Cubs’ Possible Trade Targets and Home/Road Splits

In case you haven’t noticed, the Cubs keep coming up in Jake Peavy trade rumors.  Apparently, along with the Braves and Dodgers, they are one of the finalists to nab him.  I’m frankly a little surprised; I’m not sure where these teams match up – the Cubs don’t have any real overwhelming, top-flight prospects (at least, not any they’d be willing to trade), and the Padres are looking for a handful of guys just like that.

I’m mainly here to point out that Peavy’s road ERA over the last 3 years is 1.01 runs HIGHER than his home ERA.  That’s okay, he’s still a great pitcher, and while he’s greatly helped by his home park, there could be other factors.  It just seems like you might want to weigh that in a decision to trade for him.

Still, I’d love to see the Cubs go get him, especially if they can keep Soto (no brainer), Samardzija, Vitters, and Ceda (probably in that order of importance).  I like Felix Pie, but I think that ship has sailed with the announcement that Fukudome and Johnson will platoon in center next year.

And that decision leaves right field open.  One of the most interesting names being batted around for that spot right now is Jeremy Hermida of the Florida Marlins.  Hermida is a nice role player with a little upside – he was a top prospect, and he’s struggled with motivation (mediocre teams can do that to ya) and some injuries.  He fits nicely in the Cubs’ plans by batting left-handed, too.  I have no idea what it would take to move him, but I do know that his three year home/road splits are more encouraging. Not also that he hits lefties well enough that he wouldn’t necessarily require a platoon partner (although that might be ideal – in fact, the Cubs might actually already have him in Mark DeRosa, who could play the outfield against opposing left-handers with, say, Ronny Cedeno starting at second).

Of course, this is all a bit pie-in-the-sky right now, but we’ll start to see pieces fall into place soon, I think.

Next time:  drawing a parallel between the Red Sox of the decade’s first half and the Cubs teams of current vintage with regards to offseason plans.