Good Bye D-Lee

If you have followed my blog, particularly last year, you know that D-Lee was the subject of my ire much of last season; he was a distant #2 to Jim Hendry for putting this mess together in the first place. Well, today I got my wish even if it happened a year late...the Cubs officially traded D-Lee. Surprisingly, they actually received 3 minor leaguers from the Braves in return including their 16th ranked player. With only 40 games left in the season, his last one of his big 5-year contract, it certainly works better that they actually received compensation beyond the the dreaded "bag of balls".

I'm a little concerned with the "cash considerations" phrase I keep hearing and reading tonight as I just don't understand that concept...it's not like the Braves are doing this huge favor, is it? Same thing with the Dodgers and Ted Lilly (now 3-0 with 1.89 ERA for them)...WHY are the Cubs paying ANY of the money owed to these traded players? Apparently, it's part of "the game" I guess as it seems to happen every time one of these trades happen so I know I shouldn't be surprised.

Here's a quick little history of D-Lee with the Cubs:

• D-Lee made himself right at home here in the NLCS while on his way to winning the World Series with his former team - the Florida Marlins
• D-Lee was "stolen" from the Marlins in an off-season salary dump trade to the Cubs for Hee-Seop Choi and a minor leaguer before the 2004 season
• With the addition of D-Lee and Greg Maddux, the Cubs were the overall favorites to win the World Series - didn't even make the playoffs as the folded down the stretch
• 2003-04 was the first time the Cubs finished about .500 in consecutive seasons since 1972 which was the 6th straight season they finished above .500
• D-Lee's numbers in 2004 were nearly identical to his 2003 Marlins number, with the exception of post-season numbers obviously
• The Cubs finished with a better record than 2003, but finished 3rd in the NL Central and watched the Red Sox break the Curse of the Bambino while winning their first World Series in 86 years
• Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 96 years
• D-Lee had a HUGE year winning his only batting title to date, nearly winning the MVP (finished 3rd behind Pujols who won and Andruw Jones who finished 2nd), making his first All-Star Game, winning his second Gold Glove and earning his only Silver Slugger (tough to beat out Albert Pujols)
• The Cubs were not very good finishing 4 games under .500 leaving them in 4th place while watching their cross-town rivals break their streak by winning their first World Series in 88 years
• Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 97 years
• D-Lee broke his wrist on a freak play when Rafael Furcal (who the Cubs very nearly signed that off-season) crashed into Lee near 1st base
• Lee played a career low 50 games which "helped" push the Cubs to 96 losses and led to Dusty Baker being fired
• Lou Piniella was hired to replace Dusty Baker (should have hired Joe Girardi who was unceremoniously fired by the Florida Marlins even though he won the Manager of the Year)
• D-Lee came back from the freak wrist injury but was not quite the same player at least from a power standpoint dropping from 46 HRs and 107 RBIs in 2005 to 22 HRs and 82 RBIs in 2007
• Cubs turned it around in Lou's first season winning the NL Central just as they did for Dusty in 2003
• This time, no "magic" in the post-season for the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS
• D-Lee hit .333 in the series but had zero RBIs
• Cubs non-World Series streak reaches 99 years
• D-Lee nearly duplicated 2007 regular season numbers in 2008
• Cubs won 97 games earning the #1 seed in the NL for the playoffs
• This was the first time since 1908 that the Cubs made the post-season two seasons in a row
• Cubs were again swept by the Dodgers in the NLDS
• D-Lee his .545 in the series but again had zero RBIs
• Of course, this was the dreaded 100-year anniversary of when the Cubs last won the World Series
• D-Lee was about the only bright spot from last year's 2009 Cubs team finishing with a career high 111 RBIs while hitting 35 HRs and batting .306
• The Cubs did finish above .500 for the third straight season, but finished 2nd in the NL Central and missed the playoffs
• 101 years and counting for the Cubs last World Series title
• D-Lee REALLY struggled during this 2010 season from start to "finish"; combining with Aramis Ramirez' career worst year completely doomed the Cubs
• D-Lee finished his nearly 7-year run with the Cubs hitting .251 which was his worst since 1999
• Before hitting 4 HRs against the Cards last weekend (very timely as far as this trade happening), he was sitting on 12 HRs for the year having hit only 2 in the previous 8 weeks
• Of course in "typical" D-Lee fashion, all 4 HRs this past weekend were solo shots
• Actually, 10 of his 16 HRs this year were solo leading to a pathetic RBI total of 56 through 120 games

