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So the Cubs have begun their attempt at eliminating that stench that is still strong following the 2009 season. Yesterday, two moves were made by Jim Hendry. Based on at least one of them, I fear he still has not learned. First, Aaron Heilman's reign of terror is over. He was dealt to Arizona for two medium-to-low level prospects. That is admittedly a fine move, as you are not going to get much for a reliever of Heilman's caliber. The thing that I find interesting is that it was apparently a purely cost-cutting measure. Now for a cost-cutting measure, I suppose the Cubs got as good a haul as they could expect. Still, I would be shocked to see either guy make an impact, like, ever. But the Cubs are clearly trying to reduce salary. Here's another hint: don't sign relievers like John Grabow to deals worth $7.5 million! Now granted, I was expecting this, and I was expecting the Cubs to overpay, like always. And ultimately, this move will not kill any chances at a World Series title. Grabow isn't even that bad. My question is why does Jim Hendry keep on taking very shallow looks at players before signing them? It was clear he was doing this based on the good ERA Grabow posted last year. Fangraphs has a great article about that. Ultimately Grabow has probably been fairly lucky as he walks a lot of hitters and doesn't have the dominating strikeout numbers a Carlos Marmol has. Maybe he keeps it up, and as a Cubs fan, I hope so. But, like Aaron Miles last year, the Cubs probably could have found a much cheaper option to get the same production, such as John Gaub. Again, ultimately this move probably isn't a big deal. It is just disappointing to see that Jim Hendry is still sticking to his archaic guns when it comes to building a team. But hey, it has worked 50% of the time. Here's hoping this is in that 50%. Posted in: John Grabow, Aaron Heilman This 2009 team gets uglier and uglier, and has surpassed (in my mind) the 2004 team in terms of being an unlikeable group that makes one question rooting for this team. And today may signal the end of trying for it this season, as after dropping a series at home to the lowly Nationals, reports are now saying Harden and Heilman have been claimed off waivers. Now, this is not a surprise, as many teams send their players through waivers after 7/31 in order to see if they clear, thus making them trade-able again. The fact that there are published reports indicates that this may be more than that. Teams can always use pitching, even if it is Aaron Heilman, and the Cubs may see if they can get something of value, as this season now appears lost. Now here is where it gets a bit intriguing: Rich Harden is a type-A free agent, and Aaron Heilman projects to be a type-B free agent this offseason. This means, assuming the Cubs offer arbitration (and they should), if these two bolt for another team, the Cubs get draft compensation. Judging by the Cubs history in player development, it is debatable whether or not that actually is worth anything. Still, that is potentially 3 draft picks, and with hope eternal that the minor league system straightens itself out, that does have value. So we sit until Monday to see if indeed the Cubs are throwing in the towel. The bottom line is the Cubs NEED to get more than a bag of peanuts for these two, because keeping them until the end may warrant a decent reward. BTW, nice to see the Cubs passed on Adam Dunn to get Milton Bradley. Who needs all those home runs anyways? Free Agent Info from http://www.scribd.com/full/17307814?access_key=key-b51zwnu6cmptu1y7vn6 Posted in: Rich Harden, Aaron Heilman, Waivers I'm upset. And it has been said that it is good to let it out rather than bottle it all in. So with that, I bring you my first angry rant of 2009. Hopefully afterwards, I'll go get a big glass of milk and think more rationally about it. But for now... This bullpen is abysmal. By far it is the 2-ton weight that is holding this team down. Now, to be fair, you can never expect to have 7 all-stars in your bullpen. If you aren't a starter or a closer (or in rare cases an 8th inning guy), you probably aren't good enough. Middle relievers are guys who aren't good enough to start or close. Plain and simple. But right now, the Cubs have middle relievers are not good enough to start, close, or pitch in the majors, AAA, AA, A, rookie-league, little league, or my Church softball league. Tonight's rant will spare only Kevin Gregg (enjoy it this time Robocop, cuz I'm sure I'll hit you sometime soon) and Carlos Marmol. First, Chad Fox. Kudos to him on coming back again from elbow issues, but the Cubs should have just left it after 2005. But he made a courageous comeback last year, only to stink and get hurt again. Not to be deterred, he tried again this year, stunk even worse and is once again out. You can't blame him for trying to come back. But honestly, what is our friggin' obsession with this guy? He's done. He's been done since 