Cubs release pitcher Silva

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MESA, Ariz. — Cubs general manager Jim Hendry wasted little time Sunday releasing veteran pitcher Carlos Silva.

Hendry and field manager Mike Quade also wasted little time closing ranks around new pitching coach Mark Riggins, whom Silva ripped a day earlier, paving his own way out of town.

The Cubs told Silva on Saturday he would not be on the 25-man roster. They also told the 31-year-old veteran they’d try to trade him. Failing that, they asked him to go to the minor leagues.

Hendry said his chat with Silva went fine, but that was before Silva said Riggins had to realize he was in the big leagues.

Reporters hadn’t made it to the clubhouse at 8 a.m. Sunday before they got word Silva was gone and that the Cubs would absorb the $11.5 million on this year’s contract.

“Basically, he wasn’t good enough to make the team,” Hendry said. “You factor in not only spring training, but you try to go back and factor in the second half of last year, looking at a guy who had a 14-something ERA from July 11 and came to camp with a notion that he already had a spot in the rotation. Obviously the first 3-4 outings, quite poor.”

Silva had a good outing Wednesday, but his spring record was 1-2 with a 10.90 ERA. After his first inning of the spring, he got into a dugout shoving match with teammate Aramis Ramirez over the Cubs’ poor fielding.

On Saturday, his target was Riggins, whom he said didn’t deal “straight” with him about the team’s pitching plans.

“Obviously, we’re dealing with a man that at this particular point in his career is not willing to face the facts that what he’s done the last years except for a two-month period is well below major-league standards and seemed to make the continual problem of blaming everybody but himself,” Hendry said.

“Twenty-nine hits in his first 11 innings of camp, and I wouldn’t have anybody that I’ve ever dealt with classify that as bad luck.

“Besides that, his comments about Mark Riggins were totally inappropriate and unacceptable. Once again, it’s a weakness for somebody that doesn’t perform well and chooses to blame somebody else on the way out.”

The Cubs obtained Silva in a December 2009 trade with Seattle for outfielder Milton Bradley. Silva began last season 8-0 before finishing the season 10-6 with a 4.22 ERA. He left his Aug. 1 start at Colorado with a heart-rhythm ailment that required a surgical procedure.

The Cubs shut Silva down in late September because of right-elbow tendinitis. Cubs people seemed disappointed this spring that Silva came to camp in less-than-stellar physical shape.

But what incensed them most over the weekend was Silva’s treatment of Riggins, who has spent much of his career as a minor-league pitching coordinator, both with the Cubs and with the St. Louis Cardinals.

“First of all, he’s dead (bleeping) wrong about my pitching coach,” Quade said. “And I’ve got no (bleeping) time for that. Second of all, respect, as much as he was respectful (to Quade) and our conversation was good, it’s a two-way street.

“Period. I don’t want to hear anything about respect. If you’re not willing to give it, you ain’t getting it. So I was really upset when I heard that.

“The third thing, and people need to know, whether he was upset with Riggs or whatever, the one thing everybody needs to know is … this was my call (to not have Silva on the final 25-man). OK? This wasn’t Jim Hendry. If you want to be irritated with somebody, this is on me. OK? My decision, complete and totally.”

In other words, Quade decided that second-year right-hander Andrew Cashner deserved the No. 5 starting job in the Cubs’ rotation ahead of Silva. That got the blessing of Hendry, whose decision it was to cut ties with Silva altogether.

Once Silva clears release waivers, he will be free to sign with another team.

However, sources say there was little interest in other teams in trading for Silva, so he may end up starting the season in the minor leagues with another organization.

For his part, Riggins took the high road.

“Carlos has his opinion, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said. “I try to stay positive with everybody. It’s water under the bridge, and today’s a new day.