A day after telling Carlos Silva they'd attempt to trade him, the Cubs have released the right-hander, tweets Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune.
A poor spring meant the 31-year-old failed to earn a spot in Chicago's rotation or bullpen. Although the Cubs looked for a trade partner, Silva's $11.5MM salary and his refusal to report to the minors reduced the team's leverage significantly.
Silva had some success for the Cubs last season, recording a 4.22 ERA in 21 starts. However, his spring performance, including a 10.90 ERA in 17 1/3 innings, more closely resembled his 2008 and 2009 campaigns, when he posted a 6.81 ERA in 183 2/3 IP for the Mariners. Even so, another team will likely take a chance on the righty, with the Cubs on the hook for his exorbitant price tag.
I’m sure this comes as GREAT NEWS to any and all cubs fans.
Silva was very good in over 100 innings last year. I don’t really follow the Cubs, but why so glad to just dump him? He couldn’t even be a useful long reliever?
He is a starting pitcher that had issues staying healthy the entire season last year. lets keep in mind he has a 13+ ERA since the ’10 ASB. There was no reason to even try to use him as long relief. The Cubs wanted to use him as an insurance piece by sending him to AAA. When he refused to do that.. then dump him. Hard to trade a player once it is announced that “we are going to trade you.”
It was the right thing to do. Nice to see that the new ownership understand what a sunk cost is. Even if he was traded they weren’t going to get anything for him and they weren’t going to save very much money. Better to get rid of the headache now rather than let it fester. Maybe the Cubs are trying to not be the drama queens of the NL this year.
Don’t worry, the Mets have that special niche all locked up….
Hey, give this new regime credit, they dropped Castillo and Perez.
Yeah but the Wilipon’s aren’t making things easy.
they sent a .667 hitter in Castillo to Iowa over an .034 hitter in Hill Smart roster pick there Quade
I guess he’s not tradable
The ill-fated signing of Milton Bradley keeps on costing the Cubs. Hopefully this closes the book on that.
I’m not trying to defend the Bradley signing in the least, but the Cubs actually saved money by making the trade for Silva and releasing him. They would have paid Bradley $20MM over the last two years, while they paid Silva $16MM ($23MM salary + $2MM buyout – $9MM from the Mariners).
I agree. And while Silva’s performance did NOT merit the money the Cubs spent on him, it bears mention that he was worth much, much more than Bradley in 2010.
free agent pool lost the trade
Okay, I’m not gonna lie. I’m jealous of your razor sharp wit!
Probably the first competent thing Jim Hendry has done in quite some time.
Too bad it doesn’t it doesn’t come close to making up for his gross incompetency in handling Milton a 3 year $30M contract. Only in Wrigleyville would a GM this incompetent be congratulated for this mess.
So it would have been smarter to demote Cashner and trot out Silva every fifth day? No one–exactly NO ONE–is saying that Hendry’s actions completely undo the damage from the Bradley signing. But in turning Bradley into Silva then unloading Silva when he outlived his usefulness, Hendry handled the aftermath as well as could be done. THAT is what people are saying is good.
I am so sick of Hendry bashing. Bradley was a big risk, but we only paid him $5MM for one season, as Seattle took on the rest and gave us a pitcher who was great through July.
now the pirates can sign their openening day starter.
No love for Kevin Correia?
I don’t even think the Pirates would touch Shamu — err Carlos Silva.
I don’t even think the Pirates would touch Shamu — err Carlos Silva.
That nats will pick him up to pair up with Perez lol
Maybe, but only in the minors. Who cares? Never can have too many arms.
This is why the MLB needs NFL style contracts.
The Cubs are “on the hook” for his salary, but are still due to receive $5.5MM from the M’s to help out with that. They only ate $6MM this year. Do they have to eat the $2MM buyout for 2012 or is that voided by him being released?
They still owe him the buyout. Also I’m pretty sure they owe him any bonuses he might get, unless the Mariners agreed to pay for those.
