Matt Garza to the Cubs

[Archie]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5998431

Rays receive a decent bounty of prospects.


Not sure what the Cubs are doing here. On the surface some of the less knowledgable fans might be happy about this....


But i'm not sure why the Cubs think they can still compete, and don't just blow the whole team up for a season or two and go with a youth movement and trade for prospects...

seems they are kinda stuck in the middle at this point, with too little prospects, and too much contract $ owed to old men

 

[mcbaseball10]

Big Z is going to have to work on his goat if he wants to compete with Garza.

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[Polaroid]

Not sure what the Cubs are doing here. On the surface some of the less knowledgable fans might be happy about this....

It's an upgrade, but the marginal value of the upgrade is minor. He's a decent starting pitcher but he's not that much better than the pitcher he will push out of the rotation. And this small upgrade has cost the Cubs two of their top 5 prospects, including their #1, and a couple hovering around the top 10. The only upside is that the Cubs get Garza on the cheap as he's still in his arbitration years.

But i'm not sure why the Cubs think they can still compete, and don't just blow the whole team up for a season or two and go with a youth movement and trade for prospects...

seems they are kinda stuck in the middle at this point, with too little prospects, and too much contract $ owed to old men

That's a good point but the Cubs aren't the Pirates or the Marlins, they had the 3rd highest payroll in the major leagues last year and the highest in the National League. When you haven't seen a World Series since 1908 and have that high of a payroll, having bridge years are generally not an option.

 

[Tron]

This is a move that a team like the Pirates would make. The FO is either really stupid or they think their fan base is really stupid (which they generally are).

The Cubs have no shot of going to the playoffs without Garza and no shot of going to the playoffs with Garza. It's fine with me though because I don't like the Cubs and their silly fans.

 

[rjt721]

Garza's much better than decent. He'll be a top 15 SP in the NL.

But yeah, it's a curious move for the Cubbies. They gave up much more than the Brewers did for Greinke. This is a move you make when you're one piece away from contending, not fighting to get back to .500.