By: Bob Sacamento
Cubshub.com

One of the main reasons why Hendry was inserted into the General Manager position was for his knowledge of our system and prospects, as he was in charge of our drafts from 96-02, and responsible for much of the minor league stockpile we acquired through the draft and foreign free agency. Under Jim, we've never shied away from trading our top prospects (Choi, Hill, Beltran, Jones) though sometimes we've held on too long and lost much of their value (Cruz). Now with his back against the wall, Jim needs to seriously look into trading some of our top talent but only if it's able to net us young prime players in return that can be re-signed or are under contract. And not give up a boat load of talent for a one year rental like we did this last offseason with Juan Pierre.

This is where Felix Pie comes into the equation, by far he is our biggest chip in acquiring talent via trade. We need to answer some serious questions about the young outfielder. Is he a difference maker as he's been touted much throughout his career or is he just a serviceable OF? Are we making the same mistake we did just a few years prior with Corey Patterson? Every level he's shown the ability to hit for average with speed, and in the past few years has developed power as many thought he would. He's really what scouts term as a 5 tool player with plus defense and arm. But he's not, at least now, a solution for the top of the order, and it's likely he'll never be despite his speed just like Corey Patterson was.

So knowing all of this do you trade our biggest chip? Personally, I'm all for it as long as it brings us a big piece of the puzzle that we have control over and not just a one year rental.




Everyone makes mistakes, it's part of life. It's what you learn from those mistakes that makes you better. Without question, it's time from Jim Hendry to right one of if not his biggest wrong as the active GM of the Cubs. To take you back in time, Ed Lynch was the presiding lameduck GM that season while Jim Hendry was his assistant who was pulling all the strings. Days before the beginning of the 2002 season, the Cubs were still in need of a closer and worked with Florida on trading for the 30 year old Antonio "El Pulpo" Alfonseca but the Marlins forced the Cubs hand to take what was considered a dead contract in 27 yo Matt Clement. The Cubs sat around too long in free agency and wound up having to trade for a closer or look in-house (options were Fassero or Farnsworth) and in that process one of the three prospects we gave up (Jose Cuerto, Ryan Jorgensen, and Dontrele Willis) turned to bite us in the butt.

Since then every Cubs fan tries to rationalize the deal, pointing to the production that Clement gave us in 2002, 2003, and 2004 or saying that no one could have known that the prospect Dontrelle Willis would turn out. But Clement was a dead contract when we inherited him from the Marlins, Florida felt they were drastically overpaying him and would be for the next few years. There were no bidders for him during the 01-02 offseason, thus the Marlins MADE the Cubs take Clement or else no Alfonseca. As for Willis, he was far from just a scrub player in the Cubs' organization or a throw-in in the deal. Donny was drafted by the Cubs two years prior out of Encinal High School in Almeada, CA just outside of Oakland, in the 8th round. Many teams had scouted him yet strayed due to his late life baseball start and wacky windup that many thought would lead to arm injuries, but that has been anything but the case. During his short Cubby tenure, Willis put excellent numbers in the lower minor leagues:

Year Team W L G GS IP H ER HR BB SO ERA WHIP
2000 AzCubs 3 1 9 1 28 26 12 0 8 22 3.86 1.21
2001 Boise 8 2 15 15 93.2 76 31 1 19 77 2.98 1.01


Still the Cubs were scared of his pitching motion and even tried to make Donny alter it while in Boise and in Mesa, AZ during the winter time. Yet after his 2001 season, Donny was heralded throughout the minors for his poise on the mound, his stuff and his control. Despite being just in Short A (Boise) in 2001, Willis was one of the Cubs top 5-10 pitching prospects. Behind others such as Juan Cruz, Angel Guzman, Carlos Zambrano, and Francis Beltran. The Marlins tried to make the Cubs give up Cruz or Guzman that's when the Hendry chimmed in and offered the low level Willis whom the organization was shying on due to his reluctance to drasticaly alter his pitching delivery. The rest is how they say history, Here's what Donny has done in the MLB as a Marlin (keep in mind he also started 6 games going 36 1/3 IP in AA before his 2003 callup):

Year G GS W L CG SHO IP H ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA
2003 27 27 14 6 2 2 160.2 148 59 13 58 142 3.30 1.28 0.245
2004 32 32 10 11 2 0 197.0 210 88 20 61 139 4.02 1.38 0.273
2005 34 34 22 10 7 5 236.1 213 69 11 55 170 2.63 1.13 0.243
2006 34 34 12 12 4 1 223.1 234 96 21 83 160 3.87 1.42 0.274


Even though, it's recently been stated by Marlins' management that they will up their payroll to 25 million from the previous 17 million to encompass the near 12-14 million that Willis and Cabrera will take in due to the arbitration process. With Donny likely to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-8 million dollars in his second year of arbitration, and wanting a four year deal that he won't get from the Marlins. The Florida Marlins are still taking offers on the 25 year old lefty and it's time Jim Hendry to look into righting his biggest wrong. It's no secret that the Marlins are looking for a bonafide centerfielder and some starting pitching relief (something they have a stockpile of already). The Mets are believed to be interested but would have to part with their phenom Lastings Milledge and another top-midlevel picher, yet still Florida isn't convinced that Lastings is a CF in the MLB. For the Cubs to even have a chance at the D-Train, they would have to deal off their top prospect in Felix Pie along with two other pitching prospects (one being at least being a starter). So a Felix Pie, Sean Marshall, and PTBNL would definately let the Marlins know we are interested.

The Marlins don't even have to be the partner but are the usual suspect as the Cubs have money and prospects to spend, and Florida has a player that's wanting a servicable MLB contract for his talents. But Pie just as easily could be used to acquire Vernon Wells out of Toronto. Toronto is upping their payroll this offseason but have a line drawn in the sand when it comes to Wells and money. Reportedly, the best defensive CF in the AL and one of the premier hitters is seeking a contract worth in excess of 15 million over 6 or 7 years. And the Blue Jays would rather let him walk in the 07-08 free agency offseason then give him that type of deal or deal him.

Everytime we've dealt our high end prospects, they have been at the centerpiece of the deal and we've absorbed a player's contract in return. If Hendry is able to acquire a marquee player in order to make a proper splash, this offseason should be no different. At this point, I'd much rather give up young talent than drastically overspend and waste money this free agency offseason. Adding either a Wells or Willis would be worth trading Pie and others much more than giving Soriano/C.Lee some insane deal or spending ~10 million on a #3/4 starting pitcher.