Garza Trade Is Now Official

The Chicago Cubs have officially announced that they have acquired Starting Pitcher Matt Garza along with outfielder Fernando Perez, and minor league Pitcher Zachary Rosscup from the Tampa Bay Rays for prospects Chris Archer, Hak-Ju Lee, Robinson Chirinos, Brandon Guyer, and Sam Fuld.

Rosscup,LHP, was the Rays’ 28th pick in the 2009 amateur draft. In 2010, he was a combined 3-1 with an ERA of 2.64 while spending time in the rookie league, and then with single A Hudson-Valley. Credit to Luke Blaize, our Minor League insider, who reported all along that he had a feeling that the final prospect coming to the Cubs would be a left handed starting pitcher.

Bruce Miles gives a brief description of what General Manager Jim Hendry had to say about the trade…

"It’s time to transcribe some tape (or digital voice recorder), but Hendry termed the deal an ” old-fashioned baseball trade that you don’t get to make very often, and for the right reasons.”He said he had been working on the deal since right before the winter meetings and that he and Rays GM Andrew Friedman had become good friends during the process. Hendry also said Greg Maddux, his special assistant, had signficant input in the deal.As far as trading Archer, Hendry said: “The price of poker is high.”He also said this was not a deal done just to “win now,” that Garza is only 27, the Cubs have his rights for three years and that “he’s going to be a Cub for a while.”Although Garza had heard his name in rumors, he was “kind of caught off-guard.” He said he saw Wrigley Field yesterday “in its snow-covered glory.” Hey, this kid might be a good quote.He said that learning to control his emotions has been “a learning curve and that it was never a “huge problem.”"

After hearing Hendry talk about the trade, I actually like the deal more than I originally did. The reason being because Hendry said special assistant Greg Maddux had significant input on the Cubs acquiring Garza.Which is great news for Cubs fans, as Maddux must feel that Garza will succeed with the Cubs. Hendry also cleared some misunderstandings and said that the Garza trade was not a “win now” move, as Garza is under team control for three more years and hopefully longer. So, I think it is obvious that while Hendry did trade away Chris Archer and Hak-Ju Lee, he still has an eye out for the future.