Sammy Sofa

So trade them for a better player or one that better addresses the team's needs. Selling high is fine.

People keep bringing up Pie like he was a bust the Cubs let go. He's had injury issues with the Orioles, but he's certainly not a bust at this point. I was annoyed when the Cubs effectively gave up on him and wish he was still here now.

Just wondering... but how did the offense do in the post Piniella hot stretch? I'm asking honestly... I didn't really watch and I'm too lazy/busy (lol) to look it up. Don't look it up. You'll be really let down. Most of the winning they pulled off last year was due to the pitching. The offense was really, really wretched for most of the season.

That's a gigantic "if."

I disagree. I think that there will be a significant improvement from last year's club to this year's. It may not be a huge improvement, but it will be enough that I consider them watchable again. Call me a fair weather fan if you want, but gone are the days where I just automatically give the Cubs my time and money blindly because I'm a fan. At 31, I just can't afford to invest myself emotionally to every game of every season in the longest season in sports anymore. If they're bad, I'll find some other, more valuable way to use my time like read a book, spend time with family or do laundry. There's a pretty big area in between watching every game and not watching any games.

Great dude but he'll be behind Fukudome, Byrd and Colvin on the OF depth chart. Oh [expletive], it's that guy?!?!? He sucks, but this deal is suddenly awesome.

Man, now I REALLY wish it was Colvin. You'd have Cubs fans breaking into Wrigley so they could protest by leaping to their deaths onto the field.

You'll probably stop watching in May again unless Garza can also club the hell out of the ball.

Cashner.

Yes. Quite a few people.

.... let me guess, you are pissed because you think we gave up a lot? I'm not pissed, but yes, barring the other two players from Tampa being good the Cubs did give up too much. That's the kind of package that should go for a better player than Garza. I disagree. I think you over value our prospects just a tad. Yes, our system is on the up tick, but still not devastatingly potent. If Kansas city were to give up the same ranked prospects within their system, then I would be peed off and breaking things. We did a 5 for 3, and greatly improved our rotation in the process. The biggest point of this trade working for us is found in our system still retaining its best young players. I'm not overvaluing anyone. I'm basing this on the ratings of our prospects, their performances thus far vs. Garza. If anything, you're undervaluing them and ignoring their rankings/analysis from around baseball. I'm not saying any one of these guys is better or more valuable than Garza on their own, but combined there's a very real chance that the Cubs are giving up too much for a guy that isn't going to put them over the top, or even near the top, and for an area they didn't need to overpay for to improve. This team needs offensive improvement much, much more than pitching, and I'd rather see our highly regarded prospects being packaged for an every day offensive player that's going to have much more of an impact, or if they were going to go for a starting pitcher go after someone who is better than Garza if they're going to sell high and give up that much.

.... let me guess, you are pissed because you think we gave up a lot? Without knowing what the Cubs got in return (besides Garza), they did give up a lot. I'm not seeing it. Isn't Garza what we hoped Archer would become? And Lee, I don't buy that he was going to ever be anything more than a light hitting, fast, good defensive SS. The other two, who cares? Who cares about Guyer?

.... let me guess, you are pissed because you think we gave up a lot? I'm not pissed, but yes, barring the other two players from Tampa being good the Cubs did give up too much. That's the kind of package that should go for a better player than Garza.

....

Glad you appreciated it that much. I'm taking this routine on the road. Don't tease us like that.

Sort of. The people flipping out over selling high on DeRosa were dumb. People frustrated that both Archer and Lee were traded for the likes of Garza are much, much smarter than them.

You laugh, but I bet somewhere on Cubs.com or in some crappy blog's comments, someone is making this post.

You laugh, but I bet somewhere on Cubs.com or in some crappy blog's comments, someone is making this post. Imagine if it was Colvin. The fury would be delicious.

OH JESUS GOD NO NOT FULD HE WAS THE FUTURE.

Hyperbole. Hah! Totally unrelated, but I just realized why your screen name and avatar were so familiar on the AV Club.

And by "bunch of awesome AL teams" you mean two? Divisions aren't all that big. Sue me for generalizing 2 really really freaking good lineups as "a bunch." Would you prefer "a bunch of awesome hitters?" Or is that leaving the standard for awesome too low? Let's really dissect this. Let's. Your ideas of what he did while on the Rays against the AL East are really overblown.

Yeah, for the reasons I talked about. It wasn't in the sense of "OH MY GOD, CEDA IS GOING TO BE AMAZING." It was frustration over why they were trading ANYONE to get someone like Kevin Gregg. I'm angry about Lee going not out of expectations for what he can do for the Cubs as a player but rather as what he can net as a prospect. Again, he's very highly regarded around baseball, and I don't think it's a stretch to think he could have been used in a package at some point to get a player better than Garza.

OK, let's see who else is coming back.

And by "bunch of awesome AL teams" you mean two?

How can you forget the mistakes of trading away future studs like Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson and Jose Ceda? haha Who was flipping out over Patterson? Where was the outcry over trading Gallagher to get Rich [expletive] Harden? Who was gnashing their teeth over Jose Ceda being a "future stud?" The criticism of that one was over trading ANYONE to get a really unremarkable at best closer. The general attitude towards Ceda is that he was cheap and under the Cubs' control for a while and could be effective if he was able to keep his weight under control. So, in other words...what the [expletive] are you two giggling about? You do get why people would prefer giving up Lee or Archer as opposed to both, right? I think Garza is good, but he's not likely to be a real gamechanger for a team that was already pretty good pitching-wise. If you're going to give up two really highly rated and regarded prospects for one player it should be for someone who's more of a lock to be a real impact on the team's ability to compete.