Cubs, Sox trade relief pitchers

In case you’ve been living on planet Mars lately, the Chicago Cubs have been wheeling and dealing quite a bit after re-signing Kerry Wood and Aramis Ramirez last weekend. No major acquisitions to speak of, but just a shoring up of position players.

In addition to Wood and Ramirez, the Cubs also re-signed backup catcher Henry Blanco, acquired second baseman Mark DeRosa from the Texas Rangers and made a trade with the Chicago White Sox to add left-hander Neal Cotts to the bullpen. The Sox in return get reliever David Aardsma and minor league pitcher Carlos Vasquez.

Cotts has always made it known that he would like to be a starter one day. He may have a better chance to do that with the Cubs than with the Sox, whose starting pitching lineup is tough to crack. As a Cub, Cotts can start out in the bullpen and work himself into a starting role, or do both as Glendon Rusch did. As a bonus, Cotts brings playoff and championship experience to a club that is starving to win a world title.

The Sox are getting two young pitchers that can develop quite nicely under the guiding eye of pitching coach Don Cooper, who has worked minor miracles with borderline major leaguers and made them look like Cy Young candidates. Cotts, for example, was an unknown quantity until 2005 when he was 4-0 with a 1.94 ERA in 59 appearances.

For further proof, look at the success of Jon Garland, another pitcher the Sox acquired from the Cubs in exchange for Matt Karchner. (Who? I don’t think the guy’s even in baseball anymore.) Garland won 18 games in each of the last two seasons.

As with any trade, there’s a debate about which team got the better deal. I give my vote to the Sox simply because Cooper is the better pitching coach. He will somehow bring out the best in Aardsma and Vasquez. In a year or two, Cub fans may regret that those two players were traded to the South Side.

Liriano May Miss 2007 Season

Bad news for Minnesota Twins’ fans. Rookie pitcher Francisco Liriano has elected to have Tommy John elbow surgery and may miss all of the 2007 baseball season.

No one had heard of Liriano until the 2006 season when he went 12-3 and a 2.16 ERA. He quickly became one of the league's most dominant pitchers. He also is one of the players credited for leading the Twins’ to the best record in baseball since the beginning of June and to an AL Central Division title, beating out the Detroit Tigers on the last day of the regular season. Liriano spent some time on the DL in August to rest a sore elbow, but when therapy and rehab did not seem to work and the pain persisted, he sought a second opinion.