Nomar to Cubs!

To not give up Clement is HUGE. I would've made a straight Nomar for Clement swap, so you can imagine how floored I am that Hendry was able to secure both for the rest of the season.

Cubs gave up K-Gonz (addition by subtraction), Brendan Harris, a pretty decent 25-26 y.o. utility infielder that got some time with the Cubs earlier this year, Francis Beltran, who has a 96 mph fastball and a slider that straightened out considerably in the last two months, and Justin Jones (who goes to the Twins) who is probably one of the top 5 pitching prospects in the Cubs system right now.

I'm ecstatic, I never once thought the Cubs could get Nomar and keep Clement!

cubs get:
aramris ramirez
nomar garciaparra
kenny lofton

not bad

orlando cabrera, though, is great with the glove, and, if performs even at his career average, considerably better on offense than reese. mienkievich can platoon with millar, come off the bench, or just start outright (especially when lowe pitches).

looking at nomar's defensive #s really chaged my thoughts on this trade. believe it or not, nomar for cabrera was probably a good swap for the sox.

Nomar now isn't Nomar from about four years ago, but he is still a big bat for a shortstop. Putting him in that lineup could be great. The only thing that I wonder about is that they only have one lefthanded hitter (Patterson -- Bako doesn't count).

but i'm afraid it's a safe trade for the sox, not nearly the disaster i'd initially thought. i figure that, while they're not shockingly better, they've _probably_ improved themselves overall this year (it all depends on nomar's health of course) and for the long-term, and since nomar was almost certainly demanding out, that's no small accomplishment. damn it.

The key is having a guy who makes contact hitting 2nd and strikes out at about half the rate as Gonzalez. Barrett could do it, but Nomar seems a more logical fit for the lineup. Moving the K-or-HR-prone Patterson down by Barrett in the order should balance it a little better.

The only downside to this deal is that it will take some of Maddux's spotlight tomorrow.

That said, commence your happy dance. Direct your prayers to our lord and savior, Jim Hendry, in north Chicago. Hurry to the sporting goods store to get that extra Cubs jersey lettered with "NOMAAAHHHHHHH."

The Cub Reporter and others are covering this one, but simply put, Jim Hendry robbed everyone. I'll wait to get completely obnoxious until I see the numbers, but there is simply no downside here. The Cubs gave up a potentially useful reliever (who will be replaced by Ryan Dempster), a decent prospect (at least two years away in an organization loaded with pitching prospects), and Alex Gonzalez to get a difference maker and a #1 pick. I'll take it.

Now, the Cubs SHOULD look like this tomorrow:

2B Walker (Grudz in a pseudo-platoon)
SS Nomahhhhhh
RF Sosa (I'd rather see Lee here, but Dusty won't move him)
LF Alou (I'd rather see Aramis here, but again ...)
3B Ramirez
1B Lee
CF Patterson
CA Barrett (Bako with Maddux on the hill)
SP Maddux

Whoa. That looks good. Not catch-the-Cards good, but Marlins-won-the-Series-as-wild-card good.

"If Nomar isn't playing for somebody else by the All-Star Break, it won't be for lack of trying on the part of the people for whom he works.

If they could have traded him to the Dodgers or somebody in the 5th inning of the second Yankee-Red Sox game, you better believe they would have done it.

Manny Ramirez gets blamed for everything except Bunker Hill in Boston.

But you know something?

After the Red Sox tried to get rid of him over the winter, he just sucked it up and played as well as he ever has in his life.

Nomar?

He pouts.

When the rest of his teammates are on the top step of the dugout the other night, watching the best regular-season game they're ever going to see, Nomar sat and pouted.

He goes."

Mike Lupica is a bit of a drama queen. He alway comes off as so SHOCKED on the Sportsreporters on ESPN. Last weekend he went on this tirade about steroids and then they asked Jason Whitlock the sportswrter from KC about it and he said he didn't care either way, saying that the money is so insane many people would do the same thing in that situation. Lupica looked at him with his jaw on the floor like Whitlock had admitted membership to the Nazi Party or something.

Nomar up until the whole ARod thing happened probably figured he would stay his whole career in Boston. And then the bottom fell out. He hit shabby in the playoffs, let alone the Sox losing the way they did to the Yankees, then getting tossed out to the side during the trade rumors, having to stay in Boston as a consolation prize and then getting hurt...that is bound to take most star players down a notch. Compared to many players put in such a wack situation, he probably did worse than some but better than many others. Criminy could you imagine some of the primadonna NBA stars in a similar situation?

perhaps more importantly, the guy really, really didn't want to be there. he was supposedly going to shut it down for a month and no one believed he was coming back after the season anyway. the sox now have a shortstop for august, and a long term option in place if they want it.

reese and cabrera will be an amazing DP combo when lowe pitches.

