Cubs make their move
The Cubs traded a pair of outfielders this week at MLB's winter meetings. First, Jacque Jones went to Detroit for utility infielder Omar Infante and then today Craig Monroe was traded to the Twins for the notorious PTBNL. Here's my thoughts on both:
Monroe for PTBNL
I'll do this one first because this is really a "who cares" move. Monroe stunk with Detroit this year, and he stunk with the Cubs. It's nice to see them remove worthless players from the roster, though. Even if it's for an eventual nobody. Verdict? Cubs Win!
Jones for Infante
I like the Jones move if this is the first move in a sequence of moves to upgrade the outfield. It's gotta be. I don't think the Cubs are going to go into 2007 with Felix Pie as their starting center fielder, because Pie looked horrible this year. I remember listening to a Dan Plesac interview on the radio after the playoffs ended, and he said "I had a better chance of getting a hit in that Game 3 situation than Pie." He just looked clueless this year. Sawed off every time up. Because he hit so well in AAA, though, I would have given him a chance in spring training. Jones would have been good, cheap insurance. Now I'm expecting them to make a major splash and acquire somebody way better than Jones. If they don't, then this trade is inexplicable.
Jones ended up being pretty solid. I hated him like no other in 2006, but I really started to like him in the second half of 2007, despite his power being way down. Kind of funny, really. He just played hard and limited his mental mistakes. That's all it took for me to change my tune. As for Infante, he's a crappy reserve middle infielder. A dime-a-dozen guy you can get anywhere. Jim Hendry loves these types. Neifi, Macias, Enrique Wilson, Rey Ordonez, etc. He's probably a safer backup option than Cedeno, but that's about all I can say positive about him. He's a crappy utility guy. Verdict? Rain Delay. We'll have to wait till they take the tarp off to make a full evaluation.
And that's about it. Good luck, Jacque.