Cubs trade for Bowen

...if it is just Barrett for Bowen.  What the hell's this guy gonna do for us?  Interested to see how this develops.

He's 26 with not a terrible bat for a catcher.  If he's an upgrade defensively and signed for a couple of years.......

I will need someone to explain to me why the Padres, leading their division, would want Barrett.  They already have Bard behind the plate and Gonzalez at 1st.

this is more of an indication of how Blanco is progressing.  I think if Barrett is traded it BETTER be for better players than this...it is Jim Hendry though.

Bowen was a second-round draft pick, who had some injuries, and eventually was waived by two clubs.  Now he's 26, has been around both leagues enough to have a little familiarity with the batters, and is hitting well.  He also grew up in Indiana.  

If the deal is for Jones, I'd call it a good trade for both teams and both players.  

on mike and mike that barrett was traded.

 . . . "Rob Bowen, minor leaguer Kyler Burke, and some cash considerations to Chicago in exchange for Barrett," according to this AOL story.

SD Sports radio is describing Barrett as if he's the second coming of Johnny Bench. FYI, Bowen can't throw, run or hit. (Sorry, IndyTaz, if this comes off as insulting, but he isn't very good) However, if the Padres want to dump one of their 2 bad catchers, he's actually better than their other one, Josh Bard -- but not by much. I don't see how this addresses their power need, because they could use a corner OF with a big bat, not a bad catcher, even one with some power. This is really kind of a rent-a-player situation, for they would never re-sign him for the cash Barrett would demand. (J Jones is NOT coming here) Jermaine Dye's name has been mentioned as coming to SD, if the ChiSox have the 'for sale' sign out.

As of now, I guess this tells you what Barrett's value is. Nothing. However, I guess they assume that Barrett's an upgrade over what they have -- offensive-wise. However, I'm looking forward to piss-head Jake Peavy starting to sizzle when Barrett lets one of his sinkers get away in a crucial situation.

And, in turn --  the Cubs pitchers better keep throwing over to first to bail out Bowen.

I can guarantee that Maddux will designate Josh Bard as his personal catcher.

you mean he can actually catch a pitch, as Barrett kept proving he couldn't. Bowen has no arm, and people who keep blaming the inability of the Padres backstops to throw out runners on the pitchers just don't know what they are talking about.

I have probably watched more Padres games than most of the posters here, and both of the Padres catchers (and I mean Bard and Bowen) can't throw.  

I've seen so many bounced throws to second from that tandem and I doubt that is the fault of Maddux or Wells.

We are trying to spin this in our favor, and I find that to be a futile exercise. Bowen isn't very good -- this was a dump of Barrett for anybody.

I don't think we could have expected much more for Barrett, however.

What a stupid move.

Barrett has the potential to rebound and get streaky with his hitting.  You don't trade a guy when he is at rock bottom, especially someone with Barrett's potential.

this mean the big z deal gets done?

i'm not at all happy about this trade. they really should have gone after linebrink. should have been jones and barrett for bowen and linebrink (thrown in whatever else you need from the minors to make it happen). i'm ready for hendry to leave now!!!!!!

Those 3, all happen to be a catcher and all happen to be Free Agents next year. Now it doesnt take a slide rule to figure out where this post is going.

Hendry you should be reading this.

This trade was at the request of Derrek Lee, who just really wanted to know whether Chris Young was intentionally throwing at him or not.  

In the Open Thread for tonight's game, our fearless leader writes the following about Bowen,

"I will say that he's done a good job handling the best pitching staff in the NL."

I find that interesting.  If I have the best pitching staff in the NL, I imagine I would give my cathers a degree of credit for it and not be especially inclined to throw a potential monkey-wrench into the situation by trading one cather for another.  I wonder if the Padres know something about Bowen that we don't...personality-wise, team-chemistry-wise, or other-wise.

Hmmmmmmm.....

was all 'sunshine, lollipops, and roses' when describing Barrett on XX Sports Radio Wed afternoon. He glossed over all of Barrett's defensive liabilities saying,

He also blamed the fight w/Z entirely on Z.
Guess Masur didn't see the plays that preceeded it, and he conveniently forgot about Barrett's clash with Hill.

"He's just what the Padres need."

It didn't take long for him to become a hometown honk.

But --  Andy knows who is signing his paycheck.

Good trade....

...you know, because the Cubs were just too good offensively.

As if it wasn't hard enough for this team to score runs, we just dumped a guy - who sometimes batted cleanup for this offensive juggernaut - in exchange for a bag of magic beans.  

Sounds like the beginning of a white flag trading mentality to me. I think we can determine that the Cubs will be sellers at the trade deadline, and this is the first quiet concession of that truth.  I see no reason to believe that Hendry has any interest in acquiring anyone for the stretch run who'll require something in return.  And since Hendry can't trade with Hendry - the only means by which he'd be able to acquire a player for almost nothing - I can't see anything more than the usual bullpen-acquisition-of-this-year's-trade-deadline happening.

Sad that Jim Hendry has quietly given up on this team in June - again.

I still don't see how this trade could have possibly, or even theoretically, happened.  You know, because Jim Hendry has always sworn an oath to us - given us his solemn word of honor - that you just cannot possibly ever, ever, ever acquire a player this early in the season.  It's impossible - I mean, a team like the Padres would have to give us Jake Peavy and their top Minor League prospect to get a player like Barrett this early in the season, right?  Isn't that what Hendry always tells us every year as we wait until three weeks after the trade deadline to see if the Cubs get any help at all?

Hendry just proved his own annual political spin to be a big bag of lies, and he just raised the white flag half mast in June.  It's a damned shame this man gets to be the one to dump our players to contenders before the deadline, a damned shame.  

Oh well, who needs to score runs to win ballgames, anyway?  Just howl "underperformers" really loud and beat your breast and gnash your teeth as usual.  Why sway from a great annual gameplan like that?

Paging the Cubs' bullpen:  even perfect won't be good enough now.  You're officially the goats no matter what happens the rest of the year.  I pity you for being the cheapest commodity.