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My favorite teams
I really don't see deals made for another 3 weeks yet IMO.
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That would make more sense, but Ned Colleti earlier said that there was indeed more chatter early than usual. Could mean we are a few weeks away from the big dominoes falling, right now Nolasco and Garza, but it should be an interesting few weeks.
chibears55
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i agree as far as with all the others that they may deal, to wait and see what their best last minute offers are for them.
but as far as garza goes, he their biggest fish thats suppose to net them the best return.. i just dont see them risking any chance of an injury (again) or bad outings that will kill any deals or substantial returns for him.
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All I've said about Viz was that it was a good return for Maholm :shrug:
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Did he throw one 101?
chibears55
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Galardo as well.
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It'll be nice if the Cubs can trade Garza to the D'Backs for Tyler Skaggs. But that ain't happening as the D'Backs want a more controllable pitcher and esepecially for Skaggs.
KBisBack!
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The Cubs better do a lot better than Tyler Skaggs for Matt Garza.
CSF77
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The Orioles are interested in the Cubs' Matt Garza after being "lukewarm" on him previously, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports via Twitter. However, they believe the Cubs' current asking price is too high.
We learned on Thursday that the Diamondbacks are more interested in younger, high-upside, controlled starters like the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo and Cubs' Jeff Samardzija than short-term veteran rentals. Olney, who noted the Gallardo interest a week ago (on Insider), now adds that the Dbacks like the marketability of Gallardo's Mexican heritage.
Olney also reports that Arizona had brief discussions with the Cubs regarding Samardzija. When the Cubs inquired into the availability of top Dbacks prospects Archie Bradley and Tyler Skaggs, however, the clubs ceased their talks. Nevertheless, Olney says that others in baseball do not believe that Skaggs is untouchable.
Meanwhile, the trade value of Cubs starter Matt Garza is undeniably trending up as the pitcher demonstrates that he is healthy and capable. Olney says a Garza trade is "expected soon" and, according to MLB executives, will likely return "more than the value of a first-round draft pick" to Chicago.
It is worth bearing in mind the Cubs' alternative strategic options. The team could decide to hold off on trading Garza, instead exploring a long-term extension with him. Should that not work out, Chicago could make him a qualifying offer. If he signed elsewhere in free agency, then, the Cubs would receive a compensatory first-round choice. Hence, the Cubs will likely be inclined to demand what they view as better value than such a pick in a mid-season trade.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/matt-garzas-last-three-starts/
by Paul Swydan - June 28, 2013
The Cubs didn’t have hearty expectations entering the year, but coming on the heels of some nice acquisitions, it wasn’t inconceivable that they would hang around and make some noise in the pennant race. And in a just world, perhaps they would have. They have played better than their record all season, and in fact still carry just a -12 run differential into this weekend’s action. But contention seems far off at this point. The Pirates and Cardinals are tearing it up, and the Reds are drafting off them as they wait to make their move as well. With only one game separating them and the Brewers in last place, you can bet on the Cubs being sellers at the deadline. One of their chief assets will be Matt Garza, who has been fairly fantastic in his last three starts.
Garza, as you may recall, started the season on the shelf, which is actually where he ended last season, thanks to a stress reaction in his pitching elbow. He spent the last two and a half months of the 2012 season planted on ice. And as you scroll back through his Rotoworld player news feed from this past winter, there is definitely a “boy cries wolf” feel to it.
On December 28, Garza guaranteed that he’d be ready for opening day. Then the problems started. On February 17, he was removed from his first live batting practice session after holding onto his left side. The next day the story was that it was a mild lat strain, but Garza didn’t think it would be “a big thing.” A few days later, Garza was still confident that he’d be ready for opening day. That confidence lasted just six days, when he reported that he might start the season on the disabled list. Then he had a flare up a few days later, and it was decided he would definitely land on the DL for the season’s start. He wouldn’t throw off a mound again until April. Then after being rained out of a rehab start, he was scratched from the next, with the proverbial “dead arm.” He would finally make his first rehab start of the season, or start of any kind really, on May 1. He sparkled in his four minor league starts, allowing just two runs over 15.1 innings, but the main takeaway here is how long it took him to get back on the mound.
