Roberto Novoa

Dominican Republic-born Roberto Novoa must understand diplomacy. In Carrie Muskat’s article for the Cubs website, she refers to Novoa has having been “slowed down by tightness in his shoulder” in explaining why he was sent down to Iowa this morning.

I give her points for also mentioning the five walks and two hits in two and a third innings.

Novoa was lateral compensation for another fellow with a lot of promise, but who delivered little. Kyle Farnsworth was sent to Detroit in 2005 in a deal which netted the Cubs third baseman Scott Moore, Novoa and outfielder Bo Flowers. Flowers spent a year in Peoria before hitting the road. Moore shows promise, but a couple errors early in spring training sent him back to Iowa.

Novoa has spent most of the past two years with the big club. The biggest problem with the 27-year-old is his composure in tough situations. In one game during 2006, he walked in the winning run which ended the game. This week he started an inning by walking three men in a row. Scott Eyre inherited the runners and set the next three down without allowing any to score. That is why Eyre is starting the year in the Cubs bullpen and Novoa will likely never see the inside of Wrigley Field again.

People like to say that some of the Cubs former players are thriving outside Wrigley. They like to point at Farnsworth. If you look closely, however, Farny had six saves last year and six losses. The 31-year-old righthander finished with a 4.36 ERA. No one is ready to nominate him for the Hall of Fame just yet.

Novoa has easily replaced Farnsworth in our bullpen, filling the role of someone who ought to burst into his own at anytime, but in the meantime, can only get people out when the game is not on the line.

On one hand, I wish the young man the best. He still has plenty of time to make a name for himself. Today was step one in the process of parting with the young hard-thrower. Like Jerome Williams before him, we wish him well.