Trades coming?
8 Losses in a Row? Is a Trade Coming?
David Kaplan on 05.26.09 |
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With their 8th loss in a row now in the books panic is starting to creep into the Cubs clubhouse. While all involved agree that the Cubs have a lot of talent on the roster it is also evident that this is a team that has some glaring weaknesses.
First, defensively they are less than adequate. They have no legitimate, everday 2nd baseman on a championship level club. They are trying to fill in at 3rd with either a player who is too short to play the position (Fontenot and Miles), a player who the Baltimore Orioles so wanted to get rid of that Andy MacPhail is paying ALL of Ryan Freel's salary, or a player who as of a month ago had never played in the big leagues - Bobby Scales.
The bullpen is a huge problem as the Cubs really have only 1 lockdown reliever in Carlos Marmol, a youngster who is getting better in Angel Guzman, and very mediocre pitchers in setup man Aaron Heilman and closer Kevin Gregg. Neal Cotts does not belong on this team nor does David Patton who may be solid down the road but currently is far too inexperienced to be forced to help a subpar bullpen.
While much of the trade talk in the media has centered on Jake Peavy who wants to pitch for the Cubs the prudent thing to do would be to add a bat and at least one bullpen arm. I wonder what it would take to re-acquire Mark DeRosa and struggling closer Kerry Wood from Cleveland who is in last place in the AL Central.
DeRosa gives you another bat, a clubhouse presence and something that the Cubs sorely need, a 3rd baseman until Aramis Ramirez comes back. Wood, while he has had his struggles returns to a more comfortable setting and could give the club a shot in the arm and change the locker room dynamic.
Major League sources tell me that GM Jim Hendry is desperately looking to add a hitter and is calling around both leagues with a real sense of urgency. Oakland's Matt Holliday is available but he is a LF so if you add him that means that Alfonso Soriano must move to 2nd base and that would weaken an already suspect Cubs defense.
I would call Texas and see if I could add SS Omar Vizquel and I would move Ryan Theriot to 2b where he could be an all star. Vizquel improves the team's defense and that should help relax the pitching staff. Then I would call Cleveland and beg them to trade me DeRosa.
Two other names that are rumored to interest Hendry are the Florida Marlins Dan Uggla and Jorge Cantu. Both are excellent hitters but Cantu has had his struggles at both 2b and 3b before moving to 1b this season. Uggla is coming off of back to back excellent offensive season with 30+ HR's in 2008 but he is hitting just .205 so far in 09'.
Whatever Hendry does it is sure to be interesting over the next couple of weeks but whatever he does he better do it quickly before his team's season slips away.
