Carlos Villanueva-2 years, 10 million
Edwin Jackson-4 years, 52 million
Now let's take a look at the two players individually:
Carlos Villanueva-Carlos Villanueva gives the Cubs another quality arm to compete for the rotation. He has spent time as both a starter and a long reliever, but he spent the majority of his time last year in Toronto starting due to injuries to the rest of the rotation. In 2012, Villanueva was okay as a starter, but he was very effective as a reliever. He tends to be a fly ball pitcher, but his ground ball percentage was very good as a reliever in 2012. This should help him out in April and May at Wrigley, but it might make him susceptible to the long ball once the wind starts blowing out. He is very much a strike thrower and should be effective for the Cubs in 2013.
Edwin Jackson-Jackson has gotten the reputation of being a journeyman in his young career, and he definitely deserves that title. The Cubs will be his 8th team before he turns 30. Jackson is an inning eater, as he has thrown at least 180 innings the past 5 seasons. Last season, a lot of Jackson's success was due to his raised strikeout rate and lowered walk rate. Both of these totals were a career high for him, as he appears to be entering his prime. Jackson is definitely a ground ball pitcher, which is always a positive at Wrigley Field, especially with decent infield defense, which could be well above average if Starlin Castro continues to improve at shortstop.
Jackson loved his time with the crosstown White Sox
The Verdict-I love what the Cubs have continued to do in adding depth to their pitching staff. Villanueva provides a quality swing man at a cheap cost. He might earn a spot in the rotation or he might improve the bullpen, but given the rising costs of bullpen arms, Villanueva is well worth the money. After missing out on Anibal Sanchez, the Cubs signed the next best starter available in Edwin Jackson. Nothing about Jackson jumps off the page at you, but he is a solid low end number 3 or high end number 4 starter. He might not have the stuff that Sanchez does, but he is not far behind him. The Cubs paid 30 million less for Jackson, which is good because there is no way that Sanchez is that much better than Jackson. E-Jax is also in his prime at age 29 and adds a good building block to the rotation with Matt Garza and Jeff Samardzija. The club is still missing an ace, but with a lot of dependable arms, the Cubs might surprise in 2013. This move is definitely for beyond that, but if the Cubs can over-achieve a bit on offense, there is a small chance that they could be the Orioles of 2013.
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The important thing is that the Cubs are loading up on pitching depth at a relatively cheap cost. This allows them to position themselves to do a few different things.
ReplyDeleteThe Cubs front office have made it no secret that they will continue to take calls on Matt Garza. These signings allow them to have legitimate options to turn to in order to grow for 2014, assuming the right suitor comes calling before July 31st.
The Rays are also going to have to deal David Price before the start of the 2014 season. The Cubs are shedding bad contracts in order to allow themselves to make a play at such a move in the near future. Price will command 150M to 200M on the open market, so Tampa will be looking to get value now before they let him just walk the way they did Crawford.
It is the exact offseason you'd like to see when knowing that this was a three year rebuilding process. Year 1 - Shed bad contracts / refill the farm. Year 2 - Sign the fringe players who will solidify the smaller probelems. Year 3 - Make your big splash to put yourself over the top into contention. Looking good thus far.
Completely agree Geoff. They added Villanueva, Baker, Feldman, and Jackson all for less than it would have cost for Anibal Sanchez. Spring Training is an audition for Garza. If he shows he is healthy, he becomes one of the most coveted starting pitchers on the market. If they can't get a trade return they feel is fair, they can look at an extension somewhere in between Jackson's and Sanchez's contracts
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