Derrek Lee Traded To Braves. Oh, Yes: Cubs Lose Again

So long Derrek. He did alot for this organization since 2004 and was always one of my favorites. Hopefully he can have a solid run with the braves

Why now, why ATL—but not the Angels in July? Maybe the stretch of awful play beat him down?

Anyway, I wish him the best.

I wound up spending half the game in Tom Ricketts’ suite at his invitation

Name dropper. :) Obviously, he was just trying to get on your good side as you are now an influential member of the media.

In all seriousness, without violating any confidentiality, how was Ricketts demeanor? How is he handling the tumble of this team?

Really a shame the way ’10 turned out for the Cubs. Hopefully Mr. Ricketts can put some of that money and scouting to good use for ’11.

Wish you the best of luck.

Nice of Tom to invite you to sit with him in his suite Al.

Hopefully it doesn’t preclude him returning to play for the Cubs in 2011, maybe in a lesser role for a smaller salary. There really isn’t much out on the free agent market I’d want the Cubs committing multiple years and big money to. They could do a lot worse than bringing back Derrek in a smaller, incentive-laden deal. He’s not going to find much better out there.

The Phillies recently got Shane Victorino and Chase Utley back off the dl, as well as adding Roy Oswalt. I’m surprised the Braves haven’t made more moves to counter.

I hope Lou doesn’t freaking hit him 3rd.

The overall situation we’re in makes us all somewhere between miserable and sad every day

Bye Derrek .. you will be sorely missed and thanks for all you’ve done to help bring us to the Promised Land ..

fangraphs on the trade. they love it:

The Cubs are a team with plenty of money and a large fanbase, so they really shouldn’t need to perform salary dump deals with players like Derrek Lee. Lee was making roughly $3.25 million for the rest of the season, a number that likely has little impact on the Cubs finances for this year or in the future. Instead of dumping Lee’s salary and getting little in return, the Cubs were aggressive, and threw cash into the deal to help coax some legitimate value out of this deal. Jim Hendry deserves major credit for this trade, as instead of spending his money on an aging first baseman on a fifth place team, he now has three more solid pitching prospects to load into his system. This is just an excellent overall pickup for Chicago.

link

good job jim1!!

Classy guy is right, Al. Now who am I going to watch tie his shoes?

You will be missed. I hope you help the Braves kick the snot out of the Phillies

Here’s a paragraph from a Braves blog, Capital Hill Club:

Speaking of which, the Cubs get three legitimate prospects. The best of the trio is Robinson Lopez, a 6’2″ right-hander with an extremely live arm and a very projectable frame. His results at class A Rome have been disappointing, but it’s important to remember he’s only 19 years old and this is his first full season. I still hold him in very high regard. The other two are relievers. Lorick, the left hander, was a 20th round pick out of the University of Virginia in last year’s draft. He’s not the typical refined prospect you see from a 4-year college, but he has some late-game potential. Harris was taken one round before Lorick in the same draft. He throws hard and he’s had a successful first full pro season, making it all the way to AA. He’s got a huge frame (6’4″, 235 LB), and like Lorick has some late-game potential.

In the future, perhaps this franchise will be able to reload more often than rebuild.

Good move by Hendry to get something of “value” for Lee.

“When the trade was presented to me, I just felt the best thing for me and my family was to stay here,” Lee said after the Cubs lost 8-1 to the Astros. "Jim and I had a great conversation about it. Jim’s been great about the whole thing.

“[Rejecting the trade] was a baseball process. There’s a lot of thought that goes into it, not just that I have a home [nearly finished in Los Angeles]. I thought about it for a good 24 hours, and agonized over it. The bottom line is my family and I like Chicago. I like my teammates, and that’s just the decision I made.”

I guess he and his family don’t like Chicago anymore.

Best wishes to DeLee. Thanks for your efforts on the North Side.

A very classy man who gave the Cubs some great years. All the best to him!

Someone I know, who knows my screen name knows tom ricketts, lol

Thanks d-lee. I have been critical of you the last couple years. But, all in all, I enjoyed watching you play.

has been critical of Lee the last two seasons, I’m saddened to see him go. He was one of the classiest Cubs I’ve seen in my 28 years. He played the game the right way. It’ll be weird to see him in another uniform. I wish him all the best for the rest of his career.

and a leader in your good natured rdiway. I find it great how your last 2 at bats as a member of the Cubs were homers against the Canals. Good luck in Atlanta.

I will miss him a lot but on the other hand it does give me a reason to root for someone in the playoffs, since we won’t be there.

He was my favorite player of the last 7 years or so, but he had to go and we had to get something for him. But who’s next? They really need to move Fukudome at the very least, but it’d be nice to see Nady and a couple others shipped off as well. Maybe even Aramis whom was rumored to be going to the Braves before this. Its time to clean house and build up around the kids.

He did inherit quite a mess. I’m glad he’s very involved when it comes to fans. I met him at Cubs-cards last month. He sat and chatted with our group for a good ten minutes about the season and what not. He told us that Aramis wasn’t going anywhere too, for whatever that’s worth. You could just tell how into the team he was and how bad he wants to succeed.

  Don’t let the door hit ya! Oh yeah and make a phone call to your buddy Aramis and persuade him to accept a trade. Maybe if we can get rid of few more of these washed up bums, Hendry won’t be inclined to go out and spend insane money on the likes of Dunn in the winter. No more putting band-aids on our wounds.

It’s time to rebuild and let the rest of these insane contracts run out.

Flame away….!

I’m sure Ricketts enjoyed the heck out of being in the Bleachers and watching the Cubs be down 2-0 almost immediately.

It’s so nebulous and subjective and wishywashy and boring. I hate that adjective.

I blame Ron Burgundy.