I guess I’m not sure what I expected.
This is only my second Trade Deadline Blogathon, and I don’t know that one prior experience is sufficient to build expectations.
And, yet, here I sit – struggling to form sentences – and I find that the expectations I didn’t form have been wildly exceeded. I’m speaking not of the Cubs’ deals, but instead, I’m speaking of your participation. And support. And contributions. And fun. Things like this don’t just happen all the time, and, forgive my sleep-deprivation-induced sentimentality, I think it was quite special.
Thank you for your comments, for your tweets, for your eyes. I had an incredible time, and I hope you found the process both fun and useful. It was hard, but it was worth it.
As for the Cubs’ Trade Deadline, this is just about what should have been reasonably expected. Without Matt Garza’s injury, he probably gets traded. But, once that happened, moving Ryan Dempster and Paul Maholm was probably the best the Cubs could do. They also got a nice piece for Geovany Soto, a guy they probably weren’t going to keep beyond this year, and used Reed Johnson to enhance the Maholm return. You can’t argue that the Cubs didn’t do well, generally-speaking, in their deals. Indeed, the Dempster return ended up being far better than I expected, given how things deteriorated since last Monday. No, it isn’t Randall Delgado, but that world ceased to exist probably before it was even born. We’re best not thinking of it. Well, or, at a minimum, we’re best not thinking that the fact that Delgado isn’t here is somehow a failing on the part of the front office.
Let me sum up the Deadline this way: two months ago, would you have ever envisioned this haul of prospects for Ryan Dempster, Paul Maholm, Geovany Soto, and Reed Johnson? I will say candidly, I did not.
I will have much, much more on the deals of the last two days (including quotes and reactions), and on the prospects the Cubs received, over the coming days (I suspect Luke will have a word or two on the prospects, as well). We’ll also talk about where the Cubs’ trade strategy stands now that we’ve entered August – trades can still happen, and we’ll get to that.
And, to the extent it isn’t obvious, although I’ll get a Pre-Gamin’ up in a little bit, the Enhanced Box Score will be all kinds of delayed.
Now for the final tallies.
Total Posts During the Blogathon:Â
39. In case you missed any of those 39 posts, I tried to place them all in the “Cubs Rumors” category. Click there to flip through them all.
Total BN Tweets During the Blogathon:
Ha. Not even reasonable to count. Many, many hundreds. Check out the #BNBlogathon tweets, too. You guys are amazing.
Total Comments During the Blogathon:
3800+ and counting.
Total Visitors During the Blogathon:
180,000+ (and counting).
Total Cubs Transactions at the Deadline:
Three, assuming you’re counting last nights’ deals, which I am.
Total Caffeinated Beverages Imbibed:
Two Coke Zeroes.
One Extra Large Mr. Spokacola.
Two Starbucks mocha frappuccinos.
One Rockstar Energy drink.
One chai latte.
Hours I Plan on Sleeping Now:
Eleventy-billion.
Total Times I Scooped the Litter at the Request of The Wife As Soon As She Woke Up From a Good Night’s Sleep
Once.