A schtickle of Cubs trade analysis
The Cubs did a little — and I stress a little — to bolster their playoff roster today by acquiring outfielder Craig Monroe from the Tigers.
The Cubs sent cash and a player to be named in exchange for the slumping Tiger outfielder.
Monroe had been designated for assignment last Friday.
Cubs manager Lou Piniella has been saying for weeks how desperately he wants an extra right-handed hitter off the bench, and they may have found just that.
Against lefties, Monroe is hitting .302 this season with a considerable .542 slugging percentage. Considering his season batting average is .222, it doesn’t take much to realize how awful he’s hitting against righties. I’ll just say that the Mendoza-line waved bye-bye to him a while ago.
I was never convinced Piniella “really” needed the extra bat. I mean, he’s already misusing Felix Pie on the left side, so I don’t expect much from Monroe.
Jim Hendry, though, sees plenty of upside:
I think it gives us a good balance. It was just one of those situations where you couldn’t pass up a guy who has already been there and helped lead a club to the postseason. We’ve had our ups and downs against lefties. It gives Lou some options here that we didn’t have before by just adding one good batter against left-handed pitching.
Rob Neyer mentioned this week that the Cubs would be better off promoting right-handed catcher Geovany Soto to give the Cubs a player off the bench and one actually worthy of being the team’s backup and future starter.
But the Cubs just keep doing what they always do: Why bring in talent from within when 29 other teams have it?
I’m not even going to touch that one.
Just, out.