Cubs lose some punch

I'm not going to lie, I was sad to see Michael Barrett go yesterday. Sure he was always a defensive liability. Yes, he was a distraction this season. Of course his trade to the Padres had nothing to do with any of that. When you have a chance to snap up Rob Bowen you take it.

Right. When you take Barrett's bat (Silver Slugger '06) into consideration with his glove (5 E, 10 PB '06) you were left with a fair-to-middlin' catcher but his true value lay in the fact that he made the Cubs a fraction more interesting which is no small feat when the team is done by July year in and year out.

I think that was the reason he remained a personal favorite of mine. I devoted an inordinate amount of time dissecting the Cubs backstop, even snatching up his Baseball Reference page when it became available. Now I've got 7 more months of having my name attached to a guy who will wear a "sand" colored uniform half the time.

I'm still okay with that. Rob Bowen's bringing his .268 average to the Friendly Confines, but that doesn't really matter. The best thing he could do is punch the first person, teammate or foe, who gets in his face. That's called setting the tone.

The Cubs are also getting minor leaguer Kyler Burke but I don't know anything about him other than his parents took a perfectly good first name and just swapped out a T for a K which seems like a bad omen for a man who plies his trade at the plate. (Actually, it sounds like something Roger Clemens would do.)

I'm not fooling myself, this was purely a dump on the Cubs part. If either of those guys is still with the squad next spring I think you can consider that equal value.

And if not, well, we'll always have memories of Pierzynski.