Well, I look at it like this: for their end, the Cubs will end up paying around $16MM for 2.1 WAR from Silva, the Mariners will end up paying around $30MM for 2 years of Bradley, the first year of which produced -0.1 WAR. Bradley would have to be a 4 WAR player this year for the M’s to get similar $/WAR value. Or, if you prefer, had the Cubs kept Bradley, he’d have had to give them a 2.9 WAR bounceback this year for the $/WAR to be the same value.
No matter how you slice it, the Cubs ended up with a lot better value, even after cutting Silva loose.
Sad but true. At least Hendry was smart enough to drop Silva now. And meanwhile Bradley’s still on the Mariners. Just curious if this is Bradley’s last contract, he’s running out of teams to run antics with.
I don’t get this talk about Tommy Boy Hendry being “smart enough” to drop Silva. It is like you forget that he is the one who was “smart enough” to give a dangerous head case like Milton Bradley a THREE YEAR contract for $30M. That right there has to be the stupidest contract a GM has given out in the past 3-4 seasons. I don’t care what Tommy Boy does to follow up that move, it can’t outweigh the stupidity of the Bradley signing that has hurt the Cubs team for 3 seasons now.
Certainly, Hendry’s poor decision in signing Bradley in the first place must be included if we are to attempt to calculate the overall balance of his successes and failures.
But it does not invalidate every other thing he ever does, even his handling of the fallout of that mistake itself. Hendry couldn’t undo signing Bradley in the first place. But in reducing his overall financial obligations from that signing (from $21MM to $16MM), unloading Bradley for a pitcher who gave him 2.1 WAR in return (while Bradley produced negative value for his new team), and then turning that pitcher loose when he’d outlived his usefulness, he handled the aftermath of that mistake about as well as could be done.
But he is the one who created the mistake in the first place.
Are you really touting Silva’s 2.1 WAR for last season? What good was that? The Cubs were a 5th place team. Are you suggesting that without Silva and his 2.1 WAR last season the Cubs would have been worse?
Tommy Boy is the one who made that 5th place team last season. And he paid them a HELL of a lot of money for that record.
NO ONE is making an argument that Hendry’s handling of Silva makes up for his signing of Bradley. NO ONE. That is an argument you are free to have by yourself, but no one here is having it with you and continuing to argue your half of such a conversation is relieving yourself into the wind.
What we are saying is: getting Silva and saving money in the process was better than keeping Bradley. Then, unloading Silva this spring was better than letting him block Cashner just because of some money we owe. And furthermore, the money the Cubs will eat with Silva is nowhere near enough to undo the net gain of turning Bradley into Silva for 2010.
If you are of the opinion that either the Cubs would have been better off keeping Bradley, or that the Cubs would have been better off turning him loose for nothing rather than saving some money and getting 2.1 WAR out of Silva, or that the Cubs should have kept Silva in the rotation instead of Cashner because of his salary, then by all means, we have a debate here.
Otherwise, you agree on the points we are making and are derailing a reasonable talk about Silva into another dead-end Hendry-bashing conversation. In that case, I recommend putting on a funny mask and arguing with yourself in a mirror.
Wow. OK. I will take the advice of the appropriately named Sour Bob.
I think this is a great move by Tommy Boy. He made a bold decision and I think it was the right one. This will definitely make the Cubs a better team. I had them pegged for 77 wins this year – but with this move I will bump that up to 79 wins. For a team with 3rd highest payroll in the NL.
Smart, smart, smart move by Tommy Boy.
Funny mask. I’m telling you. It will change your life.
For my end, I’m going to replace you with a parrot I have taught to say, “HERPDERP B-B-B-B-But Hendry sucks!”
The parrot doesn’t understand that I agree with that statement either, but weirdly, he has a more interesting opinion on Carlos Silva.
Hendry and smart can’t be in the same sentence
Hendry is not smart.
I rest my case.
No, the Mariners owe Silva the 2MM buyout.
if it’s an option year, wouldn’t the team that picks him up be on the hook for any buyouts/option years? otherwise they could, in theory, choose not to buy it out and force the Cubs to pay even more which doesn’t even sound legal to me.
I’m pretty sure the buyout is automatic.
i must admit I’m not sure what happens with these multiyear and option clause contracts when a player is released. i always thought the releasing team was only on the hook for that years salary if the player joins another team, at which point the new team assumes whatever’s left.