2004. He is a waste of money, a waste of a roster spot and he has been since we first signed him in 2005. Stop, Jim Hendry. Just stop. When you get that tingling urge to call Chad up this offseason, go to the bathroom and induce some vomiting. Maybe that way you can get it all out, and only your toilet will be taking on stink, not the Cubs. Chad Fox would have been a good acquisition in 2001, granted, but so would Rob Nen. Please, please, please be done with Chad Fox. Neal Cotts has been living off a magical 2005 season for too long now (though so has Contreras, Podsednik and Uribe- man that Sox team had some lucky performances), and he is an absolutely terrible pitcher. He ALWAYS walks the lefty he is sent out there to face. He is honestly a LOWGY. A lousy LOWGY. Explain to me why Scott Eyre didn't deserve to be on this team, but this scrub does. When we got him, Soxfan Spoden laughed at it. He said, "Enjoy his 90-mph straight-as-an-arrow fastball". Boy if he could get it over, I think I would be even more frustrated with the results we get from this guy. Worthless. And he is our only lefty. We are better off with no lefties. David Patton. Why is he on this team? Why are we wasting a roster spot just to make sure we don't have to give him back to Colorado? Who cares? He had a good Spring, but he hasn't pitched past single-A until now for a reason. I've never seen a team make such a big sacrifice to keep a pitcher with an 8+ ERA on its roster. Maybe he has an upside. Maybe in 2-3 years he will be good. But, here is the key, we are trying to win NOW!!! NOW!!!! It does us no good to keep around a guy like Patton just so he won't go back to Colorado. It boggles the mind that keeping this guy is a priority, at the cost of our already hot-garbage bullpen. And now I get to lay into one Aaron Heilman. If Cubs fans thought the last two years were major choke jobs, imagine being a Mets fan. They tanked in September two years in a row, and didn't get to sniff the playoffs even though they were by far a good enough team. And want to know one of the reasons they tanked? Their bullpen. And who was the key reliever who led the way in that tankjob? Aaron Heilman. And he is showing us why. He has no command of the strike zone. He used to. He had a good '06 and most of '07. But now, he is unbelievably bad. To throw as many walks as he does, only to follow them with 92-mph fastballs right down the chute to hitters like Ryan Braun. Terrible. He is bad. And he should have been the one DFA'ed, not Vizcaino. And I'm not even a Vizcaino fan. That brings me to Jim Hendry. He put himself in a situation where he needed to slash payroll, because he gave away bad, backloaded contracts to players who were coming off one good year. So there is where the bullpen implosion began. Kerry Wood? Screw that man, we got Robocop. And so went our all-star closer. Michael Wuertz? He sucked (which by the way, I always thought he got an unfair rep. He wasn't great but he is no Heilman). Scott Eyre? Well, I suppose that is more on Lou (who I will get to shortly). Luis Vizcaino? Pffft... not walking enough people. Jim Hendry did not do a good job. I really think he is an overrated GM. He makes some good trades, but they are from teams that are firesaling anyways. And then he will lock the team into bad contracts. ANYONE can throw money at Soriano if they have the money to throw. But good GMs are wise with their money, even if they have a ton of it. Boston comes to mind here, as much as it pains me to say. I hate Boston. Finally Lou Piniella. Sir, you were given a ton of crap and told to make dinner with it. That is not an easy task. But you need to be smarter when it comes to using your one reliever worth a hoot: Carlos Marmol. Earlier this week, you used Marmol in back-to-back 3-run games in Houston. I can see you using him in one game, but two 3-run games? It's hard to get too angry, as it is apparent a lot of these guys couldn't hold a 10-run lead, but you've got to give them a chance every once in a while when you DO have some margin for error. Then, when you have a game with no margin for error (such as Friday night), you have Marmol available. I can only assume the overuse of Marmol in Houston was the reason Heilman was out there to cough up the lead. Lou needs to be more judicious in his use of Marmol. It is that simple. What kills me about this is how good the rest of the team is. The lineup, even without Aramis, is one of the best in baseball. The starting rotation, Ryan Dempster's stupid contract-year regression not withstanding, is very very solid. But, the bullpen has negated that. Almost to the point where we are at .500. They are bad. Therefore, tonight, I am lobbying for the return of these players (because it cannot get any worse): Roberto Novoa, Andy Pratt, Dave Veres, Mel Rojas, Jeff Fassero and Antonio Alfonseca. Get it done, Hendry! Posted in: Bullpen, Rant, Aaron Heilman, David Patton, Neal Cotts, Chad Fox, Jim Hendry, Lou Piniella, Walks, Suckiness | ||