Hendry Makes All the Right Moves (Friday, December 12, 2008 9:11:00 AM)
Once again, Jim Hendry has proved why he's one of the best general managers in baseball: the rejection of the Jake Peavy deal.
Rumor has it that the Padres were looking for Mark DeRosa, too.
Anyone who paid attention to the Cubs last season would see how important Mark DeRosa was to that ballclub. After the years before Hendry, I was assuming he didn't notice though, and the Peavy deal would go through while the Cubs lost one of their best overall players. But instead, Hendry proved again that he's a smart son of a bitch and said "No, fuck off Padres..."
(AP Photo) Hendry, presumably telling Padres GM Kevin Towers "Yeah, you know what? Fuck off!!"
I, for one, am more than happy with the Cubs rotation right now. Let's take a look at it:
1. Ryan Dempster. RHP. Mixes up mostly fastballs and sliders, with the occasional forkball or splitter. Hallmark of his pitching seems to be the ability to get out of jams. He walks a few more than he should, but the high strikeouts mean he can get out of it. Yes, he's the #1 starter, NOT Zambrano.
2. Carlos Zambrano. RHP. Declining strikeout numbers and an increasing amount of arm injuries has me thinking that Zambrano could be in for a tough season here. Zambrano needs to find a way to change his pitching style away from the overpowering cut fastball that defined his early career. The no-hitter was great last season, but Big Z may have peaked.
3. Rich "Fucking" Harden. RHP. Why the "fucking", and why #3? Harden easily has the most overpowering stuff on the Cubs starting staff right now. With a blistering fastball and a disgusting changeup, Harden has the kind of stuff to make hitters look stupid ... for about 6 innings. Unfortunately, a slew of arm problems and his style of pitching are never going to lend themselves well to being a #1 starter kind of guy.
4. Ted Lilly. LHP. I've never been a big left-righty matchup kind of guy. I think the whole thing is superstition. That's why I put Lilly where he truly is, #4, rather than where I'm sure Piniella will put him, #3. When Lilly's locked in, he's great for 3 or 4 starts ... when he's not, look out.
5. Jeff Samardzijaifdjsijadja. RHP. Mark my words ... Samardzija is about to become a big-time pitcher. He might not be that great this season, but working under Larry Rothschild, I have a feeling something is going to click this year. His strong arsenal of pitches are further intensified by the amount of movement on his fastball. Everything about this kid says he's destined for domination. You heard it here first ...
So, that's it for my Cubs musings right now. Hats off to Hendry. I'm counting down the days to opening day.