I’m not trying to argue anything, of course, just asking if anybody knows for sure on this.
I’m sure the Nats, Royals or Pirates wouldn’t mind him.
I can see the Royals.
Okay, did anyone think that Milton Bradley would last longer on the Mariners roster than Carlos Silva did on the Cubs roster?
The writing was on the wall the day he and Aramis Ramirez got into it in the dugout. Ramirez is about as quiet and non-trouble making kind of guy as you’ll find anywhere. Silva has a long standing habit dating back to his Twins days of blaming everyone always for his troubles except himself. He also had cardiac problems last season and still, he comes into camp overweight and appears to be out of shape.
He needs a lot of work to right his ship, if he even can.
Good points. When the Jays signed Bautista to his extension, AA talked of Jose’s positive character and how they are investing in the person as much as the player. Signings such as Silva and Bradley show what often happens when you invest in a player, despite what they are as a person.
Mets here he comes
Yeah I’m sure the mets released Castillo and Perez for the sole purpose of making room for him
please no
Texas Bullpen?
Unfortunately we have to pay for him to be an arrogant arse and not take the minor league assignment..and I don’t think any fan will be pissed at the 6M loss..This year isn’t a total loss but next year is sure looking better…
Im VERY curious to see where he ends up, i mean for minimum i would take him with the way our staff and unjuries look haha. But i could see CLE or STL in on him.
Cleveland really can’t take a chance on an out of shape bad clubhouse guy with all of their youth. Seriously, I think that would be the worst place and a bad decision on Cleveland’s part. Particularly since he’s been pretty bad when he’s pitched in the AL, and they really don’t need a guy that’s not going to take responsibility for his performance. I say pass.
Though the Pirates haven’t been good in, well, forever, I don’t think the Cubs are in any position to poke fun. It has been a while since the last Cub world championship and for the money they spend they should at least be the wild card team every year. Just one mans’s opinion
But still… 18 straight losing seasons? Add to that 5 out of the last 6 seasons in last place, all 6 seasons they lost at least 94 games.
he was decent last yr- it’s too bad he had health issues cuz if he coulda held up his pace we prob coulda dumped him for SOMETHING/ANYTHING. oh well. at least the milton era is finally over. we lose a few big contracts this yr, so def looking forward to ownership proving themselves next summer instead of lobbying for tax dollars on comcast sports net.
I would love for the bucs to get him but the nats would prob get him in the end… Screw Bob Nutting
Whoa….nobody is realizing the implications of this. Team Carlos just lost a Carlos. Hopefully we pick up another Carlos to take his spot.
What a punk. I hope nobody signs him.
Little off topic, but is your name a Atmosphere reference?
It is. Long time fan from the Headshots/Overcast days.
nice, i’m a little bit younger. but I’ve been listening to him since the seven’s travels days and i’ve been a huge fan ever since….sorry for getting off topic, now back to baseball….
Guess jim did get laughed at by 29 other clubs…
he always does
Cubs release Jim Hendry….oh sorry…wrong headline.
silva less likely to go postal
The real reason he was let go is becuae it is in th bylaws that the Cubs cannot have more than three guys named carlos at any one time. Geez, I thought as Diehard Cubs fan you guys knew that . . .
that was an awful joke
I think this was a reaction to Silva’s comments about Riggins. Jim Hendry is usually a pretty cool customer, but he is obviously EXTREMELY mad about it, evidenced by his quotes (from the Cubs’ website article):
“He wasn’t good enough to make the team.”
“We try to factor in not only Spring Training, but the second half of last year, and we’re looking at a guy who had a 14-something ERA from July 11 on and came to camp with a notion that he already had a spot in the rotation.”
“It became apparent at the end that, basically Mateo and Casey Coleman, either one deserved to be on the club much more than him. Obviously, we’re dealing with a man that at this particular point in his career is not willing to face the facts that what he’s done the last years — except for a two-month period — is well below Major League standards. He seems to make a continual [habit] of blaming everybody but himself.”
“His comments about Mark Riggins were totally inappropriate and unacceptable. Once again, it’s a weakness for somebody who doesn’t perform well and chooses to blame somebody else.”
