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« Rios For Franklin Gutierrez and Cliff Lee? | Main | Denny Bautista To Tigers For Jose Capellan »
Cubs Send Infante and Ohman To Braves
UPDATE: 12-4-07 at 10:05am: Rosenthal confirms this baby, noting that the Cubs freed up a few mil for other pursuits.
FROM 12-4-07 at 9:23am:
According to Bruce Levine of ESPN Radio 1000, the Cubs have sent lefty reliever Will Ohman and infielder Omar Infante to the Braves for righty reliever Jose Ascanio. Ascanio closed a bit for the Braves' Double A affiliate last year; he turns 23 in May. He seems to have strong groundball tendencies.
Infante (acquired for Jacque Jones) and Ohman were a bit redundant on the Cubs' roster. They already had Scott Eyre and perhaps Sean Marshall coming from the left side out of the pen. And they've got plenty of middle infielders in Ronny Cedeno, Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot, and Ryan Theriot.
Who knows how this one will play out, but the Braves filled a couple of needs more cheaply than they might've on the open market. Ohman makes $1.6MM next year; Infante should be under $2MM.
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Welcome Jose! The newest member of the "century club"!
Posted by: registereduser | December 04, 2007 at 09:27 AM
head scratcher
Posted by: Larsen101 | December 04, 2007 at 09:27 AM
Well braves were looking for a lefty reliever and didnt want to pay the big money to the FA ones so i guess they succeeded. They also get the utility INF they were looking for. i am pretty happy with the deal. Does this open trade possibilites for Lillibridge, and or Prado?
Posted by: thedeuce | December 04, 2007 at 09:29 AM
Well we shed more salary and get a young unproven reliever. Whats not to like.
Posted by: airassault101 | December 04, 2007 at 09:31 AM
Ive never heard of Ascanio, but if he is a stong groundballer, then I love this deal. I wasnt looking forward to having Infante on the team, and Ohman is expendable.
It looks to me like Hendry done yet another great deal.
Posted by: namesake49 | December 04, 2007 at 09:37 AM
It doesn't matter who the Cubs got, thank God Ohman is gone. The guy was flat out awful. I'm so glad I don't have to see him skipping balls in the dirt in key moments anymore. He thought he was better than he was and really seemed to be a tool. As for Infante, you aren't giving up much there either...good deal
Posted by: gorsboy2184 | December 04, 2007 at 09:43 AM
Omar, we hardly knew ye.
Posted by: CubsAddictMG | December 04, 2007 at 09:45 AM
Giving up 2 players (both have had more big league games than Ascanio), and getting 1 player in return. I think Ohman for Ascanio would of been a good trade, I think the Jim Hendry could of done better.
Posted by: cubsbaseball | December 04, 2007 at 09:47 AM
I have seen Ascansio pitch in person, and he has a great arm. 93-97mph on the gun with decent sink. It isnt quite Jake Peavy-esque, but it's pretty good. I am more than thrilled with this deal. Jendry has redeemed himself, if only a bit.
Posted by: Outdors21 | December 04, 2007 at 09:53 AM
Getting a promising young reliever for a head case/junked armed superfluous lefty and a middling middle infielder was good enough.
Opening a spot on the 40-man roster for a free agent? Nice.
Now, let's see a splash.
Posted by: DunceParade | December 04, 2007 at 09:53 AM
Not sure on this one... I guess the Braves just wanted another lefty for the pen, and went ahead and grabbed "one more guy" to even the trade out. I guess he can fill in in some utility infield spots where Woodward/Orr would have last year.
Ascanio was pretty good last season, though. Eh...
Posted by: FineHamAbounds | December 04, 2007 at 09:54 AM
For the Cubs...fine by me. Ohman has baggage here, Cubs brass weren't fans. Infante was a decent player, but we had too many of the same types. So we shed more salary and hopefully this reliever makes the squad. There are definitely deals in the works though...
Posted by: Aduncaroo | December 04, 2007 at 09:56 AM
As a braves fan i was a fan of the kid from what i had seen from watching the games he was in. the braves needed another lefty, and that utl inf and they have quite a few rh hard throwers, thinks its a pretty decent deal both ways.
Posted by: thedeuce | December 04, 2007 at 09:56 AM
Ascanio was just another number in the Braves' deep bullpen. I would have traded Ascanio for Infante straight up. Ohman's just a throw-in that will only be a Brave until Gonzalez comes back, if that long.
Infante did start 10 games in CF for the Tigers last year, giving the Braves another option there.
In essence, Jacque Jones and Ohman netted the Cubs a minor league relief pitcher.
Posted by: kray1000 | December 04, 2007 at 10:02 AM
Even trade really. Ohman seemed to be the odd man out in Chicago, and Infante was excess when he was acquired. Ascanio looked good but we have plenty of good looking young RHP to compete for bullpen spots and he was easily the weakest.
And word of warning to Cubs fans. Don't forget how rare it is that the Braves deal away a young pitcher that never reaches potential (Marquis, Chen, whoever the hell we traded for Hudson lol, etc.).
