The Cubs offense decided to take a break last night as they lost to the Cincinnati Reds 4-0. The offense made journeyman Reds pitcher Justin Lehr look like a potential Cy Young candidate. The 32-year old right hander got his first major league victory since 2006 by pitching a complete game, four hit shutout.
Rich Harden didn’t look bad, pitching 6.0 innings and giving up four hits, including a homerun to Scott Rolen in his first at-bat since being beaned last week. Harden gave up a total of three earned runs, while striking out nine and walking four.
Of the four hits mustered by the Cubs, Harden had the only extra base hit, a non-consequential double. Alfonso Soriano had one of the other Cubs hits, but he was summarily picked-off first base to take away any threat he posed.
The Cubs will enjoy a day off today as they travel to Colorado for a three game set against the Rockies. Carlos Zambrano (7-4) will kick things off on Friday against the Rockies Ubaldo Jimenez (8-9).
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The Cubs released BJ Ryan yesterday. According to a tweet on Twitter from Gordon Wittenmyer, Ryan asked for his release because he didn’t think his velocity was coming back.
This situation seems strange to me. Ryan was released from Toronto because his velocity was down and he wasn’t nearly as effective as he had been in previous years. Toronto worked with him on his mechanics, but things didn’t work out.
The Cubs took a flyer on Ryan and he reported to Mesa with a ton of enthusiasm to work hard and get his mechanics right. Cubs officials stated that they were impressed that Ryan wanted to “do things the right way,” meaning he was willing to be patient and to work hard to solve his mechanical flaws. Once in Mesa, a Cubs official (it may have been Randy Bush) said that Ryan’s problems were more mental than mechanical, making it sound like they could get him straightened out more quickly that first expected.
Ryan quickly made his way to AAA Iowa where he was pitching very well over the course of a week or two. Rumors were flying that he was on the fast track to join the Cubs in August. Then out of the blue, he asks for his release.
I don’t know what is going on behind the scenes nor do I know what motivation Ryan may have had for asking for his release, but the whole thing seems odd to me. Does Ryan have another opportunity he wants to pursue? Did the Cubs find out something negative about Ryan (Physical problem? Steroids?). I don’t know, but it seems like there’s more to the story than we know right now.
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I’ve been critical of JP Ricciardi for not dealing Roy Halladay at the trade deadline. I felt he was asking too steep of a price for Halladay, he deluded himself when teams weren’t willing to pay his price, and he further deluded himself by believing that teams will pay even more for Halladay in the off season. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated has chimed in with his thoughts, and it sounds like we generally agree.
In a nutshell, Heyman blames Ricciardi for talking too much about the trade and being too candid. For instance, it certainly didn’t help Ricciardi’s negotiating position by publicly staing that the Yankees and Red Sox would have to pay more for Halladay that out-of-division teams. Not only did it let both the Yankees and Red Sox know that they didn’t have to worry about the other obtaining Halladay, but it also let Philadelphia and other out-of-division teams know that the Yankees and Red Sox would not be serious competition for Halladay.
Heyman is also critical of Ricciardi for not being more creative in his negotiations. According to Heyman, Ricciardi should have made an effort to package Halladay with either Vernon Wells or Alex Rios in an attempt to move a big contract that is hampering Toronto’s efforts to rebuild and contend. I had mentioned the possibility of packaging Wells and Halladay in a previous post and I still think it would have been a good idea for Toronto. True, adding Wells or Rios to the deal may have reduced the return the Blue Jays would have gotten for Halladay alone, but it would have created much needed payroll flexibility for Toronto.
In a radio interview, ESPN’s Jayson Stark was asked if Riccardi’s failure to move Halladay might lead to his firing. Stark responded that he didn’t think Ricciardi would be fired because he didn’t move Haladay. Instead, he thinks Ricciardi was already on the hot seat, and Toronto management may have wanted Ricciardi to trade Halladay so the new GM wouldn’t have to. Now, he can see a situation where Ricciardi is fired and the first order of business for the new GM will be to trade Halladay. If that happens, the new GM will almost certainly get less for Halladay than Ricciardi was shooting for, making the new GM look weak in comparison. Not a good way to start a new job.