During his exit press conference, he said his "experience was nothing but positive" referring to his nearly 7 years in Chicago and that he "grew as a player, grew as a person" but he "didn't achieve the ultimate goal". D-Lee was a very respected player and considered a clubhouse leader...in that sense, he will certainly be missed. His anti-clutchness will not be missed...at least not by me. I don't know a way to figure out how to come up with the following stat, but I'd like to see where he falls in regard to RBIs per HR...his career 162-game average is 90 RBIs and 28 HR. While 28 HRs is a very respectable total (no, he is definitely NOT Albert Pujols - there's only ONE of those guys!) but barely exceeding 3 RBIs per HR just doesn't seem like a lot to me. Out of his 309 career HRs, 191 of them have been solo shots (62%) so it isn't like this year's performance (62.5%) is an aberration. I looked up a few other guys and this is what I found:
     Aramis Ramirez - 281 total HRs, 143 solo (51%)
     Sammy Sosa - 609, 326 solo (53.5%)
     Paul Konerko - 356, 212 solo (59.5%)
     David Ortiz - 343, 204 solo (59.5%)
     Carlos Lee - 322, 173 solo (54%)
     Adam Dun - 347, 196 solo (56.5%)
     Adrian Gonzalez - 159, 89 solo (56%)
     Alfonso Soriano - 309, 197 solo (64%)

I swear this is every single player I thought of and didn't leave anyone off the list that didn't help make my point. Paul Konerko has been brought up quite a bit lately as being non-clutch so I threw him in there. I find it interesting that Soriano is the only one with a higher percentage and was the closest to D-Lee's percentage since he was a lead-off hitter for so long.

Similar to how Mike Fontenot (not that there is any other comparison with these two guys) who was traded to the Giants while the Cubs were in San Francisco; D-Lee is traded to the Braves as they come to town this weekend. The Braves are hosting the Washington Nats right now with a game on Thu afternoon (get-away day!), but I doubt they'll have D-Lee fly out there just to turn back around and head back to Chicago right after that game.

So will the Cubs miss D-Lee? Most definitely; particularly rookie Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez who take the most advantage of D-Lee's Gold Glove ability to save them several throwing errors. The rest of the team will miss his clubhouse presence (except Carlos Zambrano maybe) and his quiet leadership. To me, it seems like he along with Aramis and Lou have all thrown in the towel already so I'd rather see him move on before passing on those thoughts to the rest of his young teammates.

So who replaces D-Lee at 1B for the next 41 games? I'd LOVE to see Tyler Colvin get a shot as I just don't think the Cubs really have anyone in the minors ready to step in (and don't say "what about Micah Hoffpauir?" because he's had his chance - he hit .239 in 105 games last year and is 0-for-7 with 4 Ks this year). The outfield remains set without Colvin as far as big contracts for 2011 - Soriano ($72 million for 4 more years) in LF, newly signed Marlon Byrd ($12 million for 2 more years) in CF, and Fukudome ($13.5 million for 2011) in RF. Fukudome may eventually be traded next year as he'll be in the last year of his contract, but it will take some time and you'd hate to have that much money sitting on the bench. BUT I have ZERO confidence the Cubs management "brain trust" will think even slightly out of the box so we'll probably see Xavier Nady over there instead...or maybe a combo with Hoffpauir. Now that Lee is gone, will the Cubs pull off the biggest coup EVER and nab The Machine who is a potential free agent and seemingly nearly unsignable by the Cards? If not, what about grabbing Adrian Gonzalez from the cash-stricken Padres?

After Lou ripped the rookie pitchers following Mon's loss, he basically apologized following Tue's loss. If you watched today (Wed) and you were paying attention, you saw 10 rookies play today including 6 pitchers and 4 starters against the NL's best team. What?!? Holy cow! Speaking of Lou, what was the point of Lou wearing his 1977 Yankees World Series ring? His Cubs are now 21 games under .500 and in 5th place in the NL Central 19 1/2 games behind Dusty Baker's Cincinnati Reds. They've already raised the white flag with the Lilly/Theriot trade at the deadline and the rumors were swirling about a potential Lee trade on top of that. So was the 1977 ring a "nah, nah, na-nah, nah - you'll never have one of these" things or what? Just like everything else Lou since last summer, I just don't get it.

Anyway, Good Bye D-Lee...regardless of everything, I wish you well and I'll see you on Sunday as I'm heading back to the Friendly Confines for the 8th time this season (yuck!). I'll be pulling for your Braves in the NL during Bobby Cox' last season but hope the Rangers win it all (I guess not if they have to face the Rays in the playoffs - yikes!).

GO BULLS!!!