As for Nomah fronting on Operation: Shutdown, that's when the Sox should've brought in a "motivational speaker" to "cuff Nomah around the ears" and straighten his punk ass out.

And BNW, as always, most of the time, OTM.

the good, the bad, the nomar

South Side?!??

he was hitting .301/.372/.452 when he was traded. he's not going to be great but he's solid, and should be a starting LF for somebody in a couple years. but he doesn't have a whole lot of value to an org like the sox.

"....the Red Sox tried to upgrade their pitching by improving their infield defense and scoring fewer runs."

The Red Sox didn't have to trade Garciaparra to get Mientkiewicz. They could have had him, yesterday or today, for whatever version of Justin Jones haunts the lowest levels of their minors.

The Red Sox downgraded from Garciaparra to Orlando Cabrera, and they threw in a good hitting prospect (Matt Murton) for the privilege. That's not just a bad trade, it's an awful one.

... Focusing on unearned runs or individual incidents is a sports-radio mentality that a major-league front office has to be above. The Red Sox have been making a series of odd moves, adding brutal players like Jimmy Anderson and Ricky Gutierrez. Those decisions didn't blast a hole in the team, though. This one does.

like i said, maybe epstein could've dealt nomar more effectively, but until i see evidence, on the field or in writing, that nomar's tendon/attitude/defense weren't problems, the sox are NOT any worse off than before.

i've seen NO ONE, aside from gammons (who of course sided with theo), take into account nomar's health, attitude, or defense when assessing this trade. i was sure carroll would comment on it, but no such luck. so while i've got no "insider" info here, the evidence we have available pretty clearly suggests it was for those reasons that nomar was dealt. and until i see some valid counterclaims, this wasn't a bad trade for the sox.

Nomar spoke out today about Bosox management if anyone's still interested in this soap opera:

"I wasn't saying much. I was really short. He was saying thank you and stuff. Then he said, `By the way, how's the Achilles'?' That's the first time he'd ever asked me about the Achilles'.

"I said, `It's great. It's fine."'

Was Garciaparra being sarcastic?

"Yeah, I was. I'd just gotten traded. He said, `What do you mean, it's great?' I said, `It bothers me, but it's fine. Yeah, it bothers me, but I'm fine.' Just like, I'm playing. I never said, `I'm sad now."'

Garciaparra said he was distressed that all of this has been raised in the aftermath.

"Stuff is coming out, they're saying stuff about my agent," he said. "It's sad. Here's the truth. Those are the facts. This is it.

"I'm not mad at them. I'm not going to rant and rave. I'm not jabbing anybody. If they don't want me, fine. They traded me. Why can't that be enough?"

Would that make Boston happy?

Through the tallest source I've ever used, I can say with a high degree of certainty that there was no back-channeled info, at least no more than the normal trade discussions. Medical information was exchanged, conversations were had, and in the end, two parties conducted a transaction. Garciaparra may have been miserable and isolated in Boston, but let's stick to facts. He will need occasional rest and constant treatment, neither of which will guarantee that his heel will remain usable.

and amusing commentary about the debacle at the sox board from whence the above link came:

Both sides are being immature and unprofessional, and greatly embarrassing themselves IMO.

All that was really needed was what Theo, the only mature person in all this, basically said, “a Nomar playing only 40-50 games was not as good as a Cabrera playing all of them plus Mientkiewicz and the added defense.”

Even if that were not the whole story, it, at the very least, would have hastened the transition to a Nomar-less team.

But in its place we have are very own baseball soap opera taking place, where Lucchino is playing the role of the sinister madman, Henry is the seemingly soft-spoken, rich guy, but in reality he is a conniving evil, Theo is the unsuspecting fall guy and Nomar’s the “good guy with serious mental issues.” It is quickly turning into just another episode of “As the Nation Turns.”

also great simply for reminding me of steinbrenner's public statement after the a-rod trade. god that was funny.

but EVERYONE knows "death wish", and that was a damn good article.

Funny, I don't read him on a regular basis, but I know I've read his columns in the past and I don't remember coming away with such a poor impression. That thing was way too long. Talk about abusing word count. How about that use of "we" : "I mean, he was right. We didn't go the extra distance. We could have had A-Rod..." Is he employed by the Red Sox?

Being reminded of that Steinbrenner quote was worth it though, I admit.

i was just shocked that there was actually some substance to it.

same here. i think they're all red sox fans, though.

Are you dissing on Leeeee?

3 games, 3 RBIs for NG. My brain can't cope w/ the image of NG wearing blue pinstripes. Also, Dale Sveum is an asshat.

ihttp://www.altoonacurve.com/upload_images/Sveum-Dale(web).jpg

Seriously, there's nothing dry about most of the BP guys, AND they know that Boston is worse without Nomar. And throw in the odd Fiery Furnaces reference.

