The Cubs have agreed to sign Andy Sonnanstine to a non-guaranteed split contract for the 2012 season, the team announced. The Rays non-tendered the Beverly Hills Sports Council client earlier this month rather than give him a raise his second time through arbitration.
Sonnanstine, 29 in March, has worked mostly in relief over the last two seasons, pitching to a 4.78 ERA in 116 2/3 innings. He's made 80 starts and 52 relief appearances during his five seasons with Tampa, though his career strikeout (5.7 K/9) and walk (2.3 BB/9) rates are identical in the two roles. Sonnanstine is a fly ball pitcher and is very homer prone (career 1.3 HR/9), though his ERA is a full run lower when coming out of the bullpen (5.43 vs. 4.40).
Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein recently said the team's goal is to "build more depth on the starting pitching front, both in the big leagues and minor leagues," and Sonnanstine helps them accomplish that. He becomes the second pitcher the Cubbies have acquired in the last week, joining Travis Wood (acquired in the Sean Marshall trade). Chicago can retain Sonnanstine as an arbitration-eligible player in 2013.
Hahaha good luck Cubs. He’s terrible. Just hope that Ben Francisco isn’t in the same league.
lol true! Andy is a weak throwing, fb pitcher, hr machine replacement level guy. He was good for a few years, but he’s only good for ping pong action now (youtube it cubbies).
He’s a decent #5. It’s better than the Cubs standing pat. Their rotation needs lots of help and if they truly are shopping Garza, then they’ll need even more. Looks like the FO & owners are serious about a full blown rebuild. It shoulda started years ago.
Agreed. But this also shows just how desperate the Cubs are for pitching. If they trade Garza, though, it’s conceivable that they could get 2 AAA (MLB ready) pitchers back, strengthening and not weakening their rotation.
But yeah the farm system is barren, there is nothing there except for Jackson and so there’s no help on the way. I didn’t realize what a mess Hendry left until this offseason.
it’s like i said earlier…..even ok pitching is expensive as hell this year…..ask the nats and reds and i think theo will end up getting a kings ransom for garza as he would be the one with less question marks then the rest of the availible pitching…it will help bring their farm back a bit back up….
As of now, the have Garza, Demp, Zambrano (?), Cashner, Wells, Wood. That probably would put Sonnastine at #7. I think he might be more of a swingman than a starter if he makes the squad.
You very well could be right. I never meant to imply he’d go in to ST as the #5 guy. Just that he’d be a decent one. But as the off season goes along, there’s a better than decent chance that Garza & Zambrano won’t be there.
Agreed. But I’d put the SP depth chart at something like: Garza, Demp, Z, Wells, Wood, Cashner, Coleman, Samardzija, Sonnastine. Still lots of question marks there — Will Big Z be traded? Will they try Cashner again as a starter (hope so)? Will they give Samardzija a chance to beat Wells for a rotation spot coming out of spring training? And then what happens to Wells? Anyhoo, not a contending rotation per se, but lots of depth here — kinda like the team itself right now.
Hopefully he’ll regain his command. I wish him all the best; I really liked him a few years ago in Tampa.
Cubs world series
A quick check on Fangraphs says that his ERA has been hurt by an above-average HR/FB. His career xFIP is almost a full run lower than his career ERA.
A good low risk signing. Sonnanstine had great peripherals in the minors but was never able to make it in the AL East. Maybe a change of scenery will help him.
decent signing- adds depth. better than making james russell start again if anyone goes down.
james russell’s career ERA 4.47, WHIP 1.337, SO/BB 3.5, 6.6 SO/9, 1.9 BB/9. Still like Sonnanstine better? get a grip.
wanna quote some stats? look up james russell’s STARTING numbers, not career numbers. he’s substantially better as a reliever. do some homework. look a little deeper next time.
The only time Sonnanstine’s been remotely effective since – oh, about 2008 – was out of the pen. Overall in the 78 games (26 starts) over the past three seasons, he’s allowed 10.6 hits, 1.7 homers and 3.0 walks per nine innings while striking out just 5.1/9. His K:BB ratio went from 3.51 to 1.67. So yeah, I’ll still take Russell over Sonnanstine, but thanks for asking.
did i in fact ask? i didn’t notice the whole me asking you part. james russell’s starting resulted in an ERA of about 8, so yeah, this is still A DECENT MOVE AND BETTER THAN RUNNING JAMES RUSSELL OUT THERE TO START AGAIN.
Agreed. James Russell = poopoo
Whatever. I mean, I know he sucks, but Casey Coleman sucks more. I *guess* I’d rather have Sonnanstine on the mound.
