Really ******* sucks that we let this kid go:
His injury was nothing a little Tommy John couldn't fix. He's only 32.
His injury was nothing a little Tommy John couldn't fix. He's only 32.
MLB: Theo: FIX THE BULLPEN!!!!
- Thread starter tm3308
- Start date
Did we not almost get rid of him last offseason? These Carlos Silva-Milton Bradley trades can happen at anytime
Yeah, for Dan Haren, who's currently pitching like **** for Washington (and wasn't good in 2011 with the Angels). That's like trading mud for dirt. Sort of like the Silva-Bradley deal. You're better off just getting rid of the problem, rather than getting equal "value" for him through a trade.
Why should the Cubs invest in an expensive bullpen when they are not built to win right now. Sadly you'd think they'd have a few young arms in the minors they could give an audition but they don't. There is no point in trading for expensive veteran relievers right now either when you are trying to stock the minor league system with prospects. The Cubs have a ridiculous amount of money they can spend the next 2 off seasons. They only have around $50 mil committed to players for next season and once Soriano comes off the books the following season they only have around $30 mil committed so I expect that they will spend heavily the next 2 off seasons trying to fill in the holes around their young core.
For now we'll just have to live with pulling our hair out whenever they go to the bullpen until some more guys start to be consistent. I hate to say it too but Jackson needs to get it turned around soon as he's looking like a huge mistake signing him for the 4 years $40 mil he got.
For now we'll just have to live with pulling our hair out whenever they go to the bullpen until some more guys start to be consistent. I hate to say it too but Jackson needs to get it turned around soon as he's looking like a huge mistake signing him for the 4 years $40 mil he got.
Like I said, though, I'm not expecting them to go out and trade for a couple more guys like Russell. He's one of the top-end guys that wouldn't come cheap. But we have three guys currently getting a lot of innings who are in the bottom 15 percent in terms of ERA, and two of those guys are in the bottom 8 percent in WHIP.
We don't need another Russell to get somebody better than Marmol/Camp/Rondon. LaTroy ******* Hawkins would actually be an improvement (he's also currently signed to a 1-year, $1 million deal). That's how bad our current group is.
BTW, Marmol makes $7 million this year. Camp is getting at least $1.35 million (with another 200k in possible incentives).
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D
DistrictCyclone
Guest
Why is that so outrageous? The rest of the team ain't that bad. It's the three guys who have no business being on a major league roster, who get the bulk of the bullpen work, that has this team 13.5 games back when they could easily be within 5 games. There is plenty enough there to be competitive, if the bullpen were just a bit better.
23-32 teams should not be worried about fixing the bullpen this year. They're not even good enough to win with a decent bullpen. If I were the Cubs, I'd even dump my good bullpen guys for some mid-level arms or anything with some potential value in 2-3 years.
Marmol is making $10.1 mil in the last year of his deal according to ESPN (Thanks Jim Hendry!): Chicago Cubs 2013 40-Man Team Roster - ESPN Camp had a good year last year but for what he's making this year it's not terrible for a veteran reliever. Fujikawa's contract looks bad now that he has to have Tommy John surgery and hopefully Baker recovers to justify his too.
The thing about the bullpen I get that we'd like to see less of Marmol, Camp, Rondon, etc. but you can't over-use guys like Russell and Gregg either. Whenever you over-work bullpen guys they tire out late in the season and it usually comes back to bite you the next season in the form of an arm injury. Unfortunately the Cubs are just stuck with what they have for now
The bullpen is not even close to making a making an 8 game difference. The rest of the team is just not that good, and there are 3 teams over 10 games in front of them. You're getting great seasons out of Nate Schierholz and Luis Valbuena, and I would not expect them to continue. Build for the future.
