Early Season Trade Rumors

It's no secret the Cubs organization is in a state of panic. The rotation, bullpen, and line-up have all been juggled early and are in an on-going state of flux. Instead of having the highest paid set-up man in the history of the Majors, the Cubs need to make a move.

The Cubs actually have the delightful problem of too many pitchers, and too many outfielders. Though several in that category can be classified as "overpaid" and/or "underachieving" the Cubs do have a decent amount of talent out there.

So for a minute I will take the job of Jim Hendry, and here's what I would do, keeping in mind, its difficult to make early season trades.

First things first, pick up the phone with the Pittsburgh Pirates, or Washington Nationals. They are always in the market.

The Nationals actually have some good trade bait after having one of the better offseasons around the league, in addition to poaching Nyjer Morgan from the aforementioned Pirates at last year's deadline. The Nationals are having a decent season, but lack pitchers who can take them deep into the ballgame, overworking their bullpen early. On talent alone, the Nationals bullpen isn't too horrible and is actually better than the Cubs. The Nationals also have a problem up the middle of the infield as they try to make room for super rookie Ian Desmond, while having veterans Adam Kennedy and Christian Guzman who need to find playing time with the money they are making.

It is scenarios like this that Jim Hendry needs to be pro-active about and aggressively try to take advantage of if he wants to make it as a good GM. Why not call up the Nationals and see if Kennedy, a left-handed second-baseman who can bat at the top of the order, and Tyler Clippard, a late inning lights out arm, are available? I mean, its the Nationals, isn't everyone available?

I am sure some combination of Silva/Gorzellany/Fontenot/Samardzija gets the deal done. If you have to throw in a Jeff Gray or Justin Berg too, go right ahead. The deal and the contracts make so much sense for both teams, so why hasn't it happened?

The addition of Kennedy would give the Cubs a left-handed second baseman who could occasionally spell Ramirez at third as well. Kennedy had one of his best years last season hitting .290 and getting on base at a higher rate than Cubs current lead-off hitter, Ryan Theriot.

The addition of Kennedy to the top of the line-up makes Kosuke Fukudome expendable. Now don't get me wrong, I do not hate on Fukudome. He runs the bases, fields and gets on base at above average levels, but you can add him to the long list of Cub's not earning his pay. Plus, every time Fukudome is on the field, it is taking at-bats away from Tyler Colvin and Xavier Nady, who is putting together a decent start to the season in limited at bats. Fukudome and some cash, could be enough to get the Cubs a reliever from a team that could use some revenue from the fan base that Fukudome draws. The Toronto Blue Jays would be the perfect destination, and they have a plethora of good arms at the end of the pen (please exclude Kevin Gregg), a problem drawing fans, and a hole in Right Field after clearing Alex Rios, plus money to spend from clearing the terrible contract of Alex Rios.... I am sure Fukudome's translator can teach him "Oh Canada"

Sure from where I am sitting, these two moves seem easy, and in reality, they might not be that hard...

a team of
2b - kennedy
ss - Theriot
1b - Lee
3B - Ramirez
CF - Byrd
LF - Soriano/Colvin
RF - Nady/Colvin
C - Soto
SP - Lilly/Dempster/Zambrano/Wells/Gorzellany, Silva or Marshall
RP - Marshall/Grabow/Clippard/Frasor or Downs/Marmol

looks a whole lot better to me than the current set up in just two under the radar moves. If these new owners really are "committed to winning," pull the trigger now, before this gets out of hand.