Now, if this was the only episode of Garza landing on the disabled list, it would hardly be worthy of mention. After all, players have their rehabs pushed back all the time, and the job of both player and team is not necessarily to tell the media the truth, but rather paint a sunny picture of the situation for the team’s sunnyside up fans. But when you combine the problems this year with an elbow injury last year that he merely rehabbed and didn’t have it surgically repaired, and you wonder if Garza is a ticking time bomb. As we’ve seen time and time again, once your elbow starts hurting, you generally end up needing surgery. Obviously the lat injury is not an elbow injury, but it does underscore the fact that after years of good health — Garza made at least 30 starts and was 26th in the game in games started — perhaps his days outside of an operating room are numbered.
Of course, since Garza is a free agent at the end of the season, any team looking to acquire him is only looking for a short-term solution. And he just may be a great short-term solution. He’s essentially been the guy he has been for his whole career — his 3.83 ERA and 3.88 FIP this season are near mirror images of his career 3.84 ERA and 3.99 FIP. His strikeout and walk rate are also essentially the same that they have been since he arrived in the National League. He hasn’t generated as many grounders in 2013 as he has the past couple of years, and his velocity is down as well, but neither problem is quite a red flag just yet, especially since he’s only made eight starts so far. In fact, his resume would look even better if you excised the one stinker of a start — nine runs allowed in five-plus innings against the Reds on June 11. He even began that start well, as the Cubs trailed 3-1 entering the Reds’ half of the sixth. It all unraveled after that, as Garza coughed up a two-run double to Jay Bruce and a three-run homer to Xavier Paul. He was permitted to face one more batter — Ryan Hanigan, whom he walked — and left the game having faced six hitters in the sixth without recording an out.
Since then, he’s been fantastic, and teams are starting to salivate. The Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Nationals, Orioles, Padres, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox and Rockies have all been mentioned as either teams who have interest or have scouted him recently. That’s one-third of the teams in the league, and while we don’t know the level of interest that all of those teams have, we can safely assume that Garza’s last three starts have created a bevy of interest. Before we fall head over heels in love with him again though, let’s take a closer look at those three starts.
In them, Garza has tossed 22 innings of two-run ball. He has struck out 23 batters to just five walks, and he has allowed just 15 hits. In other words, less than a baserunner per inning pitched. Which is great, obviously. He hasn’t needed any more than 107 pitches in any of the three outings, just another example of how efficient he has been. But what really stands out is the poor opponents that he has faced. In taking on the Astros, Mets and Brewers, Garza faced the teams ranked 26th, 24th and 15th respectively (and yes, that is using the NP filter). And the Brewers team he faced wasn’t representative of that 15th-place ranking either, as neither Ryan Braun nor Carlos Gomez played. Garza still had a responsibility to go out and cut down the competition no matter who they are, and cut them down he has in these past three starts, but it wasn’t exactly the cream of the crop.
Given his past performance, Garza was going to be at the top of team’s wish lists once he proved he was healthy, and since returning to the rotation in late May he hasn’t skipped a turn, so mission accomplished on that front. That he has pitched extraordinarily well in his last three turns may only increase the demand, and that could potentially be great news for the Cubs. However, given his injury troubles over the past year and the fact that those last three starts have been against similarly weak sisters, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Garza will be able to step in to the middle or back of a number of contenders’ rotations and help push them towards the postseason, but it’s doubtful that he’s suddenly turned into Greg Maddux.
We learned on Thursday that the Diamondbacks are more interested in younger, high-upside, controlled starters like the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo and Cubs' Jeff Samardzija than short-term veteran rentals. Olney, who noted the Gallardo interest a week ago (on Insider), now adds that the Dbacks like the marketability of Gallardo's Mexican heritage.
Olney also reports that Arizona had brief discussions with the Cubs regarding Samardzija. When the Cubs inquired into the availability of top Dbacks prospects Archie Bradley and Tyler Skaggs, however, the clubs ceased their talks. Nevertheless, Olney says that others in baseball do not believe that Skaggs is untouchable.
Meanwhile, the trade value of Cubs starter Matt Garza is undeniably trending up as the pitcher demonstrates that he is healthy and capable. Olney says a Garza trade is "expected soon" and, according to MLB executives, will likely return "more than the value of a first-round draft pick" to Chicago.
It is worth bearing in mind the Cubs' alternative strategic options. The team could decide to hold off on trading Garza, instead exploring a long-term extension with him. Should that not work out, Chicago could make him a qualifying offer. If he signed elsewhere in free agency, then, the Cubs would receive a compensatory first-round choice. Hence, the Cubs will likely be inclined to demand what they view as better value than such a pick in a mid-season trade.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/matt-garzas-last-three-starts/
by Paul Swydan - June 28, 2013
The Cubs didn’t have hearty expectations entering the year, but coming on the heels of some nice acquisitions, it wasn’t inconceivable that they would hang around and make some noise in the pennant race. And in a just world, perhaps they would have. They have played better than their record all season, and in fact still carry just a -12 run differential into this weekend’s action. But contention seems far off at this point. The Pirates and Cardinals are tearing it up, and the Reds are drafting off them as they wait to make their move as well. With only one game separating them and the Brewers in last place, you can bet on the Cubs being sellers at the deadline. One of their chief assets will be Matt Garza, who has been fairly fantastic in his last three starts.
Garza, as you may recall, started the season on the shelf, which is actually where he ended last season, thanks to a stress reaction in his pitching elbow. He spent the last two and a half months of the 2012 season planted on ice. And as you scroll back through his Rotoworld player news feed from this past winter, there is definitely a “boy cries wolf” feel to it.
On December 28, Garza guaranteed that he’d be ready for opening day. Then the problems started. On February 17, he was removed from his first live batting practice session after holding onto his left side. The next day the story was that it was a mild lat strain, but Garza didn’t think it would be “a big thing.” A few days later, Garza was still confident that he’d be ready for opening day. That confidence lasted just six days, when he reported that he might start the season on the disabled list. Then he had a flare up a few days later, and it was decided he would definitely land on the DL for the season’s start. He wouldn’t throw off a mound again until April. Then after being rained out of a rehab start, he was scratched from the next, with the proverbial “dead arm.” He would finally make his first rehab start of the season, or start of any kind really, on May 1. He sparkled in his four minor league starts, allowing just two runs over 15.1 innings, but the main takeaway here is how long it took him to get back on the mound.
Now, if this was the only episode of Garza landing on the disabled list, it would hardly be worthy of mention. After all, players have their rehabs pushed back all the time, and the job of both player and team is not necessarily to tell the media the truth, but rather paint a sunny picture of the situation for the team’s sunnyside up fans. But when you combine the problems this year with an elbow injury last year that he merely rehabbed and didn’t have it surgically repaired, and you wonder if Garza is a ticking time bomb. As we’ve seen time and time again, once your elbow starts hurting, you generally end up needing surgery. Obviously the lat injury is not an elbow injury, but it does underscore the fact that after years of good health — Garza made at least 30 starts and was 26th in the game in games started — perhaps his days outside of an operating room are numbered.
Of course, since Garza is a free agent at the end of the season, any team looking to acquire him is only looking for a short-term solution. And he just may be a great short-term solution. He’s essentially been the guy he has been for his whole career — his 3.83 ERA and 3.88 FIP this season are near mirror images of his career 3.84 ERA and 3.99 FIP. His strikeout and walk rate are also essentially the same that they have been since he arrived in the National League. He hasn’t generated as many grounders in 2013 as he has the past couple of years, and his velocity is down as well, but neither problem is quite a red flag just yet, especially since he’s only made eight starts so far. In fact, his resume would look even better if you excised the one stinker of a start — nine runs allowed in five-plus innings against the Reds on June 11. He even began that start well, as the Cubs trailed 3-1 entering the Reds’ half of the sixth. It all unraveled after that, as Garza coughed up a two-run double to Jay Bruce and a three-run homer to Xavier Paul. He was permitted to face one more batter — Ryan Hanigan, whom he walked — and left the game having faced six hitters in the sixth without recording an out.
Since then, he’s been fantastic, and teams are starting to salivate. The Blue Jays, Dodgers, Giants, Nationals, Orioles, Padres, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox and Rockies have all been mentioned as either teams who have interest or have scouted him recently. That’s one-third of the teams in the league, and while we don’t know the level of interest that all of those teams have, we can safely assume that Garza’s last three starts have created a bevy of interest. Before we fall head over heels in love with him again though, let’s take a closer look at those three starts.
In them, Garza has tossed 22 innings of two-run ball. He has struck out 23 batters to just five walks, and he has allowed just 15 hits. In other words, less than a baserunner per inning pitched. Which is great, obviously. He hasn’t needed any more than 107 pitches in any of the three outings, just another example of how efficient he has been. But what really stands out is the poor opponents that he has faced. In taking on the Astros, Mets and Brewers, Garza faced the teams ranked 26th, 24th and 15th respectively (and yes, that is using the NP filter). And the Brewers team he faced wasn’t representative of that 15th-place ranking either, as neither Ryan Braun nor Carlos Gomez played. Garza still had a responsibility to go out and cut down the competition no matter who they are, and cut them down he has in these past three starts, but it wasn’t exactly the cream of the crop.
Given his past performance, Garza was going to be at the top of team’s wish lists once he proved he was healthy, and since returning to the rotation in late May he hasn’t skipped a turn, so mission accomplished on that front. That he has pitched extraordinarily well in his last three turns may only increase the demand, and that could potentially be great news for the Cubs. However, given his injury troubles over the past year and the fact that those last three starts have been against similarly weak sisters, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Garza will be able to step in to the middle or back of a number of contenders’ rotations and help push them towards the postseason, but it’s doubtful that he’s suddenly turned into Greg Maddux.
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Yes, I agree. It seems like the Rangers will overpay or some team will. But it wouldn't just be Skaggs, plus more.
CSF77
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DBacks want more control. Not a match.
Teams to look at: SD: Casey Kelly (DL), Matthew Andriese, Burch Smith Some arms to look at. Position players: Austin Hedges might make sense C with C locked up. Cory Spangenberg 2B another one.
SF maybe if LAD gets Ricky. Not sure if they will pay out though.
central doubt it. All 3 have strong staffs.
east Atl maybe. Alex Wood LH starter. Already went through T.J. Mauricio Cabrera younger brother to Alberto (in Tenn) F.B. hits 97. Not much else.
AL: O's Eduardo Rodriguez LH starter. Doubt they could get Bundy or Gausman.
Yanks don't have upper level pitching.
R. Sox: would want 1 of Matt Barnes, Allen Webster, Henry Owens and a quality bat. Blake Swihart would work.
Angels: Not a fan.
Oak: Sonny Gray cause he is close. Miles Head corner IF with some HR power. Nothing exciting.
Tex: Have to be centered around Cody Buckel
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Bundy is done for the year with TJS so of course the Cubs will get him...
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The upside with Bundy is so high that I really wouldn't mind making that deal, but I know there would be a small riot if the Cubs traded for another pitcher coming off of TJS.
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My favorite teams
A lot of depends on what they give up for a guy. For a team that should be looking for singles and doubles in terms of player development, not necessarily trying for a grand slam.
CSF77
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What would make sense:
Trade for Olt and Cody Buckel. Give them Garza and Soriano (pay all but 6 mil) and Aristmendy Alcantara (or anyone else but the top 3).
This would help with thier play off push and they could cut Soriano after the season if they choose.
Cubs get a good arm and a 3B for now which is protection if Bryant goes back to college.
Cubs would get the #3 pick next year if this is the case in a stronger draft.
Boobaby1
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What would make sense is for the Cubs to trade away as many people as they can that could fill up the farm the fastest. That would include Garza, Soriano, Dejesus, Feldman, Russell, and even Shark if the right package were presented.
Wood would be the only one I would extend because he becomes the cheapest to do so. The rest I would trade, and you know damn well that the Cubs farm system would be chock full of talent by trading these guys, plus the picks they will receive next year and probably the year after as well would only add to it.
Extending players is ludicrous to me at this time because the front office shows no sign of giving them any help, and extending them just to flip players at the deadline and suffer losing seasons after losing seasons seems kind of pointless.
If anyone can give me a timeline as to when the Cubs would ever pony up 200 to 250 million in contracts to make this team competitive, I'm all ears. If it's 2-3 years from now, why be that far into a players contract? Might as well just be a little more patient.
The fastest road to spending would be to extend no one at this point in my opinion, and wait until the right players surface along with the talent in the minors.
Then spending 25 million per year on an ACE, 18-20 million on another top end starter, and 20 million per year on a bona fide player added to the core and the farm would not be such a tough pill to swallow.
I know prospects are just that, but if you have enough of them and some damn good ones, eventually you will net the right players on the team and have other players (i.e. depth) pushing them throughout the ranks.
If Oakland is capable of doing it, surely the best management staff top to bottom can do it also.
Choice.
patg006
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These are the best two options in my opinion. Buckel I'm a big fan of....
However, I feel the Rockies are dark horses...a lot of reports saying they're interested.
Staff online NOW
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bamainatlantaYou wake him up, you keep him up