Cub Trades: Rich Hill to Orioles for PTBNL, Michael Wuertz to A's for two MiLBers

[crewcrazy]

Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3878987

 

Hill was out of options, and Wuertz probably wouldn't have made that bullpen out of ST. Before the news of the Wuertz trade I was going to bust out a "Melvin:Rangers :: Hendry:Orioles" joke. The Cubs are getting OF Rich Robnett and IF Justin Sellers from the A's for Wuertz. Hill should be a nice little reclamation project for the O's...he showed a bit of promise earlier in his career but couldn't seem to throw a strike in Chicago or Iowa last year.

[zurch1818]

Wow, the cubs are going to be a completely different team next year.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Unless Hendry trades with the Marlins or Pirates during their cost-cutting periods, he makes horrible trades - he's got no ability to buy low-sell high when it comes to player evaluation unless a team's desparate to unload salary.

[Gobias Industries]

Chicago is just terrible at developing their talent. And as you said Chorizo, they are selling low and buying high.

 

Weren't Hill and Pie rumored to be the main pieces going to BAL for Roberts last year? And now they're one injury away from giving Aaron Miles 500 AB's instead of Roberts? Thank you Jim Hendry.

 

The Yankees take all the heat for "buying" players, but I think more of their core is homegrown moreso than the Cubs.

[fondybrewfan]

With all these trades of marginal players, the Cubs sure are building up a ton of marginal prospects in their system. I guess if you don't have any good talent in the minors you need to find somebody to fill out there rosters. There trades of Wuertz, Hill, Pie, DeRosa, and Cedeno didn't land them one legitimate prospect which is pretty sad IMO. Not to mention they traded a decent relief prospect (Ceda) for Gregg.

 

The Cubs have done a huge quantity of trades so far this offseason but they haven't exactly brought quality back.

[homer]

When's the last time the Cubs developed a top notch non-pitching prospect? Soto may be the best hitter they've produced in 20 years.

[fondybrewfan]

When's the last time the Cubs developed a top notch non-pitching prospect? Soto may be the best hitter they've produced in 20 years.

Even he was a very marginal prospect until he exploded in AAA after having been there for a while. Soto was never considered a great prospect until his one extremely good year.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Josh Vitters looks pretty darn good so far but it's pretty early in the game for him.

[PeaveyFury]

Say what you will about whether the Cubs have improved or not this offseason, but it's undeniable that they're destroying any semblance of depth that they had...

[paul253]

Unless Hendry trades with the Marlins or Pirates during their cost-cutting periods, he makes horrible trades - he's got no ability to buy low-sell high when it comes to player evaluation unless a team's desparate to unload salary.

Was he the one who made the deals for Aramis Ramirez and Derek Lee? Those were two of the better deals in recent years, giving up guys like Hee Sop Choi and Bobby Hill for the cornerstones of your organization. All these top prospects from the Cubs, Choi, Hill, Rich Hill, Patterson, Pie, turn into big duds, so I think anything they can get for them isnt necessarily bad.

[strawbossisevil]

Michael Wuertz, while not their best reliever, is a pretty solid guy to give up in a trade. He has had over a K an inning in his career, and over a 2-1 K to BB ratio. Last season, he would have been one of the best relievers in the Brewer's pen.

 

Looking at the Cubs pen for this season. Marmol is certainly better than Wuertz is. But beyond that who is better? Gregg's secondary stats (looking beyond ERA) are essentially the same as Wuertz, only Wuertz has struck out over a batter per inning in his career, Gregg has not.

 

Jeff Samardzija? Well he doesn't have more Ks per innings pitched and his K to BB ratio is worse.

 

Neal Cotts? He's been significantly worse than Wuertz over the past three seasons.

 

Looking at the prospects they got in return, Robnett is Gwynn like. Sellers has not put up an OPS of over .700 in his entire minor league career.

 

And on top of that, the Orioles received Hill, who if he manages to turn things around could be a solid #3 in the rotation. So, the Cubs traded what I see as their third best reliever and their top SP depth for two scrubs who will likely never make the MLB. Well done Hendrey, well done. I just hope he keeps trading, because with each trade he is making the Cubs significantly worse.

[Dragonbait]

My biggest hope for the Cubs bullpen is that it gets so bad that my girl's friend's husband gets called up.

 

He's better than Kevin Hart for sure.