Well if the first couple starts are any indication, Carlos Silva is going to give the Cubs a whole lot more than that.

Silva worked seven strong innings against the Astros to pick up his first win as a Cub, allowing two unearned runs and striking out five. His ERA through his first two starts is 0.69.

Yes it was against the anemic Astros but it is impressive nonetheless. In two years with Seattle Silva was, in a word, a disaster.

He barely pitched last season, just 30.1 innings and had an ERA of over 8.00. In his only full season in the Northwest he was an atrocious 4-15 with a 6.46 ERA.

Silva has always located the ball well, unfortunately he has also had a knack for locating it right down the middle at inopportune times, a big reason behind the 25 HR’s he allowed in less than 200 innings in pitcher-friendly Safeco Field.

Now he must pitch at the Friendly Confines, a field that can yield dingers in droves, especially when the win blows out. It wasn’t a problem today as Silva allowed only five fly balls to the 28 batters he faced.

It is far too early to tell if he will continue to be a good pitcher for them, but the early signs show that the Cubs may have got a lot more than they expected from removing the cancerous wart in the off-season.

Aside from the John Grabow signing the Cubs bullpen is relatively young and inexpensive. One of the criticisms of GM Jim Hendry is that he overpays for middle relievers, which I agree with to an extent. Then when he decides to go young in the bullpen he still finds his critics. It seems as if he cannot do anything right. I think going young in the bullpen is smart. Relievers are not all that valuable in terms of WAR dollars. Even the best ones are not worth the money they get due to the small sample. Since relievers are a crapshoot to begin with, I don’t see the point in spending a lot of money on relievers. Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes are reminders why it is not a good idea to spend big money on relievers. Most teams give their young guys a chance to play and I think this is a good chance to find out what we have. Relievers can usually be found from within. Pitchers like Jeff Stevens and Esmailin Caridad have good track records in the minors. Obviously the majors are a different game altogether, but I think there is a good enough track record to warrant a shot.

The bullpen should get a boost when Ted Lilly comes back and one of Carlos Silva, Jeff Samardzija, or Tom Gorzelanny goes to the bullpen. I don’t think any team is going to run away with the division and I think the Cubs can afford to give some of the younger guys a chance. So I’m okay with starting the season with what they have. If it turns out they need a reliever for the stretch run I’m not opposed to giving up C level prospects to get a reliever. If any team is asking for more than that I would stick with what I have. One thing the Cubs do have going for them is that they have a good pitching coach in Larry Rothschild. They also have a good track record with developing pitchers so I think it’s reasonable to expect one or two of the young guys to step up.

This could be the Cubs fan in me talking, but I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt as far as pitchers go. They seem to have questions regarding their pitching going into the season and it usually works out.

Unfortunately for the Cubs, Guzman looked to be the guy they were going to rely on in late inning situations before the ball was handed off to closer Carlos Marmol. Guzman had made significant strides in 2009 in terms of establishing himself as a legitimate force in the Cubs pen, and had posted a sub 3.00 ERA for the first time in his career with a 2.95. With the inability to pitch in his current condition, and presumably being out for the year—if not the majority—if he goes ahead with the surgery, manager Lou Pinella will have to look to other, unproven options in key late-inning situations.

Newly acquired pitcher Carlos Silva is the only pitcher in the pen with more than 5 years of big league experience, and one must wonder if that lack of experience in the pen is going to hinder the Cubs chances this season. The bullpen is by far the most questionable portion of their roster, and the loss of Guzman has created an even more daunting question for coaches. Do not be surprised if the ever busy Jim Hendry picks up the phone and makes a move to solidify the pitching staff and limit the amount of damage done in those middle to late innings that hurt the team so much last year.

As a Cub fan- I absolutely am concerned about the shape the pitching staff is in right now and Ben Sheets would make me and most Cub fans I’d imagine, feel a little better- a little more secure. I mean come on- if the Cards can sign Brad Penny whose just as big a risk as Sheets to the contract he got….I’m pretttttty sure our big market team can sign Ben Sheets. Tom Ricketts- you claim your family will do anything to bring a winner to this championship starved franchise.  Right here and now I, as a Cub fan, challenge you to prove it.

Larry Stone of the Seattle Times reports that Bradley will be taking his raw offensive talent (and attitude) all the way up the Seattle, to join the Mariners in their very busy off-season. They will reportedly be moving 30-year-old starting pitcher Carlos Silva back to Chicago in return.

Silva has been, well, loudly awful over the past two years. Carlos owns a horrendous 6.82 ERA combined in his 2-season Mariner career while completely working his way out of the starting rotation. On top of his complete lack of production, he dealt with major injury issues in 2009, only amassing 30 innings pitched.

The money-swapping side of the deal is still in the works, but the most the Cubs would be saving is $2-$4 million.

This trade was a result of many things. Bradley went through offensive struggles in the first half of 2009, and then allowed the fans to get into his head (as he has consistently done his entire career). Not only did his game-day struggles hurt his value, but even more consequential perhaps was the terrible press that the Cubs were releasing up until this point.

When a team says that they “need” to trade someone, it plainly kills all of their value.

This is what happens when you have this perfect storm. The Cubs have traded Bradley for the arguably worst starting pitcher in Major League Baseball. Silva is a borderline 5th starter making more than $22 million over the next two seasons. For all of Bradley’s problems, he remains a very talented man who’s upside as a top-of-the-line offensive player remains within his reach. What is Silva’s upside, you wonder? Um, I’m sure his mother has some kind words to say about him…

The Mariners have added Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee over this 2009 offseason. With Bradley in tow, they could have a potentially lethal middle-of-the-order bat to boot. They could also have a loud-mouth and inconsistent designated hitter, but he is worth the risk to Seattle’s front office.

There’s very little to be optimistic about with this move if you’re a Cub fan. The ones who hate Bradley may be happy with his departure, but the team is in no way improved by gaining Silva, and is potentially worse now.

So many events could have been handled better, both by Milton and his former team, but the result is unequivocally bad for Chicago.