Are All Carlos’ This Angry?
For those of you keeping score at home, the dugout “scuffle” on Wednesday was the second time in the last year involving a starting pitcher named Carlos and a position player who has been a mainstay in Chicago for the last few years. Last season it was Carlos Zambrano and Derek Lee getting into a shouting match. Wednesday it was Carlos Silva and Aramis Ramirez. Both incidents seemed to stem from poor defense. I happen to believe that Zambrano, in his own crazy way, really was trying to pump up the team and get their heads back in the game. Unfortunately, he’s a little nuts and screaming in the dugout didn’t do it for Lee.
The issue with Silva, though, seemed like something that Mike Quade could have avoided. Here’s what I mean- Quade has stated that the first three starting rotations spots are filled by Dempster, Zambrano, and Garza. That leaves two spots open and we have heard Quade list a whole bunch of possible guys that could take those spots: Randy Wells, Carlos Silva, Andrew Cashner, James Russell, Casey Coleman, Thomas Diamond, Tom Gorzelanny (until he was traded), and even Jeff Samardzija.
Aside from Wells and Silva, those are a lot of young guys that have a lot to prove. It seems like Quade may have been trying to light a fire under these guys to see what they can do in the spring. But let’s be honest- if Jeff Russell has a tremendous spring, is he really going to be in the Cubs rotation to start the season? I can only pray that is taken as a rhetorical question by Quade.
Randy Wells and Carlos Silva are your 4th and 5th starters. That’s it. Done. The fact that I say that is saying something too because I was ready for the Cubs to ship Wells to the minors last year and when someone had to go to the bullpen, I was pining for it to be Silva. But let’s face it, Silva was the Cubs best pitcher for the first half of the season. Yes, that is indeed sad. But this whole “go out there and earn your spot in the rotation” thing isn’t working on Silva and it’s obvious that he doesn’t appreciate it. I wouldn’t go so far as saying that he’s earned his spot in the rotation- he isn’t exactly… well… since the Cubs are kind of short on examples, think of a team that has a good, veteran pitcher that has been around for awhile- he’s not like that guy you’re thinking of. But because of what he was able to put together to start the season last year you have to assume he deserves that chance again.
Same thing with Randy Wells. He didn’t have the best year ever- but neither did most of the Cubs roster. The only other guy out of those I listed earlier that I would like to see in the rotation eventually is Andrew Cashner. But this is only his second year. This is the last season that Silva is under contract- let him start in the rotation and let Cashner get some more major league experience. He’s going to have plenty of time to prove he belongs. But this Jeff Russell talk has got to stop. Am I the only one that noticed he sucked last year? How about we focus on throwing strikes before we put a guy in the rotation because he learned how to write with the wrong hand?
When it’s June and we’re out of it, we can try some young kids in the rotation experiments. But until then, let’s pretend we’re a real ball club competing for a division title. The other side of it is- if the Cubs happen to luck out and get another good first half of the season from Silva, they can use him as trade bait and potentially save paying him for the final couple of months of the season.
And isn’t that what this season is really about- saving money so we can go blow it on free agents in the offseason?
The point is, in his own way, Quade kind of brought this situation upon himself. You’ve got a veteran who believes he deserves to be in the rotation and whose pride is a little hurt that he even is in a situation where he has to win the job in Spring Training. Now that he’s out there, he has to try and get seven outs an inning while his infielders are kicking the ball around the field because they’re not really interested in these spring training games. It’s a recipe for disaster. Of course, giving up 2 home runs in the inning doesn’t help your cause either.
Quade is known for being a player’s manager. We’ll see that put to the test when he holds a team meeting on Thursday. Regardless of the outcome, the Cubs don’t head north for Wrigley for a few more weeks and a team that already doesn’t have many believers can’t afford to fight amongst themselves.
Wake me up when it’s 2012.
