Cotts to the Cubs

[CWSGuy406]

Logan's offspeed stuff is twice as good as Neal's was. I think that Logan can be much more effective vs LHP than Cotts was.

 

I agree. I was fairly impressed with Logan's stuff. His fastball seemed faster than Cotts', and at his age, he has a much better secondary pitch than Cotts has ever had. I echo your sentiments that Booooone can be a solid LOOGY.

[Balta1701]

I have no reason to think Williams didn't try and find the best possible deal for Cotts, and this is what he found.

 

This is a deal swapping two back end of the bullpen guys. I dont think this tells us where this off-season is going, at all.

I think it's a decently strong suggestion that KW isn't that interested in playing the Free Agent market at the prices people are getting. There were probably better options as a righty reliever than Aardsma, but they were going to cost a lot more.

[KevHead0881]

No, not at all. I was one of the first on this site during the season last year that said he would be gone. I just thought that we'd use him as a bigger piece of a trade, and I thought we'd be more active in the FA market than it seems we are.

 

When I read on Buster Olney's blog that Justin Speier might cost $12 million to $15 million, that basically told me that we weren't gonna go the free agent route, and we were going to have to get creative in solving our middle relief problem. Not sure how Aardsma plays into this, but as far as I'm concerned, the situation is no better, and no worse.

[aboz56]

If we're going into next season relying on Logan, we're in trouble.

[Kalapse]

I really don't know what to think of this trade yet, I'm interested to see what Vasquez has to offer. Anyone else think he might make the opening day roster? He did pitchin AAA last year, and he is a lefty.....

Actually he pitched in AA last year, he's never pitched an inning at Iowa.

[Kalapse]

not another god forsaken Vasquez, i hate that last name.

Javier Vazquez

Carlos Vasquez

[CWSGuy406]

Williams hasn't liked playing the FA game since he has been here. That IMO was one of the major reasons the Vazquez deal was made last year.

 

I don't blame Williams for that at all.

 

Especially the bullpen. Honestly, I don't see the bullpen as a huge problem heading into next year. Our top three is as solid as they come. I'd like to see Kenny bring in a reliever from the Asian market, and let that guy compete with Haeger / Perez / Aardsma / Logan for the final three spots.

[fathom]

Williams hasn't liked playing the FA game since he has been here. That IMO was one of the major reasons the Vazquez deal was made last year.

 

I don't blame Williams for that at all.

 

I agree, but our system is getting rather thin now due to all the trades. I just hope he doesn't panic and spend money on guys like Dotel or Hawkins, who won't really improve our team at all. Personally, I think our outfield is a much bigger concern than our relief pitching.

[YASNY]

What I find troubling is that we give up on a young guy after one bad season.

 

I guess KW thinks the league figured him out and he won't/can't return to 2005 form. I tend to disagree and believe that Cotts will really be solid out of the pen again very soon.

 

If "the league figured him out" then changing leagues would lead to him being solid out of the pen again very soon.

[ptatc]

What I find troubling is that we give up on a young guy after one bad season.

 

I guess KW thinks the league figured him out and he won't/can't return to 2005 form. I tend to disagree and believe that Cotts will really be solid out of the pen again very soon.

 

The same could be said as to why some people value him so highly after only one good season. He has always has trouble with giving up too many BB. It 2005 he didn't. Perhaps the Sox figured that was the abberation and got what they could while they could. If KW though he could get more if he waited, I'm sure he would have. The Sox must've saw something they liked with Vazquez. Remember the AA Barons probably saw a lot of him last year.

[CWSOX45]

Actually he pitched in AA last year, he's never pitched an inning at Iowa.

 

My mistake, I was looking at Aardsma's numbers.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

I don't see that Keith. Williams and Co. have been really low key about the off-season, but when asked about it, they have talked about the bullpen 1st.

 

I will be shocked if we have another competition for the last spot in the bullpen coming into ST. There are going to be a few more moves for the pen this off-season, not a doubt in my mind.

I do like the idea however about going into the Asian market.

 

 

Bring Shingo back!!!

[southsider2k5]

Wow. I am really shocked to see this happen. So I guess this means the "fill in the minor league teams with live arms" crowd will be thrilled, right?

 

Personally I hate to give up on Neal already, but I get the feeling there is some reason for the regression last year, that the Sox don't think they can fix, aka something upstairs wasn't quite right.

[AWhiteSoxinNJ]

Thumbs down for me, I think we could have waited and got better value for Cotts after the new year if they were in fact that much willing to move him.

