The Cubs Chronicle

The Cubs acquired Doug Glanville from the Rangers on Wednesday in exchange for low Single-A Lansing outfielder Jason Fransz (who’s not much of a prospect). Glanville played for the Cubs in 1996 and 1997, eventually being traded for Mickey Morandini, and was their 1st round draft pick in 1991. Weeghman Park has more on Glanville’s career path. In short, he had a good 1999, and hasn’t been very good in any other season.

This is another event in a long history of such events of the Cubs identifying a problem, but coming up with a solution that doesn’t actually fix the problem. The Cubs’ weaknesses this year have been third base, the 5th starter, and the bench (you could also call offense from the catcher position a problem, but since that problem doesn’t really have an identifiable solution at this point, I’m ignoring it).

At third base, Mark Bellhorn created a problem for the Cubs by leaving his power in last season (something he still hasn’t found in Colorado). The Cubs’ solution for too long was Lenny Harris, who created more of a problem than Bellhorn, and then a Harris/Ramon Martinez/Jose Hernandez triumvirate. Jim Hendry made a nice trade for Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton to, in part, fix the third base problem, but the fact that Harris is still on the roster speaks against Hendry as much as the trade speaks for him.

The Cubs have also identified the 5th starter problem, but in that case have not tried any solutions, despite having one readily available in Juan Cruz.

The bench has also been a weakness, outside of Eric Karros (who can’t really be considered a bench player anymore) and Ramon Martinez. The primary pinch-hitters – Lenny Harris and Troy O’Leary – are both hitting below replacement level to a large degree. Tom Goodwin – who’s actually had an OK season for a backup outfielder – is currently on the disabled list. So Hendry sought to strengthen the bench by acquiring someone who’s hitting right at replacement level, and that only after a recent hot streak. Again, a solution that doesn’t solve the problem.

Lee Sinins, in his e-mail alert about the trade, used the subject line, “Cubs decide making outs is a really good thing.” And his message said:

The other NL Central contenders strengthened themselves when the Cubs acquired CF Doug Glanville from the Rangers for minor league OF Jason Francz and cash.

That may be overstating it a bit, but the underlying point is valid – this is a trade that doesn’t help the Cubs.

To make room for Glanville on the roster, the Cubs sent Trenidad Hubbard back to Iowa. Granted, it’s Trenidad Hubbard. And while I have reservations about his defense, there’s also a good chance that Hubbard would have spent a good deal more time on base than Glanville is going to. This year at Iowa, Hubbard’s .400 OBP% contributed to his having a .310 EqA, which translates to a .258 EqA in the big leagues (Glanville is at .229 this year, which is in line with his previous three seasons). And in 20 plate appearances with the Cubs this year, Hubbard drew 4 walks, a number it can take Glanville two months of full-time play to accumulate (he has a total of 6 in 201 plate appearances this year).

Don’t get me wrong – I like Doug Glanville as a player. Quite a bit, actually. I’ll have no trouble rooting for him. But my liking a player doesn’t always correspond to how good that player is. I also used to really like Shawon Dunston.

In any case, because Lofton will likely play almost every game here on out, Glanville isn’t going to see much playing time outside of pinch-hitting duties. Which means the trade for him will not matter much either way in terms of the Cubs’ chances of making the postseason (and which also means that the one asset he does bring – decent defense – will not be utiliized). What does matter, however, is that the Cubs GM sees this as a beneficial move, rather than a lateral one. Hendry is quoted at MLB.com as saying that the Glanville acquisition “puts one need behind us.”

Combine that with Hendry’s apparent disregard for the concept of sunk costs, and he has some distance to go before becoming a really good GM. The Astros apparently understand sunk costs: they waived Brian Hunter, who was making $1.2M this year. Yet the Cubs cling to players making a little money – Harris, Shawn Estes – in an unfounded hope of getting value back, when better, minimum-salaried alternatives exist.

For more analysis of the Glanville trade, see The Cubs Transactions Report.

UPDATE (9:15am): Scott Lange has comments on the trade.