Another Dismal Loss

The Cubs continued their quest for futility again today by losing to the Brewers in lackluster fashion 4-2. No hitting, no patience, no brains, etc. Middling start for Wells who continues to feel his way back to being a useful fourth or fifth starter.

The Cubs traded Kosuke Fukudome to the Cleveland Indians for a useless relief pitcher and an outfielder, Abner Abreu, who, although he has shown signs of progress very recently, has already struck out 102 times in A+ ball and sports an OBP under .300. He has been compared physically to a young Alfonso Soriano. Great! We need another Alfonso Soriano?

Another astonishingly strange Hendry deal. He got nothing in return, agreed to pay like 90% of his salary and, should the Indians offer Kosuke arbitration after the season, they will get a supplemental draft pick as well.

I'll miss watching Fukudome even though he never lived up entirely to the Cubs expectations of him and he was clearly overpaid. I liked his style of hitting in contrast to his teammates. He seemed to be an intelligent and competent player within his limitations and obviously the sort of player the Cubs almost always undervalue.

Brenly remarked during the telecast that Fukudome accounted for 19% of the Cubs reaching base and they would have to find a way to replace that number. Tyler Colvin was hitting around .250 at Iowa and although he was hitting for power, he had struck out 55 times in a little over 200 ABs and had walked 5 times. Clearly the replacement is not going to come from this source. What it means for the Cubs is essentially a 20% reduction in the number of runs they are likely to score. Already they are lucky to score two runs any given day, so the remainder of the season is going to be pretty ugly.

I published a more exhaustive analysis of this deal on Bleacher Report right after it went down.

In other news, Ramirez seems to have softened his stance on being traded. He is the only Cub player who is potentially a difference maker for a contender, but if you think Hendry is going to get value in return, think again. Another illustration of the danger of allowing a blockhead like this to remold the team.