[KevHead0881]

David Aardsma is #1!

 

[bschmaranz]

INTIMIDATION!!!

[jackie hayes]

David Aardsma is #1!

 

lol

[Kalapse]

I suppose you can never have enough bald white guys in your pen.

[Chisoxfn]

Boone, lol, don't get me started.

I'd be surprised if he wasn't on the opening day roster. He has a nice arm and when he throws strikes he's pretty tough to hit.

[Reddy]

this just seems all weird to me... KW's gotta have a reason for doing this...

[Friend of Nordhagen]

I watched Aardsma a few times last year. He was up with the Cubs early in the year, couldn't get the ball over the plate, and was terrible. He came back up later, had better control, and was pretty effective. Somebody quoted Sickels earlier saying he was throwing 88-92 before last year. Not last year. In the games I saw, he threw a lot harder than that, more like mid to upper 90's. And that's taking into account screwed up guns; hitters had a lot of trouble getting on top of his high fastballs. Lots of swinging strikes. If he gets it over, he's certainly better than Riske, maybe a lot better. But that's the big "if."

 

As for Cotts, I'm disappointed to see him go. And I think he'll be quite effective for the Cubs.

[GoSox05]

I'm sure if the Sox thought that Cotts just had an off year and would be back to normal this year, they wouldnt have traded him.

 

We now got 4 RP who throw over 95mph

[southsideirish71]

Neal Cotts

 

2003 only 13 innings 8 ERA

2004 65 innings 5.65 ERA

2005 60 innings 1.94 ERA

2006 54 innings 5.17 ERA He also did a Mike Jackson impersonation and gave up everyone elses runs also.

 

Now people what looks like the fluke, the year he had in 06, or maybe just maybe the magical 05 season.

 

 

Neal is a deception guy who had one year were he could throw strikes and had pinpoint control. But if you look at his history in the majors, and in the minors this was a guy who couldnt throw strikes. So what do you think happens to one pitch pitchers, who cant locate and get into hitters counts all the time.

 

Did you really want Cotts doing something similiar to his career averages on the Southside next year. I mean do I think we might have been able to get something else, maybe. But lets take a look at the FA market where a crappy player like Juan Pierre is going to get 3/30, or a LOOGY might get a few million a year and a guarenteed 3 year deal. If you can pick up another live arm out of the pen. It really plays into shortening up the game. With our homer based stadium we need two types of pitchers, either sinkerballers or strikeout guys, especially late in games. So another hard thrower, who can make a mistake and miss a bat instead of a guy lobbing up a 90 mph fastball on 3-1 which will be hitting some poor fan in the head.

 

 

 

I watched Aardsma a few times last year. He was up with the Cubs early in the year, couldn't get the ball over the plate, and was terrible. He came back up later, had better control, and was pretty effective. Somebody quoted Sickels earlier saying he was throwing 88-92 before last year. Not last year. In the games I saw, he threw a lot harder than that, more like mid to upper 90's. And that's taking into account screwed up guns; hitters had a lot of trouble getting on top of his high fastballs. Lots of swinging strikes. If he gets it over, he's certainly better than Riske, maybe a lot better. But that's the big "if."

 

As for Cotts, I'm disappointed to see him go. And I think he'll be quite effective for the Cubs.

 

 

Thornton couldnt throw strikes at all before he came here.

 

Jenks couldnt hit the side of a barn before he got here also.

 

Doesnt AArdsma sound like a few other guys we have picked up. The hard throwing projects.

[Chisoxfn]

One thing about Aardsma is that he has a darn good arm and he was pitching pretty well for the Cubs down the stretch. This guy was a legit top notch pick with a top notch arm and I have no problem acquiring him.

 

I think its a good move for the Cubs because Cotts gets to go to a league that hasn't adjusted to his sneaky fastball. I still like Neal a lot (one of his biggest propenents) and I would not be shocked if he came out and dominated again next year but without any quality secondary pitches its going to be rough.

 

If we got a quality lefty in this Vazquez guy, this deal isn't so bad. In fact it could be good considering we have a guy that is cheap and under our control for a while and could turn into a front line set up guy (I'm a big Aardsma fan).

[The Ginger Kid]

KW's gotta have a reason for doing this...

I would wager that it has something to do with the fact that Neal sucked BAD last year. He was nuclear. I'm glad we got something for him. Thanks for '05 and don't let the door hit you...