call them that but I literally don’t know how to spell any of their names besides Brackman.)
other than banuelos, the other two of the so-called “killer b’s” aren’t that good.
Oh c’mon man, they’re young and still in the development phase. They’re not that good yet, but you can’t just write them off this early. Give them time.
But Man Ban is like a young Johan, dude’s a beast!
Ok but let’s stop with the Johan comps can we? Let’s stop the man crush on all of the prospects until we see them perform at the mlb level.
all right all right fine. I’m just excited…
Really? Because if I recall Betances was listed @ #43 on BA’s list and Brackman @ #78. But go ahead……you amuse me.
Only in the small minds of a small market fan can keeping homegrown talent be seen as a negative.
Unless you think that a team is suppose to turn over their talents every 6 years then I don’t see your point. How many prospects have been traded BECAUSE they simply didn’t need them? In the past 5 years their farm has been one of the most productive in produce mlb talents, regardless of whether they used them internally or traded them to fill other needs.
So the Yankees had a scout at a game and people are upset? Funny.
I know right? Sending scouts is as routine as a fart.
As a Jays fan, I’d really like to see the Yanks land this stud.
I looked real quick and thought you said “land this sub,” which seemed real silly. Imma just roll with it now.
“All hands on deck. Prepare to dive the USS Silva.”
-B. Cashman
Oh no. ‘Sub’ is reserved for Colon.
Somehow, “Prepare to dive into the Colon,” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Neither does “Colon’s stuff has great movement”.
lol jerk…
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Please Cubs as a lifetime fan please release this scrub. We’re not going to do anything this year so get rid of him and his terrible contract. We owe 5.4 mil I believe but it’s worth is to see this grease ball gone.
Dempster
Zambrano
Garza
Wells
Cashner……….. good enough rotation for me
The Cubs actually owe the full amount, as would any team they manage to trade him to. The payment from Seattle is Chicago’s, no matter who actually has Silva. And “we’re not going to do anything this year” is debatable, but I don’t think Silva starting 5th is a key to that. Wells and Cashner should absolutely start, because they’re better than Silva right now. That doesn’t mean Silva wouldn’t be an upgrade to other teams, though, because Cashner and Wells would probably be upgrades for other teams too. But yeah, I’d deal him tomorrow.
Too bad the Nats and Yanks gm’s aren’t as gullible as Jim Hendry…
The Yankees don’t have starting pitching and their position players are getting old and their defense is getting worse. Where was the Yankees pitching against the Rangers?
Same place the Rangers’ hitting was against the San Fran pitching.
thats the same thing analyst said last year, before they won 95 games.
Their offense is good enough to overcome other areas of weakness..
So because Sabathia and Hughes fell apart over a total of 3 games that proves what? And stop with the ignorant “position players are old” crap. Jeter and Arod don’t play all 9 positions.
The key word here is “scouting.” They’re just sending scouts to evaluate Silva to see if he has anything left SHOULD any trade possibilities arise. Teams do this all the time. It’s nothing unusual.
Siva for Young, Rangers take pay half of Youngs contract in 2012 n 2013.
Need 2B help this year, n next year of Vitters isnt ready, move Young back to 3b.