Sickels evaluates the SD haul:

Here

He likes trade for both sides.

Well, yes, I'm assuming they are trading Garza in order to start Rizzo at first base.

I'd think they'd have a backup plan in case Rizzo struggles.

As for pitching, I have no idea what they plan is there. I'm sure they are not done with the FA market for arms but what expensive pitchers are out there who Chicago might want?

There is still Oswalt, Kuroda, and Jackson that might get decent contracts. And after that there are a lot of guys who might take a few million and an option that have potential for upside that the Cubs might take a chance on. They'd at least provide the name power to help fight the notion that the Cubs are tanking the season.

EDIT:SP free agents

Well, I think that a 34 year old Oswalt and a 37 year old Kuroda need not apply if, as it appears, the Cubs aren't particularly worried about 2012 and are willing to have a significantly reduced payroll.

And as far as free agent first basemen to back up Rizzo: it won't be anybody expensive. If Stewart is getting a shot with no moderately effective backup plan in place then why would Chicago worry about having a backup for a real prospect?

Wandy Rodriguez makes sense for the Cubs. Wouldn't take much in prospects to get him provided they eat the money. Good LHP with three more controllable years.

Los Angeles (Both the Dodgers, and Angels) is surprisingly low key for baseball players. Votto could do his partying or read a book during his off time, and nobody would care.

Unless you decide to take your Maserati for a spin on the 101.

It's going to be a rough offseason PR-wise if the Cubs decide to reduce payroll by $30 million in 2012.

Maybe they're looking to trade Soriano along with an enormous upfront payment. That would earn some goodwill with the fans who have mostly wanted to get rid of him for a few years already. Theo can say that he wants to evaluate the current talent this year and clean up the books before aggressively pursuing free agents and trades to improve the roster (e.g. "The goal is to make this team an annual World Series contender, and that's what we're aiming to achieve.") Then they can start LaHair, call up Brett Jackson, and hope that the team can stay in shouting distance of the playoffs for awhile with Pujols and Fielder gone from the division. Next year they would have almost no money committed with the likes of BJ Upton, Zack Greinke, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, and John Danks slated for free agency.

Going into the offseason the Cubs "had" to make a big move which seemed to mean they had to sign one of Fielder/Pujols to keep the fans at bay.

However, bringing in Theo was, I think, a sufficiently big move that they didn't have to do one of those two. However, I'm not sure the fans will be content with a roster purge. And I'm not sure I would like Garza for Rizzo anyway.

If the Cubs did acquire Rizzo -- and even if they don't and they don't acquire Fielder -- I'm assuming they'll try to get Pena back on a reasonable deal. I'm not convinced anybody is lining up to sign Pena for 3 years.

How did this thread wind up being about the Cubs? ;-

Rizzo is going to be a good player, I think. But I wouldn't trade Matt Garza to get him if I ran Chicago.

Going into the offseason the Cubs "had" to make a big move which seemed to mean they had to sign one of Fielder/Pujols to keep the fans at bay.

It will keep them at bay, but will it keep them in the seats? That's what they have to worry about.

Pedantic jackass alert.
68 OPS+ is pretty good for a pitcher!

Aargh! That, of course, is a 68 ERA+. Volquez put up a sweet -27OPS+. Also, he was a terrible baserunner the few times he was on. He just killed the Reds last year. He was the anti-Votto.

It will keep them at bay, but will it keep them in the seats? That's what they have to worry about.

Well, they have to worry bout whether they will buy the tickets ... actually showing up remains optional. :-)

Really, the Cubs have put some awful teams out there and still draw. If they can't weather a single season of 2.8 M sold then they're in bigger trouble than I thought. It also doesn't hurt that the Sox don't appear to be going all in this season either. So stock up on the sun screen, looks like a good summer to spend at the beach.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how far Theo is going to push this and how low the attendance will drop.

Unless you decide to take your Maserati for a spin on the 101.

That took over a month to be reported. In celebrity news, that's a century.

I've been out of town all weekend, and wanted to see what the feelings were around here of the trade. Then I ran across this:

True. But if you listen the boy that ain't his underlying message.

It's more along the lines of, "F*ck these f*cking guys, I am SO leaving this f*cking place"

There has never, ever been anything from Votto remotely close to this. Once. I defy you to find one utterance from him or his agent even insinuating he wasn't happy in Cinci.

What he did say when he signed his contract extension was, essentially, "I don't know what I'll want to do in 3 years". No hate, not even a "I want to test the market at that time". He said that at that time, he didn't know where he'd want to play in 3 years. Seems like a level-headed decision to me.

And most Reds fans, or at least the ones who pay attention, saw this quote and found nothing wrong with it. The tin hat guys (the guys who think the Reds FO is completely incompetent, and the guys that think that no one in their right minds would want to play in Cinci, and the guys who think that Cinci is some backwater that would never pay what it takes to get a good player) of course assumed that this meant he was leaving as soon as he could buy a bus ticket.