Report: Two Pitchers And An Outfielder Traded For Gorzelanny
Watching the wires to see who's gone
Multiple sources are reporting that the Nationals have traded three prospects to the Cubs for journeyman Tom Gorzelanny. Bill Ladson has tweeted that none of the players given up (reported to be two pitchers and an outfielder) are of major significance. Gorzelanny is expected to compete for a spot in the Washington rotation after going 7-9 with a 4.09ERA for Chicago last season.
More details to come as the new breaks…
UPDATE #1: Foxsports.com is reporting that Michael Burgess is among the three prospects.
UPDATE #2: Ben Goessling is confirming that report via his contacts.
UPDATE #3: Mark Zuckerman is speculating that the two pitchers will be already on the 40-man.
UPDATE #4: Bill Ladson is reporting that A.J. Morris is among the three.
UPDATE #5: Jim Callis of Baseball America says the other pitcher is not in their Top 30.
UPDATE #6: Ladson has tracked down the last pitcher. It’s Graham Hicks.
Already on the 40-man? Severino? (doubt it) Martis? I’m wagering Martis and hoping Martis.
Sue,
You’re a lot more qualified to comment on the loss of Burgess than anyone, but the loss of Morris for another #4-5 pitcher seems too much. He spent most of 2010 injured; finall gets healthy and, by most accounts, was the Best pitcher in the instructional league last fall when healthy.
I can only imagine (dread) who the other pitcher is.
BA is saying the last pitcher is not on their Top 30. I’m trying to get them to comment on whether or not he’s a former Top 30, which gives me a very good clue. I’m presuming that to mean that either the pitcher is very young or an older 4A type.
Morris I like, but he’s 24 and hasn’t succeeded above Hi-A. He’s got at least half-a-dozen guys in front of him and while I believe it’s likely some of them won’t pan out, it certainly looked like he was due for a very long stretch in AA and then seeing how the chips fall.
Burgess’s reputation always exceeded his results. Does that mean I’m glad to be rid of him? No, but we all know that Harper was breathing down his neck and was nearly a sure bet to pass him by on his way up.
So far it’s looked like Rizzo has dipped into parts of the system where there was some depth and dealt away the guys that were second-tier or lower.
My Cubbies friends are a little dissapointed losing Gorzy. But we have tons of back end rotation pitchers. I will need time understanding this move.
@Mark H
But how many of those back end rotation pitchers are under contract for 2012, left handed, and can pitch in the pen if needed? Morris is not likely to be ready until 2012, and even then he doesn’t have the velocity that Balester, Kimball, Rodriguez, and Ramirez have. No problems with this move so far pending the third name.
Graham Hicks is the third guy. Thoughts?
Seals the deal – This was a good trade. Hicks is a prospect to watch, but would have to make an ’07 John Lannan-like leap to be in the Majors before 2013.
Have to agree with Sue_D on this one as well. Burgess might have ‘hit the wall’ in 2010, Morris has promise, but needs to step up this year, and Hicks is a ways out in terms of overall development.
I like the trade but don’t quite understand it from the Cubs point of view? Sure they picked up Garza and have Zambrano and Dempster but Lilly is their only left-hander? Gorzelanny was 3rd in IP and could start or pitch out of the pen. Why would they give so much away for Garza and try and restock with a piece they need that might help them contend? Oh well the Cubs do some strange things so maybe I’m just worried after the Marquis debacle which I’m pretty sure he was injured when the Nats got him. Hope the physical is through.
Baby Bears don’t have any lefthanders. Lilly’s with the Dodgers. They probably feel that they need to replenish their farm a little bit after acquiring Garza.
To me, it’s a crap shoot between two GM’s prospect evaluation skills. Rizzo has to be shrewd enough to evaluate which of the many faces of Gorzelanny (real good Pirates pitcher, absolute disaster pitcher, replacement level pitcher, serviceable swing man) will show up based on his scout’s assessments. The Cubs have to assess whether there’s any juice in Morris and the two meh prospects. I think that we have a deep enough pool of C+ prospects where we can risk guys who won’t pan out before 2012 and are marginal major leaguer even then for a guy who is a marginal major leaguer now but we’ll know more about him now.
It kind of accelerates the schedule of when you find out if you’ve got a serviceable depth big leaguer or not while allowing the Cubs to opt out of paying arbitration for an iffy 25-man guy. I like these deals where we give up our lower prospects for arb eligible guys who have the possibility to exceed expectations.
Gorzelanny will be a good test case to see how Rizzo evaluates big league talent and how McCatty is able to maximize talent of marginal big league talents.
Burgess’s reputation always exceeded his results. Does that mean I’m glad to be rid of him? No, but we all know that Harper was breathing down his neck and was nearly a sure bet to pass him by on his way up.
Both 25 year old Corey Brown and even 27 year old Jeff Frazier look better? Burgess one advantage seems to be that of Marerro’s: they are still reasonably young. Burgess has advanced and been demoted between AA and A ball thanks to the bouncing Bowden. One thing won’t change: his foot speed, range and athleticism won’t improve. Burgess is certainly not Rizzo’s prototypical outfielder as he was for Bowden.