Gammons has the mainstreamiest Thorogood-to-Vedder taste in rock imaginable. Hip for a guy in his mid 50s? He's no George Wendt.

Dude my 58 year old banker dad has better taste than Gammons, he owns a Social Distortion CD and Nick Cave's Murder Ballads AND a Dead Can Dance CD. Gammons is all like "I luv Whiskeytown!"

the difference b/w nomar and pokey, on defense, was one single per game. ie 162 hits over a season. you're telling me that's insignificant??

even if there was some luck/sample size/transiency to those numbers, it still doesn't take into account...well, just read the gammons article for christ's sake. or the simmons one.

if they were criticizing it on some other grounds, like theo not maximizing nomar's value (maybe separate deals for cabrera + mienkiewicz, then nomar for a SP?) that would be one thing. but they're taking some hardline "defense is oldschool BS haha stoopids" even though most of the ultrarational stathead types think otherwise. as do the a's and redsox, apparently.

who's really behind the times here?

Chris Kahrl of BP on Epstein's defensive defense:

" If the fans had wanted leather, the Sox would have been better off hosting Bondage and Dominance Night at the ballpark.

...For a massive offensive downgrade, the Red Sox pick up an OK shortstop and a powerless 30-year-old first baseman. And whatever the off-field drama involved, it's Theo's responsibility to smooth that out, not let it become tabloid fodder. And although Nomar's defensive numbers are grisly in his month-plus in the lineup, keep in mind that he didn't do a lot of rehab, so he's rusty. If the Yankees can survive with Jeter's pretty waves at passing groundballs, I fail to see how Nomar, even if he stayed this bad for the rest of the year, would have kept the Red Sox from pushing for a playoff spot. Instead, the Sox can count on Cabrera's bat to help make that happen."

it's also real easy to say shit like "whatever the off-field drama involved, it's Theo's responsibility to smooth that out" from where we're sitting, isn't it?

it's that ol' "you become that which you despise" thing, ya know.

by the way, how come you guys still don't have a closer? I was so convinced that you'd move for jose mesa that I picked up brian meadows, only to drop his boring hold-getting ass today. wtf, how can you even try to beat s.d. or l.a. with herges?

I am expressing my opinion that this trade is getting an unfair amount of coverage/lip-service compared to some of the other trades. My "GET ONE LIFE" is not to be read with a cold-heart.

The Giants lone trade (F-Rod for Ricky Ledee) is one that is notable if only because F-Rod's responsibility of making a few of the 6 outs required in game 6 of the 2002 world series with the Giants up 6-1 will be not be forgotten anytime soon in this corner of the world and this is the first step in healing.

by the way, how come you guys still don't have a closer? I was so convinced that you'd move for jose mesa that I picked up brian meadows, only to drop his boring hold-getting ass today. wtf, how can you even try to beat s.d. or l.a. with herges?

see above. herges is in the top 10 in the NL in Saves with a near 6.00 ERA which tells you exactly what I think of the over-importance of that stat.

am i missing something, or did gygax just tell me to get a life??? i mean, i wouldn't normally have a problem w/ that, but it seems unlike you!

but i guess i'm dense because i still don't get wtf "get one life" means.

Heavens! I'm guessing that the stat you mean is E.R.A., right? ;)

Cubs about to go 4-0 with Nomar.

"GET ONE LIFE" != "Get a life!"

Nomar hits, Cabrera doesn't (this year). The most relevant point.

although I admit that I was absent on Meme Day too, so wtf does "Get one life" mean, anyway? Is it equal to "The Beatles rule and James Brown sucks"? Or is it more like "Wear golf clothes to a rave"?

when did i say jeter was a gold glover?? he currently has the highest ZR of his career, up 70 points over last year, and has maintained an ~.860 ZR all season. is that all meaningless too?

cabrera doesn't rake, but he's average with the bat. i don't believe he's a .630 OPS hitter - his 3 year road split would probably be a much better indication of his actual value.

Steve Stone: "That's one happy Pellow."

GO GIANTS!!!

But the players were shot down in a recent attempt to have TV broadcasters Chip Caray and Steve Stone removed from their charter flights. Upset over comments by Stone in response to Moises Alou's assertion that the two announcers were "too negative," players recently asked Cubs management to ban Caray and Stone from future flights, Cubs sources said. Management denied the request, and Stone and Caray will be allowed to fly with the team the rest of the season.

I'm not sure what the big deal is, Chip and Steve are two of the biggest homers a player could hope to have in the broadcast booth.

When asked to clarify Corey Patterson's cryptic comment referring to their "mutual JO'ing in the charter plane bathroom", Stone and Caray denied the assertion, looked at each other for an awkward, protracted length, and then began furiously making out."