Capital Idea Phil!

I used to think all that it took to make a horrible trade proposal was a phone and an open line on your local sports talk station. "Yeah, this is Ed from Calumet. I used to play a little in high school and probably would have gone pro if that JV coach wasn't so blind to my potential so I know what I'm talking about. What do you think about trading Milton Bradley and Mike Fontenot to the Marlins for Hanley Ramirez? I'll hang up and listen to your response." But apparently it helps if you also have a national baseball column for a major newspaper.

Now Phil Rogers is one of my favorites, right below Buster Olney, Tom Verducci and Keith Law. As a matter of fact, now that Sam Smith is no longer with the Trib he's one of the only reasons I still subscribe to the Sunday Trib. But his idea to unload Carlos Zambrano is about as smart as a morally corrupt man running for office on a platform of family values.

First off, the title of the article "Perfect Time for the Cubs to Waive bye-bye to Carlos Zambrano" goes against everything they teach you in business school. Or in elementary school for that matter. I don't think the apex of Carlos' value is on the heals of two of his more epic meltdowns. If you are going to unload him it might make sense to wait until things quite down and Z is sitting on a 14-6 record with a 3.50 ERA.

Second, the wheels of the Cubs' bus are hanging on by the same thread that's keeping Lou sane. These guys are getting old. Not old in the sense that you and I know, but old in the sense of dressing up in a uniform and playing in the dirt 162 times a year. Bill James knows more about math and stats in general than the combined readers of this blog (I'm using the plural pretty loosely). And when it comes to baseball he's discarded more than most of us will ever know. He's a big believer, and has proven, that most positional players start to drop off at about the age of 33.

Well, here's list of the Cubs starters under the age of 31. Theriot, Fontenot and Soto. Not exactly an Upton, Longoria and Barlett core. So when the wheels start to fall off you'll have to rely on your farm system, free agents or trades to replace that production. Let's summarize those options for the Cubs.

Farm System: The Cubs system consists of Josh Vitters and 125 guys not named Josh Vitters. Plus the Cubs will probably trade him for Bobby Howry this month.

Free Agents: All signs indicate the Cubs are topped off salary wise. And even if they weren't, would you trust Jim Hendry with the remainder of your spending money?

Trades: That leaves one last option and it's not much of an option. The Cubs already have untradable anchors, errr contracts, in Fukudome, Bradley and Soriano. Lee, Lilly and Dempster all probably have limited value with their respective ages and/or contracts and Harden is limited due to the fact he's a free agent and about as brittle as Glass Joe from Punch Out! That leaves Ramirez, Zambrano and probably Soto and Theriot as the only players with meaningful value (don't bring up Fox until he gets to 100 MLB at-bats).

So knowing that, does it make sense to trade Z for the first offer "from a bag of balls to a 32-year-old minor-leaguer?" The Cubs are going to need him when the open up the next era of their 100 year rebuilding process.