While Cubs fans have been gassing up the huge playoff bandwagon, the team itself is slowly getting stuck in the mud by the weight of anticipation.
Jake Arrieta has been good, Jason Hammel has been okay and Jon Lester has been really good or meh. With Edwin Jackson and Travis Wood demoted to the bullpen, the Cubs actually now have a shortage of starters now that Ysuyoshi Wada turned up lame.
The Cubs at 38-30, in third place 6.5 games behind the Cardinals, are still in the hunt. Pursuing an serviceable starting pitcher certainly seems a reasonable strategy, but every team has that same strategy. Wood may get the call by default, since Jacob Turner is still on the DL and he is working his way back to health and could soon be available, but he has much to prove at this stage of his career.
There may be better arms at Iowa. Don Roach is 7-1, 2.29 ERA in 14 games started. Carlos Pimentel is 5-4, 3.45 ERA in 12 GS. Dallas Beeler is 1-5, 7.35 in 11 GS. And Eric Jokisch is 3-3, 4.40 ERA in 9 GS. There is a problem with Roach and Pimentel: they are not on the active 40 man roster. Someone current would have to go, and probably another when Neil Ramirez is ready to return to the bullpen.
It may come down to moving up another reliever to the pen, and have Jackson and Wood do a spring training split game (3 innings each) as a short term solution.
Showing posts with label Wada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wada. Show all posts
June 24, 2015
July 29, 2014
WADA YA KNOW
After 9 seasons in Japan, and 3 injury plagued U.S, minor league years, Yoshie Wada got his first NL win. On the Cub pre-season depth chart, he ranked around the club's # 10 starter.
Wada reminds me a little of Ted Lilly just before Lilly retired. There is no overpowering stuff from this left hander. And in reality, he is not part of the long term answer.
In fact, no one of the Cubs current pitching staff is the long term answer. Other clubs have asked on Jake Arrieta, and the Cubs said no. Arrieta is under team control for 3 more years. But will the Cubs actually be competitive in three years?
The answer is no. And the reason is pitching, or the lack thereof.
Edwin Jackson is horrible. Travis Wood is perplexingly bad. Chris Rusin, Dallas Beeler, and Kyle Hendricks are AAA fodder. Grimm could be stretched out to be a starter in 2015, and James Russell wants to be one too (but his track record is really bad). There is no one arm to build an entire staff around.
I really don't see Ricketts writing Yankee size $200 million checks to acquire the best starting pitchers in the winter of 2017. So many of the best prospects will have to be traded in order to build a quality major league staff of veteran talent. But that seems to be contrary to The Plan.
You can try to outhit the competition, but over time pitchers have an advantage over hitters. Hitting prospects are usually easier to develop, have a broader resume, than pitchers. Pitchers tend to have more development issues with body mechanics, arm slot changes, and adding new pitches in the mix. Pitchers can go through high school and college with a plus fastball and a change up. Major league starters need at least 3 quality pitches, especially since major league hitters live off fastballs.
Wada joins a growing list of journeymen pitchers on the Cubs roster. It is not his fault. But his destiny is written on the new Wrigley bricks.
Wada reminds me a little of Ted Lilly just before Lilly retired. There is no overpowering stuff from this left hander. And in reality, he is not part of the long term answer.
In fact, no one of the Cubs current pitching staff is the long term answer. Other clubs have asked on Jake Arrieta, and the Cubs said no. Arrieta is under team control for 3 more years. But will the Cubs actually be competitive in three years?
The answer is no. And the reason is pitching, or the lack thereof.
Edwin Jackson is horrible. Travis Wood is perplexingly bad. Chris Rusin, Dallas Beeler, and Kyle Hendricks are AAA fodder. Grimm could be stretched out to be a starter in 2015, and James Russell wants to be one too (but his track record is really bad). There is no one arm to build an entire staff around.
I really don't see Ricketts writing Yankee size $200 million checks to acquire the best starting pitchers in the winter of 2017. So many of the best prospects will have to be traded in order to build a quality major league staff of veteran talent. But that seems to be contrary to The Plan.
You can try to outhit the competition, but over time pitchers have an advantage over hitters. Hitting prospects are usually easier to develop, have a broader resume, than pitchers. Pitchers tend to have more development issues with body mechanics, arm slot changes, and adding new pitches in the mix. Pitchers can go through high school and college with a plus fastball and a change up. Major league starters need at least 3 quality pitches, especially since major league hitters live off fastballs.
Wada joins a growing list of journeymen pitchers on the Cubs roster. It is not his fault. But his destiny is written on the new Wrigley bricks.
December 20, 2013
WADA LOOKING AT?
Another day, another reclamation project.
The Cubs have signed pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada to a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Wada is viewed by the Cubs as a potential starter, states the Tribune's Paul Sullivan.
Wada, 32, posted a 2.76 ERA with a 60-to-22 K/BB ratio over his final 78 1/3 innings for the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate in 2013 as he worked his way back from 2012 Tommy John surgery. Though he inked a two-year, $8.15 million contract with the O's prior to the 2012 campaign, Wada's injury prevented him from ever pitching in Baltimore.
Wada joins the ranks of failed Asian hurlers, Takahashi, Lim, and Fujikawa, that the Cubs have signed in recent years. The concept of extended rehabilitation for pitchers cut loose by their existing clubs is becoming a failed strategy after Scott Baker took the money last year and contributed a whopping 15 IP. It looks like a repeat of the plan that the Cubs are trying to stock pile cheap starters in order to flip major league starters at the trade deadline.
The Cubs have signed pitcher Tsuyoshi Wada to a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training. Wada is viewed by the Cubs as a potential starter, states the Tribune's Paul Sullivan.
Wada, 32, posted a 2.76 ERA with a 60-to-22 K/BB ratio over his final 78 1/3 innings for the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate in 2013 as he worked his way back from 2012 Tommy John surgery. Though he inked a two-year, $8.15 million contract with the O's prior to the 2012 campaign, Wada's injury prevented him from ever pitching in Baltimore.
Wada joins the ranks of failed Asian hurlers, Takahashi, Lim, and Fujikawa, that the Cubs have signed in recent years. The concept of extended rehabilitation for pitchers cut loose by their existing clubs is becoming a failed strategy after Scott Baker took the money last year and contributed a whopping 15 IP. It looks like a repeat of the plan that the Cubs are trying to stock pile cheap starters in order to flip major league starters at the trade deadline.
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