trade | The Baseball Zealot

Hot Stove Talk

Xavier Nady to the Cubs

If healthy, let’s say that again… IF HEALTHY, I like this move by the Cubs. One, he comes at a good price (rumored at 3.3 mil guaranteed, 2.5 mil in incentives and quite honestly I don’t mind any incentives because that means he’s working for his money). Two, he hits lefty pretty well and would fit into a Kos Fuk platoon.

Finally, Ronnie would have fun with the X thing.

Rich Hill to the Cardinals

I’m doing my best to suppress laughter (7.80 ERA in 2009) because before I know it, Rich Hill will be the next comeback kid. Despite all his troubles and all his mental blocks, he IS still under 30.

And at one point, I really liked him.

Ben Sheets to the A’s

He’s going to Oakland so who cares except that my buddy Don is a Halos fan. His comment? “One year, $10 million. The Price of Poker is STEEP.” Heh, maybe. If I were an Oakland, I would be cautiously optimistic. If healthy (see Nady above) might be what the A’s need. The downside: Sheets has never won more than 13 games.

Athletics Nation certainly likes the deal.

Scott Maine to the Cubs

Here’s the Baseball Cube report on Scott Maine who the Cubs just picked up in the Aaron Heilman trade.

6’4” Maine (no relation to John) had a 10.0 strikeout/9 IP ratio over his minor league career but control might be an issue (55 walks in 120+ innings). The good news is that he seems to have settled down in that area in 2009 allowing only 22 free passes in 62. Not great but ok.

Maine hasn’t started a game since his college days at Miami. Since then it’s been strictly been out of the pen for him. He’s had his share of experience with pitching with the game on the line with 13 career minor league saves.

That said, the scouting reports on him show his prospects as a probable middle reliever. Now that he’s with the Cubs, I don’t see that changing.

Reports also say that he may be up a soon as early next year.

Cubs give up on Pie… it was only a matter of time

Felix Pie has been traded to the Baltimore Orioles. The fact that he’s been traded shouldn’t come as too much as a surprise to Cub fans. The acquisition of Joey Gathright was pretty much the final nail in Pie’s coffin as a Cub.

In return for Pie, the Cubs got back LHP Garret Olson and RHP Henry Williamson.

Looking at USA Today’s fantasy profile on Olson, it’s hard to find any positives. That page is filled with words like, “mess”, pathetic performance” and “ugly numbers”. I can say that up until he got to the majors 2007, his K/9 hovered around 9.0. But his 6.00+ ERA last year doesn’t inspire confidence.

Henry Williamson is more of an unknown having pitched professionally for 2 years with only 90 innings under his belt. Last year in A ball, he struck out 42 in only 29 innings if a small sample size is any indication.

Will Felix Pie flourish or at least survive in the Orioles organization. If he follows Corey Patterson’s pattern, he might have some share of success. A change of venue has always helped Pie. Unfortunately for him, the successes he’s had have been in the minors and winter ball. Once placed in the bigs, all the talents that Felix was supposed to possess seem to vanish.