July 14, 2017
There is an old adage in baseball that says good pitching
beats good hitting. I tuned into the all-star
game to see some of the great young hitting talent. However, the veteran
starters dominated, making this game a snooze fest. After watching Garcia line out, I had seen
enough and switched the channel. Now about that trade…

Chicago Cubs – Theo Epstein pulled off a great deal acquiring
Jose Quintana from the White Sox. He is a great fit for a team with a long
window for World Series championships. Lester maybe your number 1 starter with Quintana
not far behind. In fact, Quintana may be much more effective facing lesser line
ups in the National League. As for this year, there are more things the Cubs
need to do to win this division. Hendricks returning to 2016 form will help. You hope the hitters return to form as well.
They have 10 games left with the first place Brewers. They have to go b winetter
than .500 in these games. Another encouraging thing is a majority of games are
against opponents with records under .500.The Cubs are also under .500 but
maybe they are the best of these lousy teams. I still think the Cubs will win
this division. This is the first time I have made this statement using the word
think.

Chicago “loyalty trumps winning” White Sox – Rick Hahn
pulled off a great deal acquiring great young players in this rebuilding era. They now have 10 of the top 100 prospects in baseball, including no. 5, Eloy Jimenez, obtained in the trade. The
other main piece is Dylan Cease (no. 83) who could be a top of the line
starter. Looking to the future with Robert and Jimenez coming up in a year or
two (hopefully), is Avi Garcia available at the right price? When will they call
up Moncada? These questions and others may
be answered as the trading deadline nears. Can Rick Hahn find new homes for Robertson and
Cabrera? Will any team be stupid enough to trade for Frasier? Are there any
relief pitchers that other teams would want? You might not get much in return
however, these players are not a part of the future. So get whatever you can and consider it
addition by subtraction. Finally that
loyalty thing may be fading and I’ll be happy to let it go.