Cleveland Rocks! Fukudome Leaves Cubs, Joins Indians

The Cubs and Indians have been talking about a Kosuke Fukudome trade for a few days now, but apparently it took having a no-hitter thrown against them to spur the Indians into action.  Jim Hendry has sent Fukudome to the Indians for two low-level prospects:  21-year-old OF Abner Abreu (who has a .294 OPB and 102/22 K/BB ratio in A-Ball this year, meaning that he should fit right in with the Cubs' organizational philosophy); and 25-year-old RHP Carlton Smith (who in two years at AAA Columbus has posted a 5.46 ERA and a 1.61 WHIP).  Oh, and the Cubs will be picking up most of Fukudome's remaining salary for the year (all but $775K).  So as far as return, not much in the way of prospects, and not much in the way of salary relief this year, although maybe enough to help get contracts done with some of the Cubs remaining unsigned 2011 draftees.  But how much can you expect to get for a 34-year-old corner OF with a $13.5 million contract and a .369 slugging percentage?  Of course, to the Indians, who have lost Shin-Soo Choo to injury and have been using a platoon of Travis Buck (.617 OPS) and Austin Kearns (.632 OPS) in RF, Kosuke must look like Mel Ott.

Fukudome never became the player the Cubs thought they were getting when they signed him.  The Cubs expected him to become a middle-of-the-order run producer from the left side, but that role didn't work out for him, as his high OBP made him more suited for the top of the order (unfortunately it wouldn't be the last time the Cubs made that mistake while assessing a player's skill set.  Of course, had Fukudome hit the way the Cubs thought he would in 2008, that 2009 mistake would never have been made in the first place.  But I digress).  Eventually, the Cubs found themselves in a similar situation with Kosuke as they were in with Matt Murton - another player with a solid on-base skills, but not enough power to be a corner OF and not good enough on defense to play CF.  Fukudome's habit of fast starts (.979 April OPS) and slow, painful declines during the season (.772 career OPS) was maddening, as were the ever-popular "helicopter" swinging strikeouts.  Bottom line - Fukudome's skills and the Cubs' needs weren't a good match.  Since he would have found himself playing elsewhere in 2012, at least now he finds himself in a pennant race.

With Fukudome gone, the Cubs will let Tyler Colvin, who is pretty much the complete opposite of Fukudome (decent power, low OBP), take most of the playing time in RF, and the Cubs will be down to two regulars (Soto and Peña) who consistently work counts.  And I guess this is as good a time as any to recall Kosuke's greatest moment as a Cub, which came in his very first game in blue pinstripes and gave us hope that the 2008 season was going to be a special one:

Thanks, Kosuke, for your often underappreciated skills, and best of luck to you in Cleveland, where I hope you'll help keep the Indians ahead of the 3rd place AL Central team.

DLee Dparts

That Derrek Lee is one smart guy. Three weeks ago, he rejected a trade to the Angels, who at the time were 8 games out of first place. His reward? A get-out-of-jail-free card in the form of a trade to the first-place Atlanta Braves. Good for Derrek. In the last three weeks, he's gone on a bit of a hitting tear (especially against the Cardinals - 4 HR in 3 games), so he's no longer last among NL first basemen in OPS; in fact, he's a slight upgrade over the guy he's replacing, Troy Glaus.

A cynic might say that Lee's hot streak has come with his team completely out of the running and is just a salary drive in what's probably Lee's last shot at a big free agency payday. However, I'm stuffing a sock in that cynic's mouth and duct-taping over it. Instead, I'll choose to remember Lee for his fantastic 2005 season in which he led the NL in hits, doubles, batting average, slugging, OPS, OPS+, and total bases. I still think Lee should have won the MVP award that year (he finished 3rd) and would have had a better chance if his pinhead manager hadn't put two OBP sinkholes in the two spots in front of Lee in the lineup every day.

