Revisiting the Mark DeRosa Trade To the Cleveland Indians

Let me just say straight out that I am as devastated as the next Cubs fans at the news tonight that Mark DeRosa is now a St Louis Cardinal. In fact it actually makes me feel sick. It was a terrible idea for the Cubs of 2009 to trade Mark DeRosa after 2008.

Although trying to cling on to any positive that I can, I went back and took a look at the players that we got in return for one of the most popular Cubs players I can remember.

On December 2008, Mark DeRosa was traded to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for pitchers: Jeff Stevens, Chris Archer and John Gaub.

So first lets look at Jeff Stevens.

Stevens has spent the season pitching out of the Iowa Cubs bullpen. Although his record stands at 0-3, he maintains an impressive 2.52 ERA, allowing just one home run, and striking out 36 batters in 35 innings.

Chris Archer is having a fantastic season at Cubs Single-A club, the Peoria Chiefs.

Archer has started 14 games this season, compiling a 2-2 record with a 2.19 ERA. He has struck out 66 batters in 53 innings of work

John Gaub also put together a nice start to the season in AA, as he compiled a 3-1 record with a 2.83 ERA, striking out 40 hitters in just 28 innings. Gaub has recently been promoted to AAA Iowa.

I don't like articles full of stats, I never have and don't expect to see many of my articles packed to the rafters with numbers, however at this time with many Cubs fans feeling down, I thought it was important to note that the players that we got in return for DeRosa, are playing very well.

I hated the deal, and I still do even after seeing these players perform, and it's only exacerbated with the fact we will be seeing him in a St Louis Cardinals soon.

However, keep the faith my friends, perhaps some day we will look back at the trade and say, wow, we made the right move. At this point we just have to wait and see.