You'd better not pout, I'm telling you why

Juan Pierre is coming to town.

It's like an early Christmas present from the Cubs to me. I've had Pierre on my radar since he killed us in '03 - in fact, I wrote the following in the brief period during which I maintained the Cubs blog back in July:

"Trade rumors: ESPN suggested that Hendry might be looking at Juan Pierre; Hendry denied doing any such thing, though it's hard to imagine why he wouldn't. Pierre's having a down year, but in three of the last four he's racked up at least 200 hits. Hendry should know what's up since Pierre killed the Cubs in '03, getting ten hits in 33 at-bats in the NLCS, including two triples. He's also a base-stealing threat, getting at least 45 in each of the last four years, though he does get caught quite a bit (2004: 45 SB, 24 CS), which lowers that value. Still, he plays center and is a proven leadoff commodity, and he would likely come on the cheap in a down year with the Marlins evidently looking to dump salaries."

Is three minor-league pitchers "on the cheap" for a guy who could bang out 200 hits for you for the next ten years? I say yes. Mitre started 18 games in three years for the Cubs, going 4-10 with a 6.12 ERA. Not so good. He had back-to-back nice starts in July this year, but the fact that he could throw sixteen shutout innings over two games and still finish with a 5.37 ERA when he only pitched 44.1 innings the entire rest of the year is pretty damn ugly. The only things I know about Pinto and Nolasco are their stats in that article; it's a shame to give up a lefty who goes 10-3 with a 2.71 ERA in Pinto, but that's Double-A. Who knows if these guys will ever really turn into decent pros? Meanwhile, the Cubs still have a fair number of arms in the system and they just got the hit-machine leadoff hitter they didn't have down there.

One does wonder what happens to CP now - do they try to stick him in right, or is the Corey era just over? It's kind of a shame, but let's face it - the guy simply never showed enough of the skill he was supposed to have. When you're being raved about as a five-tool guy and in your best overall season you hit .266, that's not the best sign.

The Cubs have come up on a few other radar screens - for those of you who don't shell out for ESPN.com Insider, here's some paraphrased information about other possible avenues:

Bobby Abreu: I guess they'd stick him in right (or left; Murton's not that big a lock out there yet). But the Phillies are apparently asking for Prior, so guess what's not happening.

Julio Lugo: It looks like this deal is probably going to go down with other teams and not the Cubs. A shortstop - or at least an infielder - should be the other big key on Hendry's shopping list and Lugo wouldn't have been a bad one, but I won't be that disappointed.

Aubrey Huff and Kevin Mench: Potential guys to play right, according to ESPN. With three pitchers already shipped out and Felix Pie and Rich Hill near-untouchable, though, one wonders who exactly Hendry is going to send off for either of these guys, or indeed anyone else. Hendry has also confirmed that neither Prior nor Zambrano will be traded and Wood has an NTC, so the big pitchers aren't going anywhere (mercifully).

Milton Bradley: The Cubs are allegedly at the top of the list, though I think that was written before the Pierre deal. I don't see what's so great about this deal, anyway - Bradley's stats have never been astonishing and he's a total head case.

Orlando Hudson: I'd love this one. He's a light-ish bat up the middle, but he plays Gold Glove defense and with Lee and Ramirez at the corners we don't need a 40-homer guy in the middle infield.

There are a few other names, but none that seem worth mentioning at the moment. Still, I really hope Hendry keeps going - the Pierre deal alone has me really excited, but why stop there?