The Garza Trade

The Cubs finally pulled off the inevitable, sending Matt Garza to the Texas Rangers in exchange for several seemingly attractive prospects plus one or two more players to be named later.

On the surface, both teams got what they wanted.  Whether they should have wanted what they have got is another question altogether.

Texas got a proven major league starter for the final stretch of the season.  Garza bolsters a starting staff beset by injuries.  No question he makes them legitimate contenders for at least a wild card spot and possibly the division title over Oakland if their other starters return from the DL in decent form.  He is worth two to four wins over replacement to them down the stretch, and two to four wins make a lot of difference in a close race.

In return, the Cubs received a package not dissimilar to the one that obtained Garza in the first place.  Mike Olt, perhaps the centerpiece of the deal, was once a key element in the Rangers plans and was regarded as untouchable.  Olt was blocked at third base, his natural position, by Adrian Beltre, but it looked as if the Rangers were likely to try him at first base or right field, where they have legitimate holes to fill for the future.

Olt got a brief taste of the majors last season and didn't deliver.  This isn't a big deal, as many youngsters are overmatched in their first taste of major league pitching.  Of more concern is his performance this season.  He was hit by a pitch in winter ball, suffered a concussion, then experienced vision issues at AAA.  Apparently his right eye was unable to produce tears.

So his record this year is nothing to write home about and there is a legitimate question as to whether the problems have been corrected by eye medication.  The Cubs seem to think so, but the Rangers clearly regard him as expendable.  This is the kind of crapshoot situation you get into when you rebuild the way the Cubs have chosen to go.

In any case, if Olt delivers he solves the third base problem for the future.  In the process, though, he creates other issues for the organization.  The Cubs drafted a third baseman, Chris Bryant, with their first round selection.

Moreover, they have a bunch of third basemen coming though the system, as well as Javier Baez, of whom it was widely thought a change of position was in his future.  So, all in all, it is hard to figure out what need Olt actually fills.  It also probably indicates a lack of confidence in the ability of their existing future third base options.

The rest of the deal consists of pitchers.  Starting pitchers, which the Cubs think they really need even though they have traded five legitimate major league starters in the course of the past two years, namely, Cashner, Dempster, Maholm, Feldman, and now Garza.  I know there are other circumstances at play here, age and cost among them, but there is a certain odd tendency about the so-called plan that is somewhat troubling.  That is, what is the plan anyway?

As far as the rest of the pitchers go, the Rangers thought enough of Jason Grimm to promote him to fill out the rotation when they were hit by several injuries.  He is 7-7 with a really high ERA, mainly due to a couple of really rocky outings in July.  He left his last start with forearm soreness and was to be relegated to the bullpen.  Although the Rangers thought enough of him to bring him up, then again, the Cubs brought up Casey Coleman to fill a spot.  It doesn't necessarily mean he deserved promotion.

The Cubs would be wise to send Grimm down to AAA to recover his confidence and to get healthy.  The other named pitcher was C.J.Edwards.  He is the Chris Archer of this deal.  Edwards has been dynamite in A ball, but, of course, he is at least two and probably three years from the majors.

Apparently the Cubs can pick up another highly regarded prospect who is nearer to the majors, Neil Ramirez.  Ramirez has done well at AA, but kind of flopped when he was advanced to AAA.  He has had shoulder problems, so the hitch there is for the Cubs to determine whether he is healthy.  If he is, he seems like a good acquisition who is near to being able to pitch in the majors.  Otherwise, the Cubs get to pick two pitchers from A ball or lower that no one has ever heard of or is likely to ever hear about.

On a more positive note, it seems to Cubs are talking seriously about trading Alfonso Soriano to the Yankees.  Do it and I'll take back some of the negativity I have expressed in these pages toward the plan.  Some of it, mind you.  Not all.

On another positive note, Junior Lake has been something of a revelation since he was brought up more or less to occupy space after Bogusevic was hurt until the Cubs could activate David DeJesus.  Lake was kind of a strikeout machine in the minors and reminded one of a discount Starlin Castro.

However, so far he has been very impressive, so maybe there is talent down there for the Cubs to exploit.  On the other hand, since you never heard anything about guys like this from the Cubs brass, you wonder whether they know it.  Rusin pitched a nice game last night as well.