When you sign a big time contract – let’s say, 4 years and $40 million – I can understand complacency kicking in. After all, you’re set for life, and in baseball, those contracts are guaranteed. You get that money whether you dominate, or whether you, say, go 5-18 with an ERA near seven in the first two years of that deal.
But you’d think that if you did fall into the trap of sloth, and did play so poorly those first two years, you’d be energized to try and do better the last two years – even if it was just to try and get another contract at the end of the four-year deal. Further, you’d think that, if you were traded after the two terrible years, that you’d be really energized to step up an perform. You’d do everything you could to be ready to go that next season.
You’d think.
[Carlos] Silva, acquired from the Mariners for Milton Bradley, has some work to do.
“We have to get him in a little better shape here,” Piniella said of the right-hander. “Let’s hope we get him back to where he was in Minnesota when he had that good hard sinker working, nice little breaking ball.”
In Minnesota, Silva finished with double-digit wins in 2004, ’06 and ’07, but went 5-18 the last two seasons in Seattle.
“I don’t know what happened in Seattle,” Piniella said. “Seattle is a really good park to pitch in. They tell me his ball straightened up a little bit last year and he got it up a little more. He was good enough to get himself a real nice contract for four years with the Mariners. Let’s hope we can get him back to where he was.”
Silva may need to do a little more cardio work… cubs.com.
That’s just spectacular. Silva was never a particularly fit individual, but coming to camp out of shape after the crapfest he’s put up the last two years is just unfathomable to me. If that is indicative of the attitude he’s bringing to the Cubs – recall that he, like Bradley, has a somewhat checkered behavioral past – the team might as well release him now, because he isn’t going to contribute anything but drama and distractions.
Let’s hope he does get into shape, does get down to business, and does contribute more than simply being a repository for post-game buffet leftovers.
