Cubs Roster Moves

Trader Jim put a buzz through the GM meetings by pulling off the first trade of the week....RHP minor league pitcher Matt Avery has been sent to the Washington Nationals for LHP minor leauge pitcher Ryan Buchter. Avery was drafted in the 9th round of the 2005 draft out of the University of Virginia and played three years with their 3rd basemen, Ryan Zimmerman. Avery started off well in the organization with solid partial seasons in the Rookie League, Peoria and Daytona but has flatlined in AA in both 2007 and 2008 with ERA's above 4 and peripheral numbers that suggest he won't ever amount to a major leaguer.

Buchter was drafted in the 33rd round out of high school in 2005 by the Nationals and is just 21 years old. He's only pitched 70 innings of pro ball since then and the ERA isn't much, but he has maintained a K/9 rate above 9 which is always a good sign. The wonderful wide world of the web hasn't turned up a scouting report for me though.

The official Elias Rankings are out and MLB.com does their usual job of half-assery by not giving out the full list, but at least we know Joe Mauer is the top AL catcher. Gee thanks!

The ESPN free agent tracker gives the listings for those that have filed so far and it looks like SI.com has finally come through with the full list of potential free agents. For those unaware of the system or need a refresher, Elias has come up with some rather archaic ranking system that takes the last two years worth of stats and ranks every player in baseball...mostly relying on counting stats (decent explanation of the point system can be found near the end of this mlb.com article or read through this Tigers fans blog who is trying to reverse engineer their rankings). The importance of it is that MLB uses it to figure out free agent compensation. A type "A" player that is offered arbitration by his former team and is signed by a new team will net his old club a first round draft pick and a supplemental draft pick between the first and second round. A type "B" free agent nets his old team just a supplemental pick. Also, the first 15 picks in the draft are protected, so a team drafting in one of those slots that signs a type "A" free agent would give up their second round pick and so on.

...and other notes

As our own Arizona Phil predicted, Henry Blanco's $3M option was declined, but the whispers are that he'll be back with the Cubs at a lower rate. The buyout did cost the Cubs $300,000.

-  Oneri Fleita expects Tyler Colvin to be ready by Opening Day from his Tommy John Surgery that I mentioned earlier this week.

- Looks like Trader Jim is ready for the offseason...

I'm looking forward to it, maybe more so than
the last couple. It'll be nice to talk to a lot of the GMs to see what
their appetites are going to be with free agency and possibly trades.
We feel like we've got some excess in areas that might help us in areas
we need to get stronger."

Happy Halloween!

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The Cubs and the Cardinals meet in the first of three at Busch and the first of six matchups between now and the end of the season. The Cubs lead the season series, 5-4, and have won 10 of their last 15 in St. Louis.

Dempster won his only start this year against the Cardinals, allowing 2 ER over 6 2/3 in a 6-2 Cub victory in early August. Lohse is 0-1, 6.92 in a pair of starts this season vs. the Cubs, but is otherwise having a fine year, producing more ground balls, yielding fewer long balls, and allowing fewer walks than at virtually any other point in his MLB career.

It didn't take long to find a home for Scott Eyre and Jim Hendry does him the favor of putting him in another pennant race. Eyre goes to the Phillies for minor league RHP Brian Schlitter (thanks to reader Chifan for the tip). 

Schlitter stands 6-5" and was a 16th round pick of the Phillies out of College of Charleston. Similar to the Cubs recent first round pick, Andrew Cashner, Schlitter considered returning to school for 2008 to improve his draft status, but eventually decided to enter pro ball. He ended up pitching for the Phillies Hi-A affiliate in Clearwater this season and compiled a 2.22 ERA in 34 relief appearances. He struck out 58 batters in 48.2 IP while walking 21 for a 10.73 K/9 rate and a 2.76 K:BB ratio. He's 22 years old.

Scout.com had Schlitter as the #63 ranked Phillies prospect in their preseason rankings, but tabbed him as a potential "closer of the future". He features a fastball and a slider and sounds like he's yet another righty power arm for the bullpen one day.

One of our reliable readers listening to Bruce Levine of ESPN1000 out of Chicago, is hearing that Kerry Wood will be activated before the game and Scott Eyre will be designated for assignment. The Cubs will have 10 days to release or trade Eyre and will likely get nothing more than a low-minors prospect.

We'll see if Wood jumps right back into the closer role or is eased into it after a few appearances. I think after such a long layoff and pretty good odds that his control won't be there, that it might be best for Lou to give him a few low-pressure situations and let resurgent Carlos Marmol keep closing.

 Speaking of Marmol, whatever was ailing from about the middle of June to before the All-Star Break seems to have cured itself. There certainly wasn't a shortage of theories on why he struggled, ranging from overuse to the struggles of a young player, it seemed the most obvious answer was just a "dead arm" period. Marmol's slider still had its snap, most of the time, but he started hanging it every once in awhile while getting away from locating his fastball that didn't seem to get above 92 mph. There were never any whispers of an arm injury and Lou certainly didn't let up on the gas during any of it, choosing to go the "just pitch through it" route. But since the All-Star break, he's thrown up a goose egg; 9 IP, 15 K's and 0 ER, although a bit wild with 7 BB's. He was hitting the mid 90's in the last two appearances that I've witnessed.

So welcome back Zeus and Kerry, you were both missed. And goodbye Scott Eyre, I shall never forgive you for contributing to Derrek Lee's broken wrist in 2006.

As you've certainly heard by now, Alfonso Soriano headed out to a minor league rehab stint with the rookies in the Arizona League. He lasted all of three at-bats against the AZL Padres in beautiful Peoria, Arizona going 0-2 with a walk, a strikeout and a run scored before being lifted for a pinch-hitter. Speculation arose on why he'd leave the game early and Will Carroll hinted that he might be activated for tonight's game.

Shae (Chicago): Will, there are rumors that Soriano might leave the rehab. game early and could even play tonight, what's the latest?

Will Carroll: That's what I'm hearing. I have someone at Sky Harbor watching ...

I'm not sure what that someone is watching at Sky Harbor since it's a 35 minute drive from Peoria, AZ to Phoenix, AZ, but don't be surprised if he's in the lineup tonight and (I would assume) Micah Hoffpauir gets sent down.

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The second half is upon us and the Cubs trot out Ted Lilly to start it...for some reason. I assume it was to give Z and Dempster an extra day after their All-Star appearances and to limit Rich Harden as much as possible before he goes on a 27 inning scoreless streak in the playoffs. Nonetheless, Lilly's homer-happy ways will be on display tonight with the ever-present Crawford boxes looming in short left field. If he can manage a win, he'll join Dempster and Zambrano in the 10-win club.

Before the game, the Cubs put Jon Lieber on the disabled list with a right foot strain (same foot that cost him most of last year) and recalled Micah Hoffpauir. 

UPDATE 4:56 CST: One of our readers tipped us to this fantastic piece on Rich Harden's mechanics (with video) by Carlos Gomez at The Hardball Times. Can't recommend it enough....

I've had a little time to digest the trade since my initial reaction and a little time to actually write about it now. I don't think there's too many warm-blooded Cubs fan out there who aren't happy about the deal...other than maybe a Chicken Little or two that are never happy with anything the Cubs do.

We all know the risks. Rich Harden has all the durability of a roll of toilet paper caught in a rainstorm. He was called up half way through the 2003 season, proceeded to make 31 starts in 2004 and has battled injuries ever since. The list is too long and complicated for me to dive into, so we'll wait for the good Dr. Hecht to chime in on that side of the trade. Harden's 13 starts this year are his highest total since 2005 and he spent almost a month of this year already on the disabled list. But in those 13 starts, he's gone 5-1
with a 2.34 ERA, 10.75 K/9, 2.97 K:BB and 0.58 HR/9.

He once had a fastball that could hit 100, although he seems to have dialed it back a bit this year. He compliments that fastball with a fantastic change-up and that's pretty much it. He'll occasionally throw a slider in there, but seems to have scrapped it for the most part this season. A quick and dirty comparison with some of the best in the game using career numbers:

While I'm refreshing Foxsports.com for the freaking lineup like a dumbass, Jim Hendry and Billy Beane go and pull a trade.

The Cubs are getting pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin for Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson. 

Hold on...

(catches breath)

(jumps up and down)

(pumps fist in air)

Sweet.

I have to admit that losing Sean Gallagher is unfortunate but you have to give up something to get something. Harden has a club option for 2009 and Gaudin is under team control until 2011. Eric Patterson and Matt Murton will probably go on to have respectable major league careers and Josh Donaldson has the makings of someone who could be a star...one day. But the Cubs are playing for today...and tomorrow and 2008.

More on this later, but you got to be thrilled if your a Cubs fan. Everyone knows Harden's injury risks, but when he's pitching, he's as good as they get...to a tune of a 2.34 ERA this year and 10.75 K/9. We're adding that to the best starting staff in the NL (by ERA) and third best overall staff in the NL.  

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Carlos Zambrano gets activated and Jose Ascanio is sent back to Iowa. Z will be on an 85-90 pitch count today.

Happy 4th of July! A Cubs win should make it a little happier.

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In roster moves, Reed Johnson was activated today with Eric Patterson getting sent down. Matt Murton thanks you Eric Patterson for your defensive ineptitude. Proud papa Aramis Ramirez is back in the lineup as well.

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Matt Murton has been called up and Eric Patterson has been sent down. Welcome back to the Show Orange Guy, and good luck with Scott Kazmir, who has given up all of one run in four home starts this year (thanks nohit). The entire Rays team has been enjoying the comforts of Tampa, Florida with a shiny 26-11 mark at Tropicana Field. That's good for second best in the home record in the American League and has helped catapult them from the worst overall record in the league last year to the current AL Wild Card leaders. Most of that turnaround can be attributed to their pitching and defense and not that sketchy lineup that I'm looking at. But I guess you don't need good hitters if you can "Execute to the Max".

Game notes fun after the jump...

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I believe this is what our ancestors called a pitching duel. They probably called it that in 1948 as well, which is the year they will be honoring with today's "Turn back the clock" event. Both teams will break out the 1948 uniforms in honor of WGN's 60th anniversary. I hope they had a better logo in 1948 then they do now. To keep in the 1948 spirt, the first two innings will be broadcast in black and white with similar camera angles that they used back then and minimal graphics. I believe the plan is to add more graphics and cameras as the game goes on. Len and Bob will be wearing authentic 1948 garb as well.

- I wanted to once again thank everyone who took the time and hit to their bank accounts to donate during our April pledge drive. I have to say, some of you went well beyond the call of duty and while I would happily thank each of the 35 individuals that did contribute, but most of you I only know by your usernames on here and I don't want to give away your super-secret identities. But I will acknowledge the six who contributed $50 or more that helped us to our final tally of...... $912.30. Holy Cow!

UPDATE: Last second donation in, make it 36 total for $942.30. 

4 $50 Donations from:

Mr. Whipple

DC Tom

Jumbo

(I don't know the username) Buzz Music Inc.

$51 Donation (someone's a Price is Right Fan)

Tony S.

The Big Giver after the jump...