i noted my thoughts on the trades above. to be fair, the cubs not trading harden and heilman can also be viewed in another prism. In Harden’s case, there’s a good shot of Type A and 2 picks. Outside of teams dealing with the Dodgers (dealing Tony Abreu for cash and Jon Garland is. .. eh), the chances of landing quality talent for a short term rental is slim, and the two picks could be better. In Heilman’s case, he’s actually coming off a decent August and the return on a Heilman wasn’t going to be great, so keeping him may allow them to not overwork, say, Guzman/Marmol.

I find it unlikely that many of the top Cubs guys slipped through waivers without much mention, outside of maybe Soriano. The other guys … well, the Cubs contract problem isn’t that there’s a lot of really bad contracts, as the only really bad contract is Soriano’s (the rest might be a tinge over market value, but not much). The Cubs problem, payroll wise, is the total number of contracts. That is, I think that if guys were put through waivers, most of the key guys likely get tagged, and I’m sure there may a couple guys the Cubs didn’t put through waivers.

Short of it is, there aren’t that many trade options for the Cubs.

Personally, I think we’re probably done. The team isn’t that far out in the loss column, but there’s no indication that they can get on a hot streak. The ability is there, so you never know, and in the Cubs situation, the other 4 competitors are all divisional rivals that have games remaining. That said, what I’m saying is that, there were other reasons for the Cubs not to trade guys. I would’ve been fine letting Heilman go, though.

I wouldn’t read too much into the Dodgers going after Adrian as a sign that they are down on James. Loney’s the player he was predicted to be. He’s a good, solid first baseman. He has a home/road split that notes the impact of Chavez Ravine, IIRC. But Adrian is simply a better player and not that much older. As for their plans, I imagine Thome will get an occasional look at 1st base, but Loney will be their starting first baseman. I really think this is a look towards a World Series matchup, as well as perhaps adding a PH like Thome in case they have a late game matchup needed against, say, Brad Lidge.