Bruce Levine: Cubs acquire Matt Garza and 2 minor leaguers

[WAYSA]

I thought it was terrible when I saw it scroll across ESPNews.

I figured there had to be something else worthwhile coming back.

But, it's basically Archer and a 4th OF for Garza in his prime. Will Archer be as good as Garza? If he figures out his command problems he will. The Indians never believed he could figure it out and now the Cubs have traded him when his value is at an all time high. I hope they know what they are doing here.

But, this trade is awful when you consider Greinke could have been had or Adrian Gonzalez with Archer as a real main piece. Obviously $$ would have been a huge factor and Ricketts is simply not going to spend. That is so outrageously obvious at this point. Ricketts talked a big game about building the farm, spending on the draft, internationally, etc. Recent drafts prove that he is flat out lying about his "model" a lot of people are going to be disappointed next year when $$ comes off the books and the Cubs are not spending.

[cold5]

http://cubsrumorsandnews.blogspot.com/ I am hearing the pitcher the Cubs acquired in the trade is Matt Moore, Alex Torres, or Braulio Lara. All three are left handed pitchers in the the Rays top 10 prospects for 2011 according to Baseball America. As soon as I can confirm it I will post it. If this is the case you can then argue the Cubs got a better deal than everyone originally thought.
Guy said we were getting Perez and he was right. Especially if it's Moore or Torres, Sheik and others should shut up. Moore could be better than Archer. Hendry = Billy Beane if we get Moore.

[GYBE]

I'd say there's a 0.1% chance we're getting Matt Moore. He has more upside than almost any pitcher in the minors.

But yeah, getting a decent prospect from Tampa would certainly make the trade seem better.

[Howling Mad]

Personally, I think this is a terrible trade, but only because of giving up Archer. Does Garza make us a playoff team? NO. The Ricketts are just making a move to justify there ticket prices. This team lacks any kind of organizational blueprint. The Ricketts are just trying to make money, and thus far I havent seen them make moves for long term. Secondly, Hendry makes this deal to try and save his job. This trade is not in our best interest long-term. And Archer was our top pitching prospect, hands down.

Bingo.

Every move for the past year has been moving towards a better future. We've been dealing for prospects and avoiding bad contracts. Diverting from this sensible rebuilding plan seems odd unless the reasons are non-baseball related. I think this is more about creating the illusion of contention for ticket sales and buzz.

Bingo x 2.

This is typical Cubs. Rickets, Trib tower, it doesn't matter. Big has-been names, guys coming off bad years or major surgery...all in all its an illusion to think we have a chance. That's the Cubs marketing strategy. Why change that now when its been so successful. I don't doubt the Rickets' family desire to win. I've spoken with guys who have met and chatted baseball with a couple of the siblings and they are very into baseball, but first and foremost they are business men (and woman).

On the flip the Cubs organization has done a good job of hyping up their players. For whatever reason our young guys seem to have more value then they actually turn out to be. So maybe we didn't really lose much. I hope.

[IbreakNeckZ101]

God this organization is so **** up..

Then root for the White Sox

i can't i live in the north side..

[jl342323]

God this organization is so **** up..

Then root for the White Sox

i can't i live in the north side..

then root for the brewers

[cold5]

If IBreakNeck got pissed off about prospects we trade, then I don't know how he could be a White Sox fan. KW gives up prospects for everyone and Sox have worst farm in league.

[cold5]

I thought it was terrible when I saw it scroll across ESPNews.

I figured there had to be something else worthwhile coming back.

But, it's basically Archer and a 4th OF for Garza in his prime. Will Archer be as good as Garza? If he figures out his command problems he will. The Indians never believed he could figure it out and now the Cubs have traded him when his value is at an all time high. I hope they know what they are doing here.

But, this trade is awful when you consider Greinke could have been had or Adrian Gonzalez with Archer as a real main piece. Obviously $$ would have been a huge factor and Ricketts is simply not going to spend. That is so outrageously obvious at this point. Ricketts talked a big game about building the farm, spending on the draft, internationally, etc. Recent drafts prove that he is flat out lying about his "model" a lot of people are going to be disappointed next year when $$ comes off the books and the Cubs are not spending.

You're just wrong about Greinke and Gonzalez. Remember how we were in onto that? We probably offered the same type package for Gonzalez but Hoyer went with prospects he knew in Red Sox system. We would have probably had to give Jackson and even more for Gonzalez to sway Hoyer away from prospects he knew well. Royals wanted a Teixeira type package with at least one major league player in deal, i.e. Escobar. If you wanted to give up Castro for Greinke, you could be my guest. Castro, Archer, Guyer, Carpenter, Chirinos would probs. have to be our package. Then we would have given away farm. If Hendry could have gotten a better player, he would have. Market just screwed us. And Wilken would not have let Hendry give away a whole lot of talent. Why do Olney and others like Goldstein and Callis say we dealt volume, not knock out talent? Also as Al at BCB says we dealt from areas of strength like pitching, mid- IFers, and OF. Brewers are the ones who gave away farm, not us.

[DanTown8587]

Matt Garza is Cub property for three more years. This isn't necessarily a win now type move. Sure, the Cubs gave up some prospects to get him, but you just got a #2 SP. And you can't say the Cubs can't win the NL Central, they definitely have the talent to do it. I don't get why people are so upset the Cubs are trying to win now and in the future.

[SportsWorld]

Yesterday's Sun Times:
http://twitpic.com/3o63sy

One problem, that isn't Garza. Welcome to Chicago!

[Tbone23]

The way I see it, prospects are meant to be traded unless they are elite and the guys we're giving up are average.

Except for Archer (who still has question marks) I don't think we gave up that much for a 27 year old front line starter. Finally we're not holding onto prospects for too long only to realize that they weren't that good to begin with, (Corey Patterson, Felix Pie, etc)

Good trade by Hendry.

Can't wait for Spring training.

Go Cubs!