Gordon Wittenmyer, the Chicago Sun-Times baseball writer, opines that the Cubs, after losing 101 games, need to sign at least tow or three free agent starting pitchers in order just to be competitive in 2013. Competitive in the meaning of "not embarrassing."
Wittenmyer rightly believes that the Cubs will not make a play for big money marquee starters like Zack Greinke or Jake Peavy. The plan appears to be to sign second tier, cheaper middle of the rotation starters and "flip" them for prospects at the trade deadline like the Cubs did with Maholm.
The Cubs plan to sign pitchers in the under $10 million tier, preferably those nearer the $5 million mark. That would probably take out Edwin Jackson, at 29, the journeyman's journeyman starter who will be asking for big money this off season after being on a playoff team roster.
Wittenmyer speculates that the Cubs could eye a Shaun Marcum or a Anibel Sanchez as potential free agent acquisitions. Marcum is a solid #2-#3 starter for the Blue Jays and the Brewers. He would be a hard sign at this stage of his career. Sanchez may be a better target, but has less up side in the prospect flipping department. Another option would be another Pirate starter out of favor, Kevin Correira, 33, who went 12-11 with a 4.21 ERA.
There may be a lot of "second tier" starters but all have performance baggage, like Francisco Liriano (age 29), Carlos Villanueva (29), Chris Young (34), Carlos Zambrano (32), Jason Marquis (34), the latter two being former Cubs. It is unclear whether any candidate on this list could have a big enough turnaround season to be traded next July.
The concept of renting a pitcher for a half season to get more low prospects to fill up Class A ball would be fine if your were running a small market team like Kansas City or Tampa. But the Cubs are near the top in ticket prices and revenue in the third biggest market in the nation.
