Gray is 28-years old and worked out of the bullpen for Oakland.  He compiled an 0-1 record and a 3.76 ERA in 24 relief appearances last year.  Right after the trade, I read that Gray is a hard thrower (92-94 mph), but has control issues.  However, according to Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald, Gray only allowed 4 walks in 26.1 innings.  In fact, in an interview with Bruce Levine from ESPN Chicago, Jim Hendry said “Gray throws a lot of strikes” and compared him to Angel Guzman.  Perhaps the initial reports were wrong?

According to MLB.com’s Jonathon Mayo (via Carrie Muskat of MLB.com), Morla is a 21-year old fireballer whose fastball is far and away his best pitch.  He also sports a decent curve that has improved over time.  Morla is a starter at the moment, but Mayo believes his future is in the bullpen.

Spencer is a powerful 1B-Of.  His offense is his strong suit, although he does have a very good outfield arm.  There was some thought earlier in his career that he might turn out to be a pitcher.  He threw in the 90′s in his few outings for Arizona State before being drafted.

This trade doesn’t excite me or anger me.  The Cubs didn’t lose much and they didn’t gain much.  It felt more like just rearranging the deck chairs.

However, the trade does raise one concern.  Fox appeared to be one of the Cubs better trade chips, especially if the trade was with an AL team.  So what now?  Fox is gone, the Cubs received very little value (at least immediate value), and they still have holes to fill.  I don’t want to make too big of a deal out of this.  It just seemed unnecessary.

Of course, there is another way to look at this.  Jake Fox really didn’t have a position with the Cubs.  His value is his bat, not his glove.  Plus, he’s out of minor league options, so trading him made sense.  I’m just not sure this trade was the right one.

Also, Aaron Miles was taking up roster space and really wasn’t expected to make a contribution to the 2010 team.  In fact, I had suggested trading or releasing him in an earlier post.  So getting anything back in return for Miles was yeoman’s work on Hendry’s part.  Perhaps Fox was the price the Cubs had to pay to move Miles (plus the $1.0 million).  In the end, the Cubs saved $1.7 million.  Not exactly a salary dump, but every little bit helps.

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There are some very odd rumors floating around out there on the Internets.  For instance, Evans Clinchy of NESN.com (Red Sox network) is reporting that the Cubs are making a run at Jason Bay.  That’s a new one.

DiamondLeung.com is reporting that La Presna (a newspaper in Nicaragua) is reporting that both the Cubs and Cards are players for Vicente Padilla.  The La Presna report supposedly comes from a source within the agency that represents Padilla.

At this time of year, I guess you get your rumors from where you can, but I don’t think either rumor makes sense.  First off, Jason Bay is a left fielder, a position the Cubs already have covered.  Could bodies be moved?  Sure, but that won’t help the second issue.  The Cubs can not afford Bay.  Various reports have suggested that Bay is looking at a multi-year deal in the $20 million/year range.  Unless Tom Ricketts opens his wallet really wide, the Cubs won’t even be sniffing Jason Bay.

Not that the Cubs couldn’t use another arm in the rotation, but I don’t see them pursuing Padilla.  He’s a good enough pitcher, but Texas traded him to the Dodgers last year in part because he was such a disruptive force in the locker room.  That’s the same Texas Rangers who said what a great guy Milton Bradley was while he was a Ranger.  After the Cubs experiment in bad team chemistry this past year, I don’t think they are going to be signing up Vicente Padilla for round two.

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The Winter Meetings start next week in Indianapolis.  Will the Cubs be players in what is expected to be a very active trade market or will the albatross that is Milton Bradley prevent them from making any moves not involving him?  My hope (and dare I say expectation) is that Jim Hendry is going to be able to get a deal done for Bradley at the Winter Meetings.  My guess is that it will involve three or four teams and will likely require a quiet room and several bottles of scotch.

The most likely trade partner for the Cubs appears to be Tampa Bay.  However, there are a lot of bad contracts out there.  Hopefully, Hendry can find a team with a contract they want to move and be able to make a deal that works for both teams.  In fact, that is my Christmas wish this year.  World peace can wait until next year.  Let’s get the Bradley deal done this Christmas.