Grabow is more than just a LOOGY.  In the past, he has worked as both a set-up man and as a closer (not in the same game).  He will likely serve as a middle relief guy for the Cubs.  The 30-year old Grabow will become a free agent at the end of the year.  He signed for $2.3 million in 2009.  He projects to be a Type-A free agent.

Initially, there was some thought that the Cubs were looking for a left-handed reliever who could be used to shut down left handed hitters.  If that’s what they were looking for, that’s not what they got.  This year, right handed batters are hitting .234 against Grabow while lefties are hitting .275.

Twenty-seven-year old Gorzelanny was a terrific pitcher in 2007 for the Pirates, but kind of fell apart in 2008.  Some people have blamed overuse in 2007 for Gorzellany’s poor performance in 2008.  Whatever happened, he has seen very little action for the Pirates this year and was pitching for Triple-A Indianapolis when the Cubs acquired him.  For Indy, Gorzellany was 4-3 this year with a 2.48 ERA.  He’ll report to Iowa for the Cubs and will try to work his way up to Chicago.

The Cubs gave up Kevin Hart, who not only was having a good year, but was having a good game at the time the deal was made.  Hart got the win today against the Astros going 6.0 inning, giving up six hits, three earned runs, striking out four and walking two.  He found out after the game he had been traded to Pittsburgh.  That was a better fate than what happened to the pitcher he faced.  Houston pitcher Russ Ortiz gave up nine earned runs in 2.1 innings and was released immediately after the game.

Hendry sold high on Hart, who was 3-1 with the Cubs and was sporting a 2.60 ERA.  He has had a good year so far in 2009.  In fact, he’s done better than just about anyone expected.  That’s why it was smart to trade him now.  He’s worth more now than he has ever been and it’s likely he won’t  be worth as much as he is now any time in the future. 

Jose Ascanio, in my opinion, is a run of the mill right handed reliever.  He’s not terrible, but he’s easily replacable.   

Josh Harrison is a man without a position at the moment.  The Single-A infielder doesn’t have the power to be a third baseman, and he doesn’t have the footwork to be a good middle infielder.  Unless things change drastically, Harrison will likely never be more than a utility infielder, a position the Cubs have in spades. 

Overall, I really like this trade.  Hendry did a good job of getting one piece that the Cubs need now (Grabow) and another piece that, if he returns to form, could help in the future.  In exchange, he didn’t give up much that will hurt the team either this year or into the future. 

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If you want to see a great defensive play, take a look at the video at this link.  Delwyn Young is the player that makes the great barehanded catch.  The ump made the wrong call on the play, but the Pirates got their man any way.

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In other trades of note yesterday and today, the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee and OF Ben Franciso from Cleveland, the Dodgers acquired LHP George Sherrill from Baltimore, and the Giates acquired 2nd basemenFreddy Sanchez from Pittsburgh.

Friday at 4:00 PM ET is the deadline to make trades.  Other rumor out there are the Rangers and Dodgers still working on a Roy Halladay trade (Is anyone else besides me surprised that the Rangers are in this conversation?), the Red Sox are trying to find a way to land Adrian Gonzalez,  the Yankees are looking at the Royals Brian Bannister, and the Giants are kicking the tires on Mark Teahan.

In Sunday’s game, Randy Wells pitched well and earned his first victory of the year.  He pitched 6.2 innings, giving up just five hits, two earned runs, he struck out three and walked one.  His pitching line now stands at 1-3 with a 2.57 ERA.  Sean Marshall, Jose Ascanio, and Kevin Gregg pitched with 2.1 scoreless innings.

Milton Bradley went 2-3 with a double, Geovany Soto hit his fifth homerun of the year, and Jake Fox contributed a double and a sacrifice fly which lead to three runs.

The Cubs travel to Atlanta to make up a rainout from earlier in the season before heading to Detroit to start a three game set on Tuesday.  Ryan Dempster (4-4) will take on Javier Vasquez (4-6) in the one game affair.

I’ll be the first to admit that the bullpen couldn’t hold the Astros in game two or three of the series.  In both games, the awesome Geoff Blum hit a walk off single to win the game, first against Angel Guzman on Wednesday night(to lose an eight inning, three hit performance by Zambrano) and then off Jose Ascanio on Thursday afternoon.  But come on, the pitching needs some margin for error.  The Cubs need to produce more than one or two runs per game if they expect to win.

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Milton Bradley went 2-11 in the Houston series and his batting line is now just  .215/.329/.369.  That’s not much production from a guy that was signed for three years at $10 million per.  I’m not ready to declare Bradley a bust yet, but I’m getting close.

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According to Nick Cafro at the Boston Globe, the Cubs (along with the Rays) have watched Pedro Martinez’ throwing sessions in the Dominican Republic.  Are the Cubs interested in signing Martinez?  No one’s talking, so it’s hard to tell.  Why would the Cubs need Martinez?  The already have excellent starting pitching.  What they need is someone who can hit. 

All true, but think of it this way.  If the Cubs sign Martinez and he can be a serviceable fifth starter, that will allow them to trade one of their current pitchers for some hitting.  But who would they trade?  My guess is that neither Z nor Ryan Dempster are going anywhere.  Ted Lilly is a possibility, but he has a no-trade clause.  Rich Harden is a possibility, but he’s been injured and other teams may not be willing to trade an impact player for him.  That leaves Randy Wells and Sean Marshall. 

The reason Wells and Marshall make sense is because other teams view them as long term options.  They are both young, no eligible for free agency yet, and it appears that for both of them, their best days are still to come.  Teams would be willing to give up a player who can help the Cubs today in exchange for either Wells or Marshall, while the same can probably not be said for the Cubs more veteran pitchers.

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The Cubs return home to the “friendly confines” to take on the Twins in interleague action this weekend.  Randy Wells (0-2) takes on Kevin Slowey (8-2) in an afternoon tilt to kick-off the series today (Friday).  Hopefully, some home cooking will wake up the Cubs’ bats.