Wait, What?

These last couple of days have confused me greatly. I thought I had a handle on what the Cubs were trying to do this offseason, but lately I have to admit I am not at all sure.

A few posts ago we talked about whether the Cubs have gotten better, well there have been more moves since then.

Ronny Cedeno and Rich Hill are now both gone. No big deal there, they were both out of options and unlikely to be big members of this club.

Rich Hill was traded to the O's last night for the infamous PTBNL (player to be named later). Surely we could have gotten a little more for Hill. Sure he struggled mightily last season and in winter ball, but he was outstanding the two seasons before that. Surely some team would have believed that they would be able to solve his problems (Texas Rangers maybe with Nolan there) and could have offered a little more.

Meanwhile Ronny Cedeno was traded to the Mariners (in Seattle where there was a 4.6 earthquake this morning, hope everyone is okay) for Aaron Heilman. Heilman is another pitcher who had a down year last year, but looked strong before that. Heilman last season was plagued by injuries, and I think that he will definitely have a bounce back season this year. If the trade had been Ronny Cedeno and Rich Hill for Aaron Heilman, I think I would still be okay with the way that this offseason is looking, but it wasn't. In fact it wasn't just Ronny Cedeno moved in the trade for Heilman. Garrett Olson was as well.

Olson, you may recall, was acquired recently by the Cubs from Baltimore for Felix Pie. It has been reported that Olson was highly coveted by the San Diego Padres. The Padres, you may have heard, are interested in possibly trading the ace of their staff and 2007 Cy Young winner Jake Peavy. The Cubs were the favorite to acquire said pitcher, as you might have been aware. Therefore, it became logical that once the Cubs acquired Olson he would soon be headed to the west coast. That was expected. What wasn't was that it would be in a trade to Seattle for a guy that projects to be bullpen help and compete for the 5th spot in the rotation.

Wait, what?

We traded a guy that was to be instrumental in the trade for a staff ace for a guy that might or might not become the number 5 guy?

Okay, Jim, I trust you, I do. But I haven't understood these moves.

Seriously, if we aren't getting Peavy, why the hell did we trade DeRosa?

I'm not going to like that trade if it doesn't ultimately result in us getting Jake Peavy.

(Although I am going to be rooting for the Indians a bit this season, seeing as they have Mark DeRosa and the greatness that is Kerry Wood).

There are still two weeks until pitchers and catchers report (oh my God, only two weeks until pitchers and catchers report *squeal*) so there is still time to make this offseason make sense.

You better get on it Hendry.