The rumor mill continues to spin, with the latest word on the street being that the Cubs are in on Anthony Rizzo, et. al. for Matt Garza and possibly others.
If Rizzo isn't involved, I'll be happy with this move. If he's the key piece...ugh. I'd prefer to see Headley and a high pitching prospect in exchange for Garza.
I really like what Garza brings to the mound: WHIP consistently near 1.25, mid to upper 3 ERA, 200 IP. Those are not to be discarded. He certainly benefited by moving out of the AL East and into the NL as his K/9 of 9.0 was a career high. He also enjoyed a career high of 5.0 WAR. Overall, his numbers are either consistent or improving as he goes. He's certainly a solid #2 or #3 in the rotation.
While those numbers will drift back to his norm, I do see some strong value in Garza, mainly due to the fact that we have several young or surgically-repaired arms we're depending on: Luebke, Stauffer, Richard. Having a Volquez and a Garza would help to solidify that rotation, though it's littered with solid 3's and 4's...no dominant ace to be found.
Granted...maybe aces aren't needed in Petco National Park. However, it'd still be nice to know that there's at least one win coming nearly every fifth day. And, I know this is a reach, there's playoff baseball to consider. You want that #1 to see as many innings as possible when it counts the most.
I just don't know why the team would place so much emphasis on trading for pitching. We can get strong pitchers to come here through free agency. The rumors I'm not hearing are about obtaining offense. The two prospects in the Latos deal may or may not be that offense, but where is that proven MLB bat that we need so desperately?
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