Somebody has to pitch. I’d also rather have Sonnanstine over Rodrigo Lopez or Danny Davis or some of the other abominations that were marched out last year.
danny davis? the chicago alderman? from the chicago 7? is pitching these days? Had no idea…
sorry, didn’t mean to be sarcastic. I think you meant Doug Davis.
You’re right. It was Doug Davis, but he was pitching like Danny Davis.
Don’t insult Danny Davis like that. What has he ever done to you???
He’s a Chicago alderman…which by definition means he’s useless.
His name is Doug Davis, and lopez really didnt pitch that bad overall!
If Casey Coleman is actually in a major league ballpark, he’d better be selling cotton candy, instead of trying to take the mound.
Whatever, Coleman can run! He was the fastest guy on the cubs roster until Campana came up.
Haha! Yes! We’ve always needed a pinch running specialist who can provide garbage relief innings at an ERA of nearly 8!
This is only good for the Cubs, if they signed him to hit, he actually swings the bat well. And let me think for a moment about a guy that gives up so many homers pitching in Wrigley.
Wow, I am amazed how people can get so upset or excited about this signing. It’s just a low risk, cheap contract that gets some more bodies at spring training… nothing more.
What is a “non-guaranteed split contract?”
The split is where he gets 1 amount for being in the minors and another if he makes the big club. The non-guaranteed part is they can cut him at any time and not pay him the remainder.
I think signing Sonnanstine is purely AAA depth/emergency call up signing. There’s no way he’s in the running for #5 unless he’s like insanely effective in Spring or everyone else gets hurt. Reading these few responses it’s amazing how little Cubs fans have learned over the decades of failure. It’s like some of us can’t recover from the repeated brain injury that must come along with being a Cubs fan. I think they think it’s going to be like everybody else that has been brought in here. These guys have a real plan, real expertise. Not saying they can’t make mistakes, but more than anyone else in my lifetime, these guys look like the real deal. I mean for chrissakes, we had Salty Saltwell, the concessions manager at Wrigley as our GM for a time in the 1970’s. That mentality, though since those days it has faded a bit, has to be destroyed completely. Even our new owner struggled with the old mentality a bit. It took him too long to jettison Hendry, but now it looks like he’s got his mind in the right place. Manny Corpas is the same kind of signing, could turn out great, but doesn’t matter if he doesn’t. Depth. Maholm is the kind of #5 signing that the Cubs would hopefully make. He’d fit well, decent lefty starter, youngish, small investment, might be worth a prosepct of two if he does ok & we’re out of contention. Saunders I’m not so sure about, he wants more money, probably a longer deal, and he’s just as inconsistent as the cheaper lefty Maholm. Wood could slot as the #4 then. We should also be thinking that we’re probably not going to have a real #1, 2, or 3 starter this year or maybe next as the team is rebuilt. It could be anybody, Wells, Coleman, Dempster and whomever else isn’t traded. Hell, Zambrano! This feels like a real rebuild. Dallas Green did a partial one back in the early 80’s, basically raiding the Phillies 40 man, but finally we went back to our old patchwork tricks. I really think with this new front office team the Cubs will be able to shed that loveable loser image once & for all.
Agreed.
I prefer we trade Byrd, Soto, Wells, Marmol, and anyone else from our bullpen we could get the slightest return for. With a couple big picture moves, and that great draft last year, we could wind up with one of the league’s best homegrown bullpens, and at least a viable crop of position players by 2014.
HAHA you wrote it could be Coleman that gets traded. The only thing the cubs would get in return is a slower pinch runner. Aside from Coleman’s speed he is worthless at this point of his career!
Another fine story by Mikey Axisa.
A good move, for a swingman or 6th starter while the club tries to rebuild. Sonnanstine will benefit by getting out of the AL East, but he’s still a guy in the pen who’ll sport a 4+ ERA. This is solid protection for when they finally get rid of Zambrano, and if Cashner/Samardzjia flops in the rotation.
But I’ve got to say:
Anyone who prefers James Russell as a starter to Sonnanstine-
You’re either over-valuing left handed pitchers, or you didn’t actually see any of the games Russ started.
Junior Lake has more potential as a starting pitcher than James Russell.
2012 Cubs: “warm bodies and cold beer”
As a Rays fan, everytime he started a game I had a feeling it was going to be a loss. Hopefully he fares better in the NL. Good luck, Andy.
The Cubs signed a very professional and extremely nice guy.
If you like catching balls in the outfield seats then Sonny is your man.
I hope he does well.
Says the entire Yankees lineup.
Every no name move is being scrutinized. Relax a little. It only makes sense that if you empty the farm system of talent through promotion, you need to backfill it somewhere.
They’re getting ready to move Garza, signing these pitchers.