Carlos Silva to the Cubs - Baggage Included

It finally happened. The Cubs, painted into their own corner, traded Milton Bradley. The Cubs' best projection batter for 2010 moves to Seattle. Coming back are none other than Carlos Silva, and what I understand amounts to $6 million in payroll flexibility over 2010 and 2011.

Even with the cash back, we're talking nearly $20 million for a pitcher best suited, at this point, for middle relief. Against right-handed hitters, preferably.

A Brief and Recent History

Let's take a stroll down Carlos Silva Memory Lane

8/9/2008

The wall of silence that has so often surrounded happenings inside the Mariners' clubhouse was finally shattered on Friday night by the frustrated voice of Carlos Silva.

His anger evident, fresh off a listless, 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, the pitcher more or less accused some teammates of mailing it in and trying to pad their statistics. Silva said the selfish play of some Mariners lately has been making the entire starting rotation look bad, and he's had enough.

8/9/2008

Mariners manager Jim Riggleman said he was "very disappointed" with some of the comments right-handed pitcher Carlos Silva made Friday night during a postgame media session, and would address them during a meeting with the pitcher.
"A couple of things I read didn't make any sense," Riggleman said on Saturday. "It was very strange to me. Convoluted."

8/16/2008

Carlos Silva was placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with what the Seattle Mariners called tendinitis in his elbow....Silva declined to comment, as he did on Friday night.

3/21/2009

Venezuelan manager Luis Sojo was approached by several reporters individually on Saturday before his team's 10-2 semifinal loss to Korea.
Each had the same question.

"So why are you starting Carlos Silva instead of Felix Hernandez?" each reporter asked.

Sojo smiled and responded each time, "He's been my best pitcher."
...
"This is his riskiest move of the tournament," one Venezuelan reporter had said.

Sojo's decision immediately flopped...When the inning ended, Silva walked to the dugout and threw his glove against the wall in frustration. Less than an inning later, Silva was knocked out... This time, Silva walked to the dugout and did not shake the few hands of teammates who offered their support. He simply walked into the clubhouse and disappeared.

3/28/2009

Right-hander Carlos Silva insisted on Saturday afternoon that everything from his neck down is pretty much ready for the regular season to begin.

The mental part of his game needs some work.
...
Silva said his bullpen sessions between and before his starts go well. But for some reason he has been unable to carry that success into a game. He ends up trying to do too much, throws too hard, and when power doesn't work, he backs off and uses finesse. That hasn't worked any better.

To say he's befuddled barely touches the surface.

4/15/2009

"The crowd is very important," he said. "I respect the crowd 100 percent. But it's one thing I've got to take out of my mind. I've got to pitch. I don't have to worry about crowds, I don't have to worry about anything. That's one of my biggest problems. I worry too much about the outside stuff."

Silva was asked whether anybody from the team has tried to talk to him about blocking out external factors.

"There are a lot of people talking to me, man," he said, bursting into laughter. "[Monday, manager Don] Wakamatsu talked to me a little bit, [pitching coach] Rick [Adair] talked to me, the mental [coach] guy talked to me."

5/6/2009

Silva has put too much pressure on himself. All of that criticism last year? The fans going at his weight, his pitching, his attitude? It's caught up to him. The media blasting him regularly? That's caught up to him as well. He's a mess. I wasn't sure about him last year, but having gotten to see him in action behind the scenes, I can tell you, he's one guy who takes this whole contract thing to heart. He's not running off, laughing at the Mariners for having paid him $48 million. He's losing sleep over it every night. He's tearing himself apart internally trying to make things right. Trying to please teammates he feels he's disappointing on a daily basis.

You can hear it in his voice, See it in his face, He's a rich man because of that contract. But he's not having a fun time. The pressure he's putting on himself, I think -- and so do many team officials -- is making him a worse pitcher than he truly is. And at this stage, as with any high pressure situation in life, it's sometimes good to take a step back. To absorb the situation going on in front of you.

5/20/2009

An MRI done on Carlos Silva on Tuesday revealed an impingement in his right shoulder. The MRI also showed fraying of both the labrum and rotator cuff.

Yadda yadda yadda, now he's a Cub. Aren't you glad the Cubs traded away the clubhouse, media and fan problem? I think there's an old adage about not trading your bag of problems for someone else's. Someone else's problems and six million bucks maybe not be covered.

I'll share some PITCHf/x data on Silva later. Short story: sinker/slider/change.