The Cubs are clearly looking toward the future. Looking to make deals to cut payroll and bolster the minor league system. Dempster looks to be on his way out, Soriano has a price that nobody seems to want to pay and Garza would look good anywhere seeing that hes had success in the AL and NL but of all the tradable veterans on this team Garza is the one I would keep.
When the Cubs traded for Garza I, along with most other baseball fans was left wondering, “what are they thinking?” I was under the impression that they were looking to cut salary and add to the minors to find some guys to develop and get ready to make up the major league squad, that move just didn’t seem to fit into their plans.
Now with the potential of the Cubs looking to deal him, he might want to be the guy they hold off on.
Garza is 28 years old, an age when most pitchers are going into their prime. He is under .500 but mostly because the team isn’t scoring for the righty. He is giving up less hits than innings pitched and as one of the best SO/BB ratios of his career. But, more than that the Cubs, when they have developed these players, will need an anchor.
At the point he will be in his career, if it follows a typical path, he will be in the midst of his prime. The young Cubs pitchers will need a solid veteran pitcher to look to, much has been made of the connection that Mark Buehrle and David Wells made during his short stint on the South Side, this will be something the Cubs will need. In this day and age of free agency and high salary’s it is hard to find a pitcher like that and the Cubs would be smart to hold on to the one they may have.
Basically, looking at the typical pitchers career arc, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the growth of Garza into a smart veteran/ staff leader could run right into the plans of Theo Epstein and staffs plans of the growth of the whole staff.