Baseball News - Jan 10 2012 - Rizzo for Cashner Deal and Maholm to Cubs

Anthony Rizzo and Zach Cates to the Cubs for Andy Cashner and Kyung-Min Na: The meat of this deal is Craschner for Rizzo, as Cates and Na are both Single A prospects with a long way to go before reaching the majors.  Rizzo is was highly touted as the successor to Adrian Gonzalez after the latter was dealt to Boston last year.  The youngster failed to produce at the major league level when he was promoted (.141-1-9-2 with a 70% contact rate) but completely destroyed AAA pitching (.331-26-104-7) last season.  He's slated to start the season in the minors but the move, if he is promoted, will be a huge plus for his offensive production.  Cashner routinely hits 95MPH on the radar gun and projects to be a high end reliever, although he could end up in the rotation.  Despite solid strikeout rates, the young right-hander does struggle with control still.

With the recently acquired Yonder Alonso on the roster, Rizzo was from a positional standpoint, expendable.  The Padres shore up their bullpen after the loss of Heath Bell and give themselves an experienced major league spot starter should the need arise.  As it stands now, the Cubs in my opinion got the better of the deal as Rizzo could be a monster, especially now playing in Wrigley Field.  However, Cashner was once one of the Cubs best prospects and it appears as if those skills have remained in tact.  This could be the Padres closer of the future or at the very least a solid #3 starter with potential for more.

Paul Maholm signs a one year pact with the Cubs:  Yeah this was the only other news from today that was worth mentioning.   Maholm's move to Wrigley should not adversely effect his statistics.  He's widely considered to be a ground ball pitcher (career 52%) so even though Wrigley Field is relatively 'homer happy', this shouldn't change our projections much.  The main issue with the lefthander is that his career K/BB is below 2, in other words he doesn't strike out enough batters to counter the amount of walks he gives up.  I don't think this changes Maholm's value much except that its more likely the Cubs homer in your league drafts what should be waiver wire fodder.