Chicago Cubs

The Dodgers’ main trade piece in return for Ted Lilly & Ryan Theriot is Blake DeWitt, a 24-year-old, left-handed batting second baseman selected by the Dodgers in the first-round of the 2004 amateur draft.

He debuted with L.A. in 2008 as a third baseman batting .264 with 9 HR and 52 RBI in 117-games.

Against Chicago in the NLDS, DeWitt went 3-for-11, scoring two runs and recording one RBI.

The Chicago Cubs made an unsurprising move at today's trade deadline shipping starting pitcher Ted Lilly and infielder Ryan Theriot to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Blake DeWitt and minor league pitchers Brett Wallach and Kyle Smit.

In Lilly, the Dodgers add a veteran arm that will fit nicely into the middle of their rotation behind Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley.

This has been Lilly's worst year record-wise in his four seasons with the Cubs, posting a 3-8 record but boasts an ERA of 3.69 and 1.14 WHIP.

A defeat is bad — a blowout loss is even worse.  The Chicago Cubs know exactly how it feels tonight in Coors Field with an inexplicable 17-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

They had no hitting and plenty of bad pitching.  The 17-run loss is their worst this season after a 16-5 defeat by the Atlanta Braves on Opening Day.

Sure, it's Lee's right to decline any trade, something the man has earned through his  "10 & 5" rights, not to mention his no-trade clause.

However, if Lee was thinking about anyone other than himself, he would acquiesce and go to the Dodgers for another chance at the playoffs, while giving the Cubs an opportunity to land a prospect and secure some salary relief.

With the announcement coming last week that Lou Piniella would be retiring from baseball at the end of the season, the line of suitors for the opening will likely be a long one, and the rumors will continue to fly until a replacement is named.

This decision is made especially interesting by the fact that a handful of high profile managers have expiring contract at the end of this season.

Joe Girardi has been a name thrown around the Chicago Cubs organization like a visiting team's home run at Wrigley Field. 

And with the Cubs always looking for the big name rather than the right choice, it wouldn't surprise anyone if they were to get him as the skipper for 2011.

There is just one problem.

Girardi is one of the most overrated managers in all of baseball. He will not only cost the Cubs a pretty penny, but wins as well.

But he won manager of the year four years ago...

Carlos Zambrano has grown up and apologized—a month later—and not face-to-face with anyone he wronged—unless he had done something to Pedro Gomez of ESPN.

On Monday, Zambrano apologized for his dugout tirade a month ago after the first inning versus the Chicago White Sox in which Zambrano felt runs were given up because of shaky defense. Gold Glover Derrek Lee took some of the heat, even though no one had a chance to catch Carlos Quentin's home run in the left field stands.

The last time the Cubs starting pitcher Carlos Silva won a game was back on July 6 against the Diamondacks in Arizona.  He then had two terrible outings suffering two consecutive losses and did not last more than two innings either time.  Tonight, his teammates made sure that they were backing him up as they pounded the Astros early in the game to give him his 10th victory of the year.  The Chicago Cubs defeat the Houston Astros 5-2 in the series' opener.

Bobby Valentine is said to be a solid strategist in the dugout, which would be a refreshing change from asleep-at-the-wheel Lou Piniella. And he is a winning manager.

So what's not to like, right?

Wrong.

Simply put, Valentine reportedly has an ego-driven personality and is much more interested in himself than the team he's managing.

Instead of "Bobby-V," he should be known as "Bobby-Me!"

But how can a manager be successful on the field if he doesn't care about winning?

Sure, it's always nice to beat the Cardinals, and any win is a good win when you're a long-suffering Cubs fan as I am. That said, it may surprise you that I am not happy about the Cubs recent "surge", for lack of a better term.

By starting to win now, it may lead Jim Hendry and the Cubs brass into the false assumption that they actually are a contender.

That would also mean that they would hold off on trying to trade their movable pieces — a mistake that could prove costly for the Cubs in the long run.