Deal Talk

Talk about town indicates that the Brian Roberts trade dealings with the Orioles are heating up again. Lot's of names flying around, but it seemed to be centered on Sean Marshall, Sean Gallagher and Ronny Cedeno. Depending on who you ask, that is a lot to give up. On the flip side, Baltimore is probably dealing Bedard and would like to stock some potential arms.

Let's face it, MacPhail knows what he would be getting, so a trade should just be a matter of coming to an agreement on what parts comprise the deal. It was reported around the league that the winter meetings talks involved a package of Murton and Gallagher. If I were the Orioles, I would have left that package on the table. Marshall just may tip the scale, but it may still be a bit on the low side. Complicating the picture is Roberts' name popping up in the most recent performance enhancement morass.

The Cubs are ready to roll with Zambrano, Lilly, Hill, Dempster, and Marquis as the likely starters if this deal goes through. Marshall is young and left-handed, which is always worth something, but has shown nothing to think he should be untouchable. Gallagher has not done enough at the MLB level to know, but I don't see him being the next Dontrelle Willis. Cedeno has not been overly impressive despite high hopes. I would rather keep Murton than Cedeno, given the choice.

Further, there are still a number of live arms on the market. If the Cubs think this core of Soriano, Lee, Ramirez and Fukudome on offense and Big Z, Lilly and Hill are close to being serious contenders, then a lead-off man such as Roberts is worth the price. If the resulting lack of pitching depth is a concern (Hart seems like a legitimate puzzle piece here, but probably not enough to be comfortable), the Cubs need to look at Josh Fogg, Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon, Kyle Lohse, Jason Jennings and even John Lieber. These are not aces, but servicable MLB pitchers. That could be enough to complement a lineup of Roberts, Theriot/DeRosa, Soriano Ramirez, Fukudome, Lee, Soto and Pie.

I would like to see the Cubs make the move. The results of waiting on the home grown talent haven't been that spectacular. There is benefit to using those players to gain help today. Despite the move, the Cubs would still have great potential in youngsters like Sam Fuld, Jose Ascanio, Hart, Carlos Marmol, Eric Patterson and Jeff Samardzija. While Pie, Thierot, Murton, Fontenot, and Soto are making contributions right now and some certainly may have a higher ceiling than we've seen to date.