I would like to hereby reinforce my previously-expressed opinion that the Chicago Cubs will win this year\'s World Series, a prediction that was solidified with the Garciaparra trade. Obviously, the Red Sox should have dealt him in the offseason when they had the chance to get A-Rod, but blew it. So the Sox made a panic move Saturday because they know he would have left as a free agent following the season due to the fact that he\'s a timid baby whose feelings got hurt when his team merely tried to trade for one of the best players in baseball history in Rodriguez.
Still, the Sox should have let Garciaparra play out the string and taken their best shot at the World Series this year. Curt Schilling and the Headhunter aren\'t getting any younger. This is a WIN NOW team. They were not equally compensated in this trade, and Garciaparra, despite being mostly heartless and gutless as one of the most overrated players in the game (not as good as A-Rod, Jeter or Tejada), is still a solid contact hitter and will tear it up the rest of the way due to his new and comfortable surroundings.
It\'s a fitting trade. One team\'s curse ends while another\'s just keeps building, largely due to numbskull deals like this one. I\'m sure Theo Epstein was just stressed out with his driver\'s license exam coming up.
A pathetic move from a floundering franchise. As a Mets fan, I know the feeling. The Sox will still eek out the Wild Card, but again lose to the Yankees in the ALCS, which they probably would have done even if they hadn\'t traded Mr. Mia Hamm.
By the way, Yankees fans shouldn\'t exactly be doing cartwheels over getting Esteban Loaiza. They would have had Randy Johnson if they hadn\'t already emptied their farm system. It\'s ironic that the last "prospects-for-veterans" trade the Yankees made involved getting Aaron Boone. He\'s done a lot since he sent that Wakefield knuckler into the left-field stands, hasn\'t he?
Some of those prospects the Reds have now might have been useful in trying to acquire the Unit. It won\'t matter next year when Johnson goes to the Bronx as a free agent, but until then...
Cubs win, Cubs win!!!
Pitch