Radio/TV Recaps: Matt Garza Trade Reaction

Bruce Levine jumped on Afternoon Saloon on Friday to talk about the deal:

• Levine thinks it is definitely a good deal at this point to get a known quantity.
• Most people will tell you that this guy is in the top fifteen pitchers in the American League.
• When asked if Garza would get the ball on Opening Day, Levine said "I wouldn't go that deep, but he'll certainly be the most important pitcher for the Cubs outside of Zambrano."
• There wasn't a more urgent need other than pitching.
• Zambrano, Dempster, Garza, and Andrew Cashner will probably make up the top four of the Cubs rotation.
• The Cubs are hoping that John Grabow will come back from an injury and pitch like he did before last season. They have the makings of a very good bullpen, possibly with three left handers.
• Garza eats Popeyes Chicken before every start.
• The two guys that the Cubs certainly didn't want to part with were Hak-Ju Lee and Chris Archer.
• Archer is probably a year away from being in the Tampa Bay rotation. The Rays were not going to make the deal without the Cubs including either Archer or Trey McNutt.
• A lot of people around the league think that Garza is tremendously underrated. Levine feels that this guy will be a 17-20 game winner at some point.
• The fifth starter will be a situation where there is a competition in Spring Training.
• Bruce says that Rick Suttcliffe and Dan Plesac are not involved in the discussion to be Pat Hughes' new partner. Plesac is under contract until mid-August with the MLB Network.
• The three finalist for the job are going to be Dave Otto, Keith Moreland and Gary Mathews. The announcement probably will not happen before the Cubs Convention, but it should take place within the next 2-3 weeks.

The guys talked about the deal on Chicago Tribune Live on Friday night:

• Phil Rogers thinks the Cubs gave up a ton.
• This is a guy they look to have for three years that won 15 games and tossed a no-hitter last year.
• Rogers talked to someone who says, "This isn't the type of player who you go shopping for at Walmart. You know you're going to pay a lot."
• Phil doesn't see the Cubs being competitive in 2011 with or without Matt Garza, but this sets them up to get competitive again after this season.
• The Cubs are giving up some really good parts in this trade.
• David Schuster thinks the Cubs are giving off mixed signals. They were going to go young with the names that were involved in the trade.
• The Cubs gave up their No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10 prospects.
• Rogers doesn't think that they trade Hak-Ju Lee if they don't have Starlin Castro. They have a number of other good pitching prospects.
• Scouts like Trey McNutt just as well or better than Chris Archer. They also have Chris Carpenter, Casey Coleman and Andrew Cashner.
• The Cubs can afford to give up Brandon Guyer because they have Brett Jackson in front of him in the minors and Colvin already in Chicago.
• Converted catcher Robinson Chirinos could end up playing a lot for Tampa Bay, but the Cubs are still sold on Geovany Soto.
• All of the prospects traded have a younger part in front of them.
• The Cubs projected rotation according to CSN is Garza, Zambrano, Dempster, Wells, Gorzelanny.
• They are counting on Garza to be a little better than he's been. Rogers wants to see Cashner in there, plus Coleman was very good at the end of last season.
• Phil doesn't think there is a market for Kosuke. Rogers thinks Kosuke is still a productive player.

The MLB Network team talked about the deal on Friday as well:

• Larry Bowa said on MLB Network that the Cubs have a lot better rotation with Garza.
• Mitch Williams, Harold Reynolds and Bowa all think this may be a bad deal for the Cubs down the road.
• Jonathan Mayo says that Hak-Ju Lee is a pure shortstop glove wise.
• Brandon Guyer could be a very good fourth outfielder in the future at the very least.
• Mitch thinks that the Cubs won at this point right now, but in the next 2-3 years Tampa wins handily.
• Reynolds is intreguied by Sam Fuld and Fernando Perez. Bowa wants to know what Carlos Zambrano will show up in 2011.
• The guys talked about the possibility of the Cubs turning around and sending Carlos Zambrano away, but they do not think it is likely.
• They think Jim Hendry made this move because he feels the pressure to win now.

That's it for now, but I'll keep you posted on Everything Cubs as always!

The Cubs Convention is just 5 days away...