Carlos Silva

Carlos Silva was acquired by the Chicago Cubs via a trade with the Seattle Mariners for Milton Bradley. While getting rid of Bradley fulfilled a major accomplishment for Jim Henry, the Cubs have another highly paid player that has not lived up to his compensation.

Carlos Silva first came up through the Philadelphia Phillies organization in April 2002. He was born April 23, 1979 so he will be 31 this April 2010. He, like Carlos Zambrano is from Venezuela. Whether or not having two team mates from Venezuela will have an impact on the club is anyone's guess

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Silva spent two seasons with the Phillies pitching out of the bullpen before being traded to the Minnesota Twins in 2004. In a surprise move the Twins made Silva a starting pitcher. He finished the year with a 14-8 record. He had another good year in 2005 going 9-8. His ERA improved over 2004 dropping to 3.44 from 4.21.

But success and improvement didn't continue in 2006 where his record dropped to 11-15 and ERA ballooned to 5.94. He also had a problem giving up the long ball, 38 or a league worst 1.9 per nine innings. Also he posted a league worst in batting average against of .326.

The 2007 season was better with Silva improving on his long ball problems, giving up just 20. His ERA also dropped to 4.19. The Seattle Mariners must have thought he walked on water by signing him to a 4 years $48 million contract in December 2007. While he was decent in Minnesota I really don't know what Seattle was thinking. He was the fifth starter on the Twins rotation and no way deserved that kind of contract. But we can say that about a lot of teams.

Unfortunately Silva didn't live up the hype. He started 28 games for the Mariners in 2008, winning only 4 and losing 15. His ERA shot way up to 6.46. That big contract is looking so good.

The disabled list found Carlos Silva in 2009. I guess he would fit right in with the other Cubs that found the list last year. He had shoulder problems and missed 104 games. He was activated before the end of the year and pitched out of the bullpen. The big contract is looking even worse. Fans were not happy with Carlos Silva. Not as bad as Bradley's popularity in Chicago, but his fan club was hurting.

With the trade to the Cubs Silva brings some questions regarding his health and whether or not he will be the kind of pitcher the Mariners had hope he would be when they signed him at the end of 2007. Like Wrigley Field, Safeco Park has a natural grass infield and Silva's ability to throw a sinker ball should play into many ground ball outs and double plays. Time will only tell if this works.

Carlos Silva's first season with the Cubs in 2010 had a mixed bag. The first half of the year believe it or not he was the Cubs best pitcher. He went 8-0 with an ERA of 2.93 through June 7. There was a lot of talk that he should have made the All Star team, but he was not selected.

Silva finished the year 10-6 with a 4.92 ERA. He only pitched 113 innings as he again went on the disabled list with an irregular heart beat. He had some other issues but they were not as major. He missed almost all of August and pitched his last game on September 7. By that time the season was over and there was not any reason to push any problems.

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