Definitely an impressive signing. I want to kiss that fat tub of goo for actually making the risky trade for once. And possibly fleecing Billy f’n Beane.

The good part of the deal, for me, is the Cubs gave up absolutely nothing they couldn’t part with in 2008. Murton can only play left and doesn’t hit for power; with the looming return of Soriano, he was completely expendable and wouldn’t have a position east of Iowa until 2015. Patterson never seemed to find favor with Piniella and wasn’t all that great anyway; good on Jim for being willing to trade away a second baseman, also. Donaldson is consistently ranked as a top two or three position player in a weak Cubs system, but he’s a catcher, and we’ve already got one for the next decade. And Gallagher, while potentially extremely talented, was in the bullpen at the moment and probably wouldn’t have started the rest of the year unless someone else got hurt. In other words, even if Harden’s plane crashes on the way to Chicago, this trade doesn’t make the Cubs worse in 2008 and potentially makes them much, much better. It might make them worse in 2010, but it was clearly a win-now move, as it should have been.