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That seems to be the most interesting story of the spring. We've still got at least seven legitimate starting candidates, so two guys are going to be left out, now that Samardzija starting seems to be a serious thing.

Personally, if nothing changes by April, I think we need to find a taker for Dempster for whatever we can get. I know we want veterans to set good examples and all that, but I'd hate to see Wood, Volstad or Samardzija not get a chance to establish themselves right away.

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Team Theo.

Why are you so worried about them not being on the team to start the season?

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Because if we're supposed to be building asset value, then we need to be taking guys like them and getting them established in the major leagues. If all they do is pitch in AAA, they build no trade value and don't improve as pitchers.

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Team Theo.

But they're not necessarily guys they're only looking to trade away.

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And they don't improve as pitchers.

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Team Theo.

But it's not like they're trapped in the minors. The other pitchers they ARE looking to move would have to be replaced, plus dealing with injuries and whatnot.

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Wood and Volstad are the only rotation contenders (excluding hot garbage like Coleman) who have minor league options. While building asset value is important, having rotation depth has been a stated priority of the new front office. Dumping veteran pitchers doesn't build rotation depth. Wood and Volstad will have many years of team control to build asset value.

edit: That having been said, I'm sticking with my Garza/Dempster/Maholm/Samardzija/Volstad prediction.
I also think this thread should be repurposed as an opening day rotation prediction thread, because that seems more fun.

Prediction, discussion, debate, insults, whatever. It just seems odd to me how quiet this place is despite there being somewhat legitimate baseball news going on.

We have at least seven potential starters for five slots. David DeJesus is our leadoff hitter. Somehow DeWitt may be playing his way back onto the team. Casey Weathers was released.

Heck, I'd settle for some stupid "Hey, let's pretend like spring training stats mean something and hand out roster spots based on them" arguments.

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Team Theo.

I really don't know how the rotation should be handled best. The guy who would benefit most from starting in Iowa can't be sent there(Shark), one of the guys who can be sent there is too good to be anywhere but the rotation(Wood), and I absolutely think that trading a veteran would mean nothing was learned from last year's disaster.

In a perfect world, I guess Shark and Volstad continue to impress, and Dempster or Maholm come down with some sort of blister problem, so the initial rotation could be Garza, Dempster/Maholm, Wood, Volstad, Samardzija, with Wells in long relief/support for Shark. If Samardzija commands a rotation spot, I really don't see an efficient solution.

I'd be OK with Wood in AAA to start the year and Wells in the pen, if Shark and Volstad continue to look good.

Why can't they improve pitching every 5th day in AAA? You could always go with a 6th man rotation, letting your top 3 stay on normal schedule and tooling around with the other three.

Because they are all of an age and ability where they have nothing left to learn from challenging themselves against AAA hitters.

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Team Theo.

I don't really think that is a thing. A couple weeks or months in AAA waiting for an injury or other opening would not be a setback.

They aren't just challenging themselves against hitters. If their only job in the minors is to put up notches in the wins and Ks column, the system has plenty more wrong with it than where the rotation filler is playing. Pitchers can always be better at hitting their spots with different pitches and changing speeds effectively.

This is beneath even you, Kyle.

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Respectfully disagree. The quality of hitters definitely matters in terms of how the pitcher develops. If it didn't matter, we could just hole up all our pitchers in extended spring training rather than waste all that time with far-flung farm teams.



Completely disrespectfully disagree, with all possible offense intended.

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Team Theo.

It wouldn't be progress either. The chance for all three of those guys to improve by pitching in the majors >>>> anything we get out of Dempster in the rotation.

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Team Theo.

Harly >>>>, maybe >. But the chance for Dempster to improve his trade value during the season would be > all of the above.

Disagree. Dempster's trade value is never going to be significant, and he's got just as much of a chance of tanking it as he does of improving it.

I'll settle for >>, but I'm not going any lower than that.

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Team Theo.

You must really be happy with the Cubs if this is something you feel the need to get worked up about.

We don't learn anything by having Wood or Volstad pitch in Iowa. They might be able to improve just as well in Iowa as in MLB(I'm skeptical), but keeping them in Iowa doesn't do anything to help decide which one to keep/cut/trade/etc going forward in more important seasons. There's very clearly a downside to having anyone not named Samardzija pitch regularly in the minors.

I am. Extremely happy. But this isn't worked up. This is posting about baseball on a lame snark baseball forum. We used to do that around here, but I'm still hopeful it could come back.

It is three and a half weeks until Opening Day, and the Cubs have seven legitimate starters for five spots. It's pretty sad if NSBB can't muster up a decent thread about that.

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Team Theo.

For 2-3 months at most? How is that a downside. Those future decisions don't need to be made in May.

It's not posting about baseball. It's fretting about a non-existent problem about a team that has a hell of a lot more to worry about and of which there are much more rational decisions then forcing a trade the last two weeks of spring.

Yeah, I'm baffled by the sense of urgency. It's not like they'd be banished to Iowa for the long run.

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