The Cubs lost two-out-of-three to the Astros this week. Cubs pitching gave up a total of five runs in the three games, but the offense couldn’t muster more than one run in the two games they lost.
I’ll be the first to admit that the bullpen couldn’t hold the Astros in game two or three of the series. In both games, the awesome Geoff Blum hit a walk off single to win the game, first against Angel Guzman on Wednesday night(to lose an eight inning, three hit performance by Zambrano) and then off Jose Ascanio on Thursday afternoon. But come on, the pitching needs some margin for error. The Cubs need to produce more than one or two runs per game if they expect to win.
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Milton Bradley went 2-11 in the Houston series and his batting line is now just .215/.329/.369. That’s not much production from a guy that was signed for three years at $10 million per. I’m not ready to declare Bradley a bust yet, but I’m getting close.
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According to Nick Cafro at the Boston Globe, the Cubs (along with the Rays) have watched Pedro Martinez’ throwing sessions in the Dominican Republic. Are the Cubs interested in signing Martinez? No one’s talking, so it’s hard to tell. Why would the Cubs need Martinez? The already have excellent starting pitching. What they need is someone who can hit.
All true, but think of it this way. If the Cubs sign Martinez and he can be a serviceable fifth starter, that will allow them to trade one of their current pitchers for some hitting. But who would they trade? My guess is that neither Z nor Ryan Dempster are going anywhere. Ted Lilly is a possibility, but he has a no-trade clause. Rich Harden is a possibility, but he’s been injured and other teams may not be willing to trade an impact player for him. That leaves Randy Wells and Sean Marshall.
The reason Wells and Marshall make sense is because other teams view them as long term options. They are both young, no eligible for free agency yet, and it appears that for both of them, their best days are still to come. Teams would be willing to give up a player who can help the Cubs today in exchange for either Wells or Marshall, while the same can probably not be said for the Cubs more veteran pitchers.
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The Cubs return home to the “friendly confines” to take on the Twins in interleague action this weekend. Randy Wells (0-2) takes on Kevin Slowey (8-2) in an afternoon tilt to kick-off the series today (Friday). Hopefully, some home cooking will wake up the Cubs’ bats.
