Destination Unknown

There has been one subject on Cub Fans' minds lately -- where will Jacque Jones get shipped off to?

The corollary to that question is who will we get in return?

My answers to these questions: Don't care, as long as he goes somewhere else. And it doesn't matter who we get, because we're in no position to expect anything good.

I've heard a lot of opinion (from other Cub Fan in my acquaintance, on the radio call-in shows, and on the message boards) about what Jim Hendry needs to do. We need a catcher, we need a power-hitting outfielder, we need a "real" closer. And, somehow, Hendry will magically turn Jacque Jones into one of those valuable commodities.

Time to face realities, Cub Fans: it ain't gonna happen.

That's not to disparage Hendry's skill as a trader. After all, he is the guy who turned Hee Seop Choi into Derrek Lee, and flipped Bobby Hill for Aramis Ramirez. So he has been known to pull the Jedi Mind Trick in the past.

But Hill and Choi were at least viable prospects at the time those deals were made. Jones is...well, Jones just isn't very good.

Cub Fans rail against Jones because he's a below-average defensive outfielder who can't hit. If we can see