Craig Monroe Traded to the Cubs
The man in charge of MVN's baseball sites and Pirates blogger Cory Humes tipped me that Craig Monroe has been dealt to the Cubs, his source is the FSN Detroit broadcast. Details to come.
UPDATE #1: The deal is for the one and only PTBNL. Let's just flip the guy we're suppose to get from the Pirates to the Tigers and call it an Izturis for Monroe swap. Who's in?
Monroe was all kinds of brutal this year with the Tigers, posting an OPS+ of 67. He still hits lefties though, 277/321/501 for his career and 302/317/542 this year. He's played all three outfield positions in the majors although I can't speak about his defense. His Rate2 numbers at Baseball Prospectus are 96, 90 and 104 from left to right for his career, 100 being average, so that's not promising. I assume Jake Fox or Felix Pie are the first casualties of the trade. By the time Soriano is healthy, rosters will have expanded and we'll have September to hopefully figure out our playoff roster.
UPDATE #2: The Cubs will also get cash considerations from the Tigers in the deal and a 40-man roster move will have to be made before tomorrow. Arizona Phil speculates either Angel Pagan to the 60-day DL or Neil Cotts being DFA'd. Both sound reasonable to me and I'll throw in DFAing Buck Coats who doesn't seem to have much future with the club.
UPDATE #3: Tigers Insider says the Cubs have until October 15th to send over Mr. PTBNL.
AZ PHIL: Craig Monroe is signed through this season and is making $4.775M, and will not be a FA until after the 2008 season. He will be eligible for salary-arbitration after this season, where even if he takes the maximum 20% cut, he still can’t get less than $3.82M in 2008. So unless he gets REALLY hot with the Cubs and makes himself indispensible, I’d look for Monroe to be a 12/12 non-tender.
Comments