These were salary dumps by the poor to send to the rich. Hendry was at the right spot at the right time.

The true test of a good trade is when neither side is doing it out of desperation and it is a notable upgrade.

I think getting Karros and Gruds for Hundley was his best. Don't remember if anyone was desperate to move a player there, unlike the fish with D-Lee and the Bucs with A-Ram & Kenny.

leading off and playing center field....

The other minor leaguer was Matt Bruback, who at the time was a sort-of prospect. He never made it.

...and a few years from now, the trade might not look so bad, depending on how it looks with the Tigers.

I will say this. In 2005, the league-average ERA was 4.22. At Dolphin Stadium that season, a league-average pitcher would have a 3.98 ERA, based upon Baseball-Reference's park factors. He had a very good season, but it was helped by being in a pitcher's park (and probably helped by being in a down year on offense as well.)

Clement might wind up being the more productive pitcher this season, actually. And if we won it all in 2003, then nobody talks about this.

Reyes has developed plate discipline (.354 OBA each of the last 2 years) and thus will have value for quite some time.

that Willis is a classic case of a complicated delivery phenom (Hideo Nomo ring a bell?) Hard to pick up his ball when he comes into the league, but once hitters figure it out, he isn't as dominating.

I wish the Cubs had him. He has improved plate discipline recently and would be ideal in this lineup; oh my, the possibilities!

especially as he heads to the DL is that his kind of delivery isn't likely to result in a long career. You really can't blame Hendry. He was low-level prospect that had a unusual delivery. There was nothing that said star pitcher. He also didn't waste him. He got a very good starter with Clement and if the Cubs had gotten to the World Series, it would have been a so-what.

I really don't see a Scott Kazmir-type just plain awful trade that Hendry has made. The Pierre trade doesn't even look that bad as none of the 3 pitchers are looking like much long-term.

Mitre is a max so-so guy. The other two could be decent #4-#5.

The best Hendry deal is unloading Hundley.

Worst? I'm going with Moore and Cherry for Traschel. That was a big waste of prospects. Cubs got nearly nothing in return.

...really does us no good in AAA. I think of Jake Fox, Matt Murton and Micah Hoffpauir as Moore-types who would be better suited for a big league team that could use them every day.

Remember that last year, we weren’t sure if our rotation would hold up through September. Without Trachsel, we would have been better off in hindsight, but at the time, it sort of made sense in a desparate for arms sort of way.

... then yes, the Cubs will have received value for those three, though they may have to wait five years to get it.

...behind the Harry Potter trade, eh? Or would the O’s suck so bad that we wouldn’t earn their pick?

Anyway, apologies for bringing that up. I’ll flog myself for it.

n/t

That part of the trade alone is addition by subtraction. But Ceda has a great arm. If he ever improves his control, that trade will constitute a major fleecing.

That could be a REAL steal eventually. And don't forget how the Cubs got Bynum -- for John Koronka, who turned out to be pretty useless. Koronka for Hart is a pretty good exchange.