According to ESPNChicago.com, Matt Garza is going to the North Side of Chicago.
The 27-year-old starting pitcher was put on the trading block by the Rays in an attempt to re-tool their organization. They were looking for a shortstop, a catcher and good young pitching according to the article.
The Cubs in turn traded away: outfielder Sam Fuld, pitcher Chris Archer, outfielder Brandon Guyer, catcher Robinson Chirinos, and shortstop Hak-Ju Lee.
While the Cubs are certainly giving up some young minor league talent, it’s not like these guys were going to be coming up and breaking through with the major league team any time soon.
Lee is clearly behind young-phenom SS Starlin Castro, just as Fuld and Guyer were behind Colvin (the Cubs’ fourth outfielder), and Chirinos is behind Soto.
This seems to be a win-win for the Chicago Cubs. They were lacking depth in the rotation, and bringing in Matt Garza brings experience and youth to a rotation that has underperformed in the past two years.
This poses a few questions for new Cubs’ manager Mike Quade.
How will he organize his rotation?
Will Carlos Zambrano still be the ace of the staff after a mostly disappointing 2010 season?
Will Dempster?
Will be higher up in the rotation than the aforementioned pitchers?
There are a lot of questions still facing the 2011 Chicago Cubs.
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