Now, all of this is true and any GM might be thinking it if they were in this situation — but saying it is something else entirely, especially for Hendry who is usually as positive as possible about everybody. Combine those comments with “we’re going to try to trade you” followed by “nevermind, just get the hell off my team” and you have a very angry GM.
I don’t get why some people here are down on the Cubs for releasing Silva. We all know the reason how Silva got here and I am not defending Hendry for it. That can not change. Deal with today and the here and now in this spring training camp.
What would the bashers and haters prefer the Cubs to do? Serously, what? They keep Silva and all you would here is how horrible the Cubs are for keeping him and moving Cashner to the pen. The Cubs release Silva and haters can’t think for themselves a minute that it was a good decision. No one is saying Hendry is great or Hendry did not cause it. But give credit to ownership on down for actually doing the right thing and cutting ties with Silva.
Yes! Get rid of this scrub amd his 11.5 mil for this year. Fukudome and his 13.5 mil, Grabow, Pena and Ramirez are free agents after this year. (Ramirez has a club option which I think they will pick up.) Pena 10 mil+ Silva 11.5+14.6 Ramirez(if they fon’t pick up his option)+ Fuku 13.5+ and Grabow 4.8= 54.4 mil of the books. Sign Pujols to a 8 year $250+ whatever.
Then next year Byrd, Dempster and Zambrano contracts are up. Hopefully someone takes Soriano’ scrub contract and the Cubs will be looking pretty good.
Rotation
Garza
Cashner
McNutt
Jay Jackson
Christopher Carpenter
CL- Marmol
C- Soto
1B- Pujols
2B- Barney
3B- Ramirez?Vitters? F/A
SS- Castro
RF- Colvin
CF- Matt Szczur
LF- Brett Jackson
Someone taking Soriano’s contract? Barring a monster year, it ain’t happenin’. Which unfortunately for Cubbies fans means almost certainly no Pujols.
Ramirez will be gone in July .. they will get no more then a Ceasar Izturis type player.. for him..
Pujols is not leaving St. Louis
Colvin will be the everyday LFer by May.. and if he’s not then it would be wrong to have the better player on the bench again..Barney should be the 2nd baseman this year no platoons with Baker and DeWiit.. first all DeWitts sucks and has never been good… Soto needs to go. Castillo will be the start by June because they will be out of the contention come May 1st.. not to mention Soto isn’t that good anyway.. he will be lucky to hit. 240. with 10 HR and 45-50 RBI he will not do better then that..
I could see Pujols leaving St. Louis. My opinion though. I guess it really doesn’t matter where Colvin plays as long as he continues to develop. Baker is am ok back up, Darwin Barney is the best house option for 2B right now, and I agree DeWitt sucks. I wish Hendry did the Kelly Johnson for Ryan Theriot trade but you know, he’s Jim Hendry -____-. I greatly disagree with you though with Soto. Are you kidding me? He should be gone?! He was one of the best catchers in the NL last year. He had a slightly less productive year then his rookie year and that’s because of injuries. Wellington Castillo is a good looking catcher, but I’d rather get back a 2Bmen for him.
Soto is nowhere near as good as Molina, Hank White (henry blanco) Carlos Ruiz, and 26 other staring catchers are all better then Soto.. and most backup are better then Soto too. just put it this way with the execption of Koyie Hill every Catcher in all of baseball all the way down to Rookie A ball catchers.. they are ALL better then Soto.. I wish Michael Brenely was ready for ML Cubs team he would be better then Soto too
they got rid of one waste of roster space.. and 11.5 million next up should be Ramirez, Soriano, Zambrano, Fukudome.. and Soto, Hill.. Castillo hit .667 in spring training while Hill hit .034 with only one hit the entire spring.. yet.. Hill gets a job.. clearly all Castillo does is hit and he does it well.. Soto hit like .245 in ST Castillo should get the starting job over him too.. it proves that the Cubs are a horrible organization espeically when Hendry and Quade told the pitching coach he didnt make the team.. the Rickettes have not even made a single effortto put a winning team on the field.. and that all starts with getting a GM that is well not stuck on stupid