Posted by: KaiserWilhelm | December 04, 2007 at 10:06 AM
Ohman scared me. Every time Ohman came into the game I would say OH-Man after he gave up a hit or a run. Once in a while he got the job done. I am glad he is gone. That is where my Oh Boy name came from on posts. I knew he would be gone by the end of the meetings with his attitude/comment when demoted last year.
Posted by: Oh Boy | December 04, 2007 at 10:08 AM
What was Ohman's role in the Cub's pen? I hope the Braves are using him as a LOOGY.
Posted by: Land-Man | December 04, 2007 at 10:19 AM
The cubs save a little $$$, but this is more about just getting rid of Ohman. This guy did everything to piss of his teammates, coaches, fans, brass.
Posted by: forlife61 | December 04, 2007 at 10:28 AM
The guys on The Score (for those of you outside of Chicago, it's our sports radio station) were thrilled that Ohman is no longer a Cub. This'll probably set them up with another few million to throw at Fukodome.
Posted by: TheSchmaranz | December 04, 2007 at 10:31 AM
I don't really know anything about Ohman, but he did post some good splits (.185/.289/.315) against lefties over the past 3 years so as long as the Braves are using him as a LOOGY he should be fine.
Posted by: nixa37 | December 04, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Bobby doesn't really like to use lefties for just one out. He prefers to leave a guy in for the whole inning. I'm not saying Ohman can do that effectively, but that's just what Bobby often prefers. Between his lefty/righty and home/away splits, he looks like he could be pretty decent
Posted by: SunKing1056 | December 04, 2007 at 10:36 AM
Ehh, i like the fact that we filled two needs, that is definitely a plus in my opinion, however i wish we could have sent another reliever besides ascanio. The reason being is that the braves could have had ascanio as their setup man of the future, and I liked the fact that he had a hard fastball sinker mix, a good combo for a late inning reliever. Then again, I do agree they we filled two needs while dealing from a position of strength, so this can be considered a positive, and at least we did not give up devine. Still though, ir really liked ascanio
Posted by: bravesbeast | December 04, 2007 at 10:42 AM
Ohman was a decent LOOGY, but sometimes he would come in and you just knew he was going to screw up. You would throw your arms up in the air and say "OH MAN OHMAN!"
Ohman is also fun to have on the team because your box score can appear like this:
Ohman
Cedeno
Everytime Cedeno comes in, he certainly deserves an OH MAN!
Love the trade for the Cubs. Infante was going to get 0% playtime next year. I would like to think Infante was part of a grander scheme that fell apart, but Jones was going to be a waste of a roster space in '08 with Pie playing everyday in CF and an upgrade playing in RF w Murton getting in some starts against lefties.
Ohman isn't terrible, but he is a jerkface. He started talking crap about the organization. They sent him down to the minors before the team went to play Colorado and I guess his parents live there and everyone was going to get together. When he was sent down, he had to go to Des Monies instead and complained that his kids hadn't seen their grandchildren in over a year. You make $800,000 to face only lefties and can retire at 35-40! Suck it up!
Posted by: TrueCubsFan | December 04, 2007 at 10:42 AM
Over at TalkingChop.com, gondee, the site's main blogger, brings up some very interesting positives for ohman, circa Dave O'Brien.
Lefties batted only .196 against him, which entails why many of you wanted to see him mainly as a LOOGY, and he also has a career 2.32 ERA away from Wrigley, and Atlanta is a bit more favorable to pitchers than Wrigley is. I may be cutting things a bit too thin here, but I think these facts could mean Ohman will fair nicely with the braves.
Posted by: bravesbeast | December 04, 2007 at 10:55 AM
He isn't the worst reliever ever, he is just retarded and wasn't good last year. he was the guy that Lou was talking about in the clips talking about throwing 50 foot curve balls...he buckled under pressure. Great Lou quote though...
Posted by: Aduncaroo | December 04, 2007 at 10:59 AM
so he had an attitude problem in CHI, the always famous "change of scenery will do him good" comes into play. I am happy with the trade. i am big on keeping devine unless he is part of a deal for a major top end starter, and we still have Acosta as well.
Posted by: thedeuce | December 04, 2007 at 11:03 AM
For all the crap Ohman gets about his attitude, he is a really nice guy in person.
Posted by: vegasneedsbaseball | December 04, 2007 at 11:37 AM
A low key trade at best. Ohman and Ascanio will bounce around the majors until they bounce out of baseball. Neither will ever be a key piece of someones bullpen. I would imagine Infante was who the Braves targeted. Some ML backup in case Escobar slumps this year. I'm guessing they want Lillibridge to get the AB's in AAA. Someone hurting at SS should target Lillibridge.
Posted by: Randy H | December 04, 2007 at 12:36 PM
The Cubs give up two players they didn't want/need, free up 3-4 million, and get a good, young, cheap pitcher under control for 6 years... How can you go wrong with a situation like that?
Posted by: call_me_chipper | December 04, 2007 at 05:23 PM
So let's get this straight. Since the Cubs acquired Infante for Jock Jones AND cash, here's the rundown:
Cubs give up: Jones, cash, Ohman, Infante
Cubs get: some no name, unproven, AA middle reliever.
Can anyone please explain to me how this is even close to a good deal for the Cubs?
Posted by: letmehearya! | December 04, 2007 at 10:45 PM