The Cubs acquired Matt Garza and two non-factor minor leaguers from the Rays, in case you've been living under a rock. While there has been much gnashing of teeth about whether the Cubs gave up too much in return for Garza, the real question is what will be the next move for Jim Hendry and the Cubs?
Thus far this winter, Hendry has acted in direct opposite to what owner Tom Ricketts said the direction of the team would be. Instead of player development, the Cubs have been acquiring veterans and trading away prospects.
Now, this doesn't mean that acquiring Garza is a bad thing. In fact, I happen to really like Garza and to be fair, he is only 27 years old, so it's not as if he's going to be applying for AARP any time soon.
Still, it's interesting how the Cubs have been careful to avoid the "rebuilding" tag. Ricketts paid a lot for this team, and is concerned about how the fans would accept a true rebuilding effort.
He wants butts in the seats, and no one can blame him for that. But it is a fact that Hendry has a lot of overpaid ballplayers and probably will try and move some payroll in order to pay the $6 million or so it will take for the Cubs to sign the arbitration-eligible Garza for 2011.
Hendry hasn't gone to a hearing since he's been the Cubs GM, so don't look for him to start with Garza. But that may mean doing one or more of the following things.
First, he will likely try to move a starting pitcher.
To date, all of the speculation has been that Hendry will trade lefty Tom Gorzelanny. While that move may make sense from a depth and tradeability (is that even a word?) perspective, it will not net a huge payroll impact for the Cubs.
Gorz made only $800K last year. Meanwhile, Carlos Zambrano is owed at least $36 million with a 2013 vesting option for $19.25 million.
Recognizing that, could Hendry be looking to move Big Z?
Now this may surprise long-time readers, but I hope not.
Look, if the Cubs are truly "all in," to borrow the White Sox 2011 marketing slogan, they need a healthy and productive Zambrano. Plus he has that no-trade clause.
If the Cubs acquire Garza but move Zambrano, there is really no net gain. Therefore, the Carlos Pena experiment and the Kerry Wood flier would be all for naught.
Instead, if we can move Carlos Silva, by all means let's do it.
Sure, moving Silva would require the Cubs paying part of his salary but it would be worth it. He is an awful pitcher who got lucky to start the season undefeated last year and cannot be counted on to help the rotation in 2011.
Other teams know this, however, and would much rather have Gorz, so that may be a pipe dream. Still, I would try if I were Hendry.
Otherwise, the Cubs should stick to the plan and go for the division in 2011. That is the only thing that makes sense after trading prospects for Garza.
Concurrent with a rotation move, I'm sure that Hendry has been trying to move Kosuke Fukudome and his outrageous $13.5 million salary.
There is no way any team pays him that much, but I'd rather see them get even a small amount of salary relief for Fukudome and play Tyler Colvin in right field than move Gorzelanny.
Trade or no trade, I would run the following five out to the mound: Zambrano, Garza, Dempster, Wells and Gorzelanny.
But then again, I'm not Jim Hendry. Thank God.
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