3 Down, One to go

It's been a relatively quiet Winter Meetings so far. Yeah, you have the blockbuster trade between the Detroit Tigers and Florida Marlins that netted the Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera and p Dontrelle Willis while the Tigers sent 6 prospects to the Marlins, but the big piece, P Johan Santana is still a member of the Minnesota Twins and looks to stay that way. Nothing new has been presented on that front, just both General Managers talking about potential dinner reservations and possible players. I don't think this one gets done while the meetings are still going on but will get done eventually.

As for the Chicago Cubs, after unsuccessfully(Thank God!) going after 2B Kazuo Matsui, they have turned their attention to 2B Brian Roberts of the Baltimore Orioles. It looks like the Orioles either want P Rich Hill and another pitcher or Hill and P Sean Marshall. I don't mind seeing the Cubs move Marshall in a deal, that certainly wouldn't bother me, I just don't know if I'm crazy about giving up Hill. The Cubs have some depth in the starting rotation but I'm not sure that would be the case after this deal. And I think that giving up that much pitching for Roberts is going to hurt more than people realize. Losing Hill would leave the Cubs with Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Jason Marquis, Ryan Dempster, Sean Gallagher and Kevin Hart. Hart pitched well enough during his brief call-up out of the bullpen to earn himself a spot on the postseason roster, but he's still an unknown as to whether he can pitch every 5th day in the majors. Gallagher did not pitch well during his brief stint with the Cubs last year to make anyone think that he is ready. Unless he has a lights out spring training, I just don't seem him in the rotation.