Cubs players and front office looking good

mage Courtesy of Bing

While the Yankees and the Dodgers are getting kudos for what they pulled off at the trade deadline, I'm not sure the Cubs didn't do as well, or better than anyone. Yu Darvish is more a playoff move for the Dodgers. Sonny Gray will upgrade the Yankees rotation and Tommy Kahnle and David Robertson will add depth to their pen. Todd Frazier will also provide power from either a corner infield position or at DH. All in all, a nice bundle of help for the Yankees. Still I think the Cubs strengthened themselves as much or more.

I'll take Q

The three big starting pitchers moved before the trade deadline were Darvish, Gray and Quintana. Though Darvish and Gray may be viewed as having a higher ceiling, I believe I'd take Quintana out of those three. I'm not sure that Quintana doesn't have as a ceiling as the other two, plus he's been more consistent and durable. In addition, he's got a team favorable contract.

And in the pen..............

The Dodgers also picked up some relief help, though Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani are more depth than game changers. David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle have been very effective this season. They can help the Yankees shorten games, but they still probably won't get a lot of high leverage situations. Kahnle does have potential to be a long term closer, however. The Cubs pickup of Justin Wilson also deepens the Cubs pen and Wilson figures to pitch in the 8^th and probably close when Wade Davis needs a day off. He also stands a good chance to be the Cubs closer next season, assuming Wade Davis moves on.

Todd vs. Alex

The Yankees have gotten almost no production out of first base this season. Frazier can help with that. The Cubs, however, wanted a seasoned backup catcher. One who is a good handler of pitchers and can throw well. Alex Avilla checks those boxes. Plus, he's a left handed hitter, which is a bonus.

If the Yankees did better than the Cubs in the trade market, it's only because of Tommy Kahnle. He's the one guy I really hated to see the White Sox let go.

I'll call it now..........

The Cubs are currently up 16-3 over the Diamondbacks in the 6^th inning. At the risk of going Karl Rove on Ohio, I'm calling this one for the Cubs. Rizzo homered twice, Happ, Baez and Lester also homered. That's right, Jon Lester hit his first career homer. He also had two hits. Oddly, he didn't make it through the 5^th inning so he didn't get the win.

The Ray Bradbury memorial season

On the other side of town, the White Sox will continue to be baseball's version of “The Illustrated Man”. In other words, they're going to continue to get tattooed. As I'm writing this, the Sox are down 8-4. Mike Pelfry went 5.2 innings and gave up six runs. About what we've come to expect . Kevan Smith has hit a two run homer for the Sox for their offensive highlight.

Well, there's that

The best news coming from the White Sox recently is Yoan Moncada avoided serious injury when he collided with Willi Garcia on a pop fly Monday night. Moncada says he should be back in two or three games. If Moncada had went down, it would have make this current White Sox season more excruciating to watch.

More next time.