Eight major-league baseball teams struck out in their efforts to get better this winter, according to SI.com columnist Jon Heyman, and one of those teams was the Cubs.
"It's never going to be a great winter when the big goal is to undo the biggest move of the winter before," Heyman writes. "They did finally get rid of Milton Bradley but had to take Carlos Silva, poster of an impossibly bad 8.60 ERA last year and one of the worst pitchers in baseball since signing for $48 million over four years, in return from Seattle. Marlon Byrd's acquisition allows them to move Kosuke Fukudome to right field, where he's excellent, although Byrd isn't exactly a Gold Glover in center. John Grabow was overpaid at $7.5 mil for two years, and Xavier Nady seems similarly fortunate to get $3.3 million (plus $2 million in incentives) given that he didn't play after April last year and needed a second Tommy John surgery."
The other seven teams that Heyman says underachieved this winter are the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Angels, Pirates and Braves.
Get the full story: SI.com
"It's never going to be a great winter when the big goal is to undo the biggest move of the winter before," Heyman writes. "They did finally get rid of Milton Bradley but had to take Carlos Silva, poster of an impossibly bad 8.60 ERA last year and one of the worst pitchers in baseball since signing for $48 million over four years, in return from Seattle. Marlon Byrd's acquisition allows them to move Kosuke Fukudome to right field, where he's excellent, although Byrd isn't exactly a Gold Glover in center. John Grabow was overpaid at $7.5 mil for two years, and Xavier Nady seems similarly fortunate to get $3.3 million (plus $2 million in incentives) given that he didn't play after April last year and needed a second Tommy John surgery."
The other seven teams that Heyman says underachieved this winter are the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Indians, Angels, Pirates and Braves.
Get the full story: SI.com
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We can count on Lilly, Z, and Demp. I think the key (pitching-wise) is Silva. If Silva wins, it would take more pressure off the main 3. Then we can put Gordon-zonally-lally in the 5 spot.
Let's just see if the team can stay healthy this year. Last year reminded me a lot of 1985 when all 4 starters were on the DL for too long to be able to stay in contention.
And it's time to forget about the playoff performances of 2007 and 2008. I still think that the fans took their frustrations of those two seasons out on Milton Bradley and for the trade of Mark DeRosa. I will admit that Bradley didn't help himself any but he seemed to be the target of the fans wrath. But Bradley didn't ask the Cubs to move DeRosa to aquire him, did he?
But, in defense of the DeRosa move, look at where DeRosa is now. He is on his third team in a year. If he was that valuable, wouldn't he have found a permanent home?
And if the Cubs had hung onto him last year and then having the wrist injury, fans would have been screamng that Hendry should have gotten rid of him when he had the chance.
Sometimes trade and free agent signing work and sometimes they just don't. No GM is perfect. Look at any team in both leagues. Each has had their share of mistakes. No matter what, there is nothing you can do when a season is plagued by injuries and a player (with some help from some stupid fans) with a bad atitude. Just take the positives from the season and look towards the next season.
Fans just need to learn to suck it up and get over it. It's just a game. It's not real life. If your life is made or broken on whether the Cubs win a World Series, then you really need to re-examnine your life.
Win or Lose...just enjoy the game.
Cubs will be better.LOL @ SI.com they never get it right they picked the cubs to win the ws in 2004 picked the bears to win the super bowl this year.They are clowns.Cubs got rid of every mistake from last year and added character guys in byrd and a great 4th Of in nady.All they need is 1 more starter and they stay healthy cubs will make the playoffs.
New owners,same old story for the Cubs. They have tried to entice us fans with false interviews and signings that wont happen,to keep us interested. But NOTHING has changed for our Cubs. There were people out there that could help us go the extra mile,but they decided to be cheap,which is NOT a good sign going forward. I am not impressed so far. I would rather have the talent than better bathrooms and restaurant bars..
Aramis and Soriano healthy, Soto no longer fat, Bradley no longer a Cub, Byrd who should be a decent bat in center... The offense will definitely be better since so many players had down years.
Gregg is gone, Heilmann is gone, Marmol is closing and finally stopped walking guys in the 2nd half last season, Guzman is finally healthy and found a role, two solid lefties in Marshall and Grabow. The bullpen should be improved...
Starting pitching??? Zambrano and Dempster should be ok if Z stays focused, but who really knows what goes on in his head. Wells could be good or he could be found out by the rest of the league, Lilly sounds like he's going to miss April, but you only need 4 starters in April.. Soooo it’s up to Gronzellony, Shark and possibly Andrew Cashner to step up in April.
They need to go sign another pitcher.. Other than Benson.
They still don't have a leadoff hitter going on 7 years now.
Did they really improve? No. Did they get worse? Probably not. Status quo really. The problem is pitching. There is hardly any starting pitching. The cubs go three deep, that is it, and three marginal pitchers, at the beginning of the year. Lilly is coming off shoulder surgery, and as cub fans we all know how that goes. So, the problem is going to be giving up tons of runs. Don't even expect .500 this year.
Soriano and Soto are the keys to this year's season. If they play well, this team easily wins the wild card. If they both have career years, this team wins the division.
Who really cares what he or any of these other bozo's have to say when the Cubs were suppose to do good or (win it all) they were the toast of the town,now that they are coming off a underachieving year BUT finished in second they are forgotten! Who cares what happens on paper if everyone STAYS HEALTHY anything is possiable.with the people they have in the majors and the lower level systems.