Cubs Acquire Grabow And Gorzelanny From Pirates

grabow is miserable and gorzelanny’s worse. gorzelanny had one good half of major league baseball with a 3.10 in the first half 07. second half he was at 5.01 with a 1.62 whip and then we all saw what happened last year as the cubs did their best to get his era close to seven with a 6.66 era and 1.80 whip.

i like harts stuff and harrison actually looks pretty solid, hit .337 and .319 in 609 minor league at bats. this was just a pointless trade.

Hee Sop Choi, Bobby Hill and so many of our can’t miss prospects that we’ve squandered.

He was a 2008 draft pick.

Who else is left for them to play?

the only good WHIP that Hill has had the last few years is the one he bought in Mexico.

Maybe a change of scenery and the return home will do him good. Pitching for the Pirates must be soul-crushing after a while.

Hill and Ascaino were the two guys in that “26-32” portion of the 40-man roster who were the most tradable as there were others in the “33-40” portion who can step into their place. Meanwhile, Gorz. will probably stay at AAA through the end of the season, will give them a long man in September, and is under club control for the mix for the #5 starter next year.

This also probably means the end of the BJ Ryan festivities, as his deal was that he has to be promoted within 15 days or he’s gone.

But it’s also worth noting that Indianapolis is a notorious pitchers park (think 408 to left-center and 380 to right-center).

He’s going to top out around 92 and sit around 89-90 with a solid changeup. When he’s keeping the ball down and hitting his spots, he’s solid. He’s going to need to soak up as much knowledge from Ted Lilly as is humanly possible when he reaches Chicago.

I cringed when Jay Jackson’s name started being tossed around. The Cubs traded away three players who either didn’t fit into their plans (Harrison, Hart) or are easily replaced with what they already have in the system (Ascanio).

What will be interesting, and ultimatley determine if this was a good deal or not, is how Lou uses both Grabow and Gorze. It has the potential to be a really good deal for the Cubs.

it just struck me as bizarrely high.

…. Gorzelanny could be recalled then.

This helps the Cubs in a lot of ways. They got a lot of positives out of Hart. Only time will tell if it is a big win or a big nothing. That is a lot of time to be on the ledge.

It is great that Hart really delivered on his last couple of starts this year — it reminds me of the way Sean Gallagher did that last year.

Do you know where Sean G. is now? Just traded from Oakland to San Diego. The main piece in the Harden deal for Oakland, and they have given up on him already.

Did you watch much of Hart or Ascanio pitching? Did it really give you a warm feeling, in either case, that we need more of this?

a 4.50 ERA shouldn’t be “quality”

He was more lucky than good in his starts.

Terrific.

Russ posted a fanshot on it… heres the link he used.

for Rob Bowen.

If we’ve played more so far, than this actually hurts us.

Looking over their roster, most of it started the year in Indianapolis.

Can’t wait to see big Johnny Boy make the most of his PH at-bats.

Fukudome is probably a bit hot for what he really is, but Soriano is going to hit for his statistical average like he does every season, and Milton is also returning to his statistical averages.

Off and on, returning to their averages after an awful start.

Soriano will likely streak some more, but I think things are really starting to click.

historical averages say?

How about their careers?

They have an interest in Sam Fuld. Prob a good hour of talk like this.

and he’s had an OK season.

hold on. gotta find it.

Cubs catcher Geovany Soto may begin a rehab assignment as early as Friday, and could rejoin the team next week.

Soto has been on the disabled list since July 11 because of a left oblique strain. General manager Jim Hendry said Thursday the team’s medical staff talked to Soto on Wednesday to get an update and hope to get him into a game to continue his rehab.

that’s gonna deplete our minor league system something fierce…

but this appears to be a gutting with the intent of restocking the farm system a bit, which had been decimated during the Littlefield era. In other words, they were trying to build a mansion on a crappy foundation. That wasn’t working. Maybe this will.

Whatever, I hope it does, because I think it’s in baseball’s best interest to have a viable franchise in Pittsburgh. Plus PNC Park is an absolute gem.

me too.

it’s from all the singles he would turn into doubles and triples.

and Ortiz would still be the story.

I meant he’d be on schedule to start on Saturday. If he makes a start for Iowa that day, it would mean someone else would have to take Hart’s next turn on Tuesday.

Okay. that makes sense.

I was really lost for a minute.

We’ll see who’s right.

and while I’ll concede some of those numbers are the result of Triple-A competition and playing in an extreme pitcher’s park, he has looked better and more consistent than at any time over the last 4 years.

He seems to have figured out how to pitch, so to speak, and truthfully, he probably doesn’t belong at Triple-A any more, given his success. If he can translate his confidence in Indianapolis to the Major League level, then the Cubs will have stolen him from Pittsburgh.