a rumor worth discussing

for all the orgiastic fantasies that have resonated with desperate cub fans in this offseason, there finally is a rumor to discuss involving the cubs that seems realistic enough to consider. the mother ship is reporting that a deal to move korey the klown to baltimore is close.

the acquisition of juan pierre was signal that patterson no longer had a starting place in center. as the rightfield saga drew on and the cubs floated a trial balloon about korey in right, the outcry from cub nation was enough to seal jacque jones, for all the good that will do. hendry must have continued to believe that something would emerge from somewhere for patterson, however, as jones signed the same day as the deadline to offer arbitration -- and hendry proceeded to extend a contract to patterson anyway, locking his minimum salary reduction in.

the signing of marquis grissom, however, made it clear that there were no takers to be found -- and that jim hendry was prepared to dump patterson at virtually any price. "virtually any price" looks to be about what the cubs will receive for him.

as this page has said, in offering arbitration to korey, they effectively destroyed the market for him. there was no way to get more than a handful of magic beans for an epic failure of patterson's dimensions, and hendry should be faulted for receiving effectively nothing in this deal only to the extent that the cubs may also have to include cash in the deal -- to help pay for the part of patterson's salary that he would not have made had it not been for hendry's ridiculous offer.