Look, What Can You Say?

About tonight's disaster, the less said the better. It is hard to figure what there is to like about the Cubs new everyday lineup, which is almost exclusively right-handed and never scores many runs even against left-handers. Tonight they managed four hits against a lefty who is really going through an extended rehab assignment in the major leagues after missing last season due to elbow surgery. He must have looked like Sandy Koufax to the Cubs.

As far as trade talk goes, it is rumored the Cubs are close to a deal that would send Ted Lilly to the Dodgers and maybe Ryan Theriot as well. No word on who they might receive in return. An alternative rumor has Theriot going to the Diamondbacks in exchange for Kelly Johnson. I kind of like the Diamondbacks deal. Johnson looks like an average infielder, but he does bat left-handed and he has some pop even though, like most of the Diamondbacks, he strikes out a lot. Maybe not a long-term solution, but it is hard to compare the deals without knowing who the Dodgers have offered. The Cubs are through this season for sure, so I'm not sure whether the quick fix in Johnson is really what they need. Too bad the Lilly for Happ deal was a false rumor. The Astros got much the best of this deal, as was demonstrated by their respective performances tonight.

I cannot get over the feeling that Lee's veto of the Angels trade has pretty much nixed the Cubs trade deadline plans. I think I have a feeling for how these guys think now, and even though the Cubs are a giant money-making machine, they are still looking at the total payroll as some kind of limit and they are unwilling to make deals that cost them cash. They much prefer deals like the Bradley/Silva swap that actually saved them money and turned out unaccountably to yield a useful enough pitcher in return. So if you look at it from this point of view, the Cubs had three contracts to unload for players in their free agent years (Lilly, Lee, and Nady). Dumping them would have saved $10 or $12 million right now and that money might have been used to subsidize another deal that rid them of what they perceive as a toxic contract without increasing payroll for this season. Lee's action pretty much squelches that idea and the Cubs have no Plan B.

I happen to think that dumping Zambrano and Fukudome is pretty much impossible anyway, and I am not so sure it is all that desirable. I'd love to see them dump Soriano, but if I am right, the likelihood of any of this occurring is pretty much nil. If you want more evidence the Cubs still think small time, notice that Nady hardly ever plays anymore. That's because they have concluded he is worthless, but he has a lot of incentives based on games played and ABs and the Cubs are too cheap to risk any of them kicking in.