As for the trade, the Cubs received salary relief for the last 6 weeks of Lee's contract plus three pitching prospects from the Braves. The last time the Cubs received three pitching prospects in a trade with the Braves was in 1999 when they traded Terry Mulholland and Jose Hernandez for Ruben Quevedo, Joey Nation, and Micah Bowie. Yikes - that didn't work out too well for the Cubs. But that was Ed Lynch's trade. I'll just check Hendry's trade record on Braves' pitching prospects...hmmm, let's see...here we go. Juan Cruz for Andy Pratt. Umm, uhhh...maybe the third time's the charm?

Trading Day

Good movie, featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Denzel Washington. Why is this on a sports blog? Oh, you said trading day, not Training Day - sorry, my ears are a little stuffed up. Allergies.

Getting back to the trading deadline, the Cubs bid farewell to beloved left-handed bulldog T. Roosevelt Lilly, Esq., and (s)crappy infielder Ryan Theriot, who are now property of the L.A. Dodgers. I'll miss Lilly, but I'm sure he won't miss the Cubs putrid offense, which stuck him with the lowest run support of any starter in the NL and left him with a 3-8 won-loss record that in no way reflects how well he pitched. As for Theriot, I'll miss his career OPS+ of 83, his penchant for baserunning blunders, and fans who wear his jersey in a non-ironic way. In return, the Cubs are out from all but $2.5 million of Lilly's contract and any financial obligations for Theriot this year and next, which amounts to a few million bucks. Also, they received a couple of minor-leaguers we'll never hear from again, and Blake DeWitt, he of the career OPS+ of 93 and much lower salary. DeWitt is a better hitter than Theriot, so I'd say the Cubs did OK personnel-wise and in clearing out some salary room for next year, assuming DeWitt is a better baserunner and defender than Theriot (a pretty safe assumption).

In other news, it looks like there's a market for lunatic starting pitching. Mets GM Omar Minaya proposed swapping left-handed headache Oliver Perez and once capable second baseman/leadoff hitter Luis Castillo for Big Z. On the books, the salaries would have essentially cancelled each other out this year and next, but the Cubs would have been rid of the contracts after 2011 (instead of 2013 under Z's deal) - sort of a copy of the Hundley for Karros/Grudz deal Hendry engineered before the 2003 season. I'm not sure what to think about this one. On one hand, it would be nice to cut our losses and get out from under the weight of one of the team's "untradable" contracts, considering 2011 is shaping up to be a lost year anyway. On the other hand, this would be a classic "sell low" move by Hendry (see Hill, Rich, and Pie, Felix), driving down the return on a once-valuable investment to basically nothing. I'm leaning towards actually agreeing with Hendry on this one and trying to rebuild Z's value - the guy was a staff workhorse (and a really good pitcher) for so many years. Unless he's just cooked from all those innings. Crap, I can't decide how I feel about this trade. When does college basketall start?

The Rich Get Richer

For the third time in a year, the Phillies have acquired a top-of-the-rotation starter. First it was Cliff Lee, then Roy Halladay, and now Roy Oswalt (it could be worse - at least he didn't go to the Cardinals). That gives the Phillies a formidable rotation featuring Halladay, Oswalt, and Cole Hamels. It also highlights the difference between a winning organization (like the Phillies) and a losing organization (like the Cubs) - a winning organization stockpiles #1 starters, while a losing organization stockpiles overpriced free agent outfielders.

Jim Hendry - Supergenius?

After all the bashings I've given to Jim Hendry, I have to give him credit today. He managed to find a trading partner for a soon-to-be 35 year-old first baseman with a sub-.400 slugging percentage and close to $5 million left on his contract. But Derrek Lee rejected the trade, saying that he wants to stay with the Cubs for the rest of this year. Lou Piniella was quoted as saying he was "very pleased" with this news, probably because it not only allow him the opportunity to continue playing the guy who ranks last among all NL first baseman in OPS, but also to keep putting him in the 3rd spot in the batting order.

It gets better, though, fellow Cubs fans. Lee also said he'd like to play next year - and he'd like to play with the Cubs again. But I'm guessing Lee will be gone next year anyway, because Hendry has already decided to trade Lee once, and when Hendry makes up his mind to do something (see, e.g. signing Milton Bradley or Marlon Byrd), not even a Krispy Kreme truck crashing outside of his house can stop him.