the farns jumps shark, lands in detroit

I thought I was done with this till first cuts, but business sure is picking up. (Try not think of the many moves Hendry might have done if he made the Sosa deal earlier.) Personally, and let’s context it by me thinking Sammy could co-exist with the rest of the ball club this year, give … Continue reading “the farns jumps shark, lands in detroit”

I thought I was done with this till first cuts, but business sure is picking up. (Try not think of the many moves Hendry might have done if he made the Sosa deal earlier.)

Personally, and let’s context it by me thinking Sammy could co-exist with the rest of the ball club this year, give the lack of an obvious closer, you might as well find out if Kyle could live up to his initial promise and give him first shot at closer. I mean, Corey’s a close comparable age wise, and they’ve given him plenty of chances to be the leadoff guy, but never really given Kyle one.

However, Hendry’s parting quotes

“He certainly had his moments when he could pitch very well,” Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. “Maybe the consistency will be better for him in another location.”

Those words sound like a GM who did not have much enthuasim to bring back his player.

When I heard about the deal (txt message while driving – almost off the road), I figured it was a roster uncrunch. At some point this preseason, the Cubs have to lose a man on their 40 man roster, or they’ll be unable to keep NRI Scott Williamson, and they’ve very much like to have him rehab on their dime. (Any other NRI would require another roster move, so I don’t think it’s likely any of them make it.)

But this deal is not that deal, because one of the three people they’ll be getting back – Roberto Novoa – was on the 40 man and has to stay there. So expect one more move.

Given Kyle was unlikely to be back in ’06 – either he got bad and finally got ran out or he got good and a better deal from a team not as familiar with his failures – it’s nice we got something for him, even if I don’t expect any of them to turn out to much. I hope the PTBNL doesn’t change my mind on that.

The Tigers bullpen has a chance to be really good, if Percival doesn’t fall off and Kyle gets on one of his sane stretches and Uggie isn’t distracted. The Tigers bullpen has a chance to be really bad if Percival falls of like some expect, Kyle is Kyle and Uggie is too busy dealing with ransom demands.

Promotion: Figure Leicester gets Kyle’s spot on the roster, though it’s not clear. This is the thing with the Novoa pickup – even if he has pitches, he’s still going to behind Wuertz, SERGIO and maybe even Pinto in ‘right handers who might steal a spot on the roster’. The 15 taxi squad is skewed heavily towards pitching (10 of them, 1 C, 3 IF, 1 OF – and that’s Kelton, who’s only LF as far as they have to put him somewhere.) Things are going to get iffy if hitters get hurt, so you’d think if Hendry’s going after marginal people, he would’ve picked up a batter instead of a pitcher.

Other notes:

The Dave Hansen sign was added on my own copy, but not posted because it’s Dave Hansen. Same thing with the Catchers they NRIed.

Many uniform numbers added.

The 40 Man total salary is now down to 86.07. When I first ran the numbers on 01/21, it was 98.52. (A lot’s moved to Buy Out.)

Continue reading “the farns jumps shark, lands in detroit”