Cubs Sign Scott Baker to 1 Year Deal

[SenorGato]

Agreed 1908. Poor man is also a more accepted way of saying bad team so I have to say that it pleases me that no one is seeing him ending up in the third spot of the 2013 rotation.

Also given his flyball tendencies with his K:BB I expect him to continue underperforming his DIPs. The Cubs' goal should be making that controversial for a year so that someone else can answer it after maybe giving up a prospect.

[1908_Cubs]

Agreed 1908. Poor man is also a more accepted way of saying bad team so I have to say that it pleases me that no one is seeing him ending up in the third spot of the 2013 rotation.

Also given his flyball tendencies with his K:BB I expect him to continue underperforming his DIPs. The Cubs' goal should be making that controversial for a year so that someone else can answer it after maybe giving up a prospect.

Yeah I wouldn't want to even enter a bad 2013 season with the recent-TJS surgery Scott Baker as our 3rd. I still think McCarthy or Marcum ends up our number 3 as they both offer entirely more trade bait on a one year deal and they probably come on two year pacts to where you can make an argument for keeping them.

And I'd probably agree too that he continues to underperform his DIPS, but I can't stop thinking of Ted Lilly here. Lilly has a career 7.64 K/9 and a 2.99 BB/9 with a 45.8 FB%. Scott Baker is 7.23 K/9, 2.10 BB/9 and a 45% FB%. They're both identical in 34% GB for their careers. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Baker can do what Lilly did here, either. Extreme FB% pitchers can survive at Wrigley.

[Milnertime]

Depth is never bad, especially after watching last season's debacle of terrible starting pitching.

As long as the money's good, I'm OK with it.

[SenorGato]

Ted Lilly pitched in some pretty badass environments, and as a young pitcher he showed an ability to pick up the K in those tough environments (two AL East teams as well as competitive A's teams). I give Lilly an advantage because of handedness, pedigree, and experience.

OTOH, if the comparison is less direct and more general then yeah I could see Baker rebuilding his stock a little here despite being such a flyball heavy intensive pitcher. Gonna need a CFer to make that happen...

I'm thinking as many as two of Liriano/Marcum/McCarthy/Feldman will be added, though Greinke and one of those would rock my socks much more.

[cubsfan2206]

I'm still waiting for the "deal not complete yet" tweet..

Decent signing here hopefully he rebounds. Can't be worse than Volstad

[cubswin25]

Like this signing a lot. Coming to the NL Baker could easily have a better season then Maholm did last year. With a few more good signings and good years from some players we already have. Well this team could surprise some people next year, and if it doesn't well Baker will be a nice midseason trade candidate. I don't understand why some are being negative or not excited about this move. A good move is a good move and Baker still has a career 4.15 era in the AL. So I like his chances of doing well in the NL next season. In my opinion he will give us number 3 quality results as a 4th starter on this team next year.

[cubswin25]

I totally agree with Theo

Theo: "Scott Baker is a pitch maker. He can go out & execute game plan against the best lineups.When he's commanding and healthy, he'll have success in this division

[HomerJSandberg]

What's the plan with Arodys Vizcaino? If he looks good and healthy in spring training does he get a shot at the rotation or would it be something like Strasburg where his innings are limited?

[ABE32]

What's the plan with Arodys Vizcaino? If he looks good and healthy in spring training does he get a shot at the rotation or would it be something like Strasburg where his innings are limited?

Limited very limited I would expect.

[HomerJSandberg]

Limited very limited I would expect.

I'm thinking the same thing. Maybe let him spend the first half of the season in AAA and bring him up. Depending on his health, of course. I haven't heard his name mentioned much this offseason so I'm hoping he's progressing nicely.

[KyleJRM]

I believe they said around 100 innings.

[CubsFanBudMan74]

Baker makes him or maybe even Villanueva redundant, but Correia is someone I could see doing alright if given a 5th spot.

ooops sorry wasnt addvocating signing correia...meant to add? mark to his name along with the other pitchers mentioned...have seen his name pop up several articles soi was adding him in the mix of potential free agent signings/interest

[ReJo]

If they sign three, does that mean Garza is gone?

Shark, Wood, Baker, Garza, X, Y leaves an odd man out. Plus you've got Rusin and the other guy battling for spots.

I'd move Wood to the bullpen and use him as a spot starter if needed. He's not bad and has shown flashes but I'm not really sold on him in the rotation long term. Rusin, Raley, Coleman are probably left out and in AAA.

Right now I see the rotation as Samardzija, Garza, ?(possibly McCarthy,Marcum), ?(possibly Liriano), Baker

[KyleJRM]

When you're going after the Baker/Marcum/McCarthy/Liriano's of the world, you need about 8 starting pitchers just to make sure you have five healthy ones at any given time.

[Screwdriver]

[Insert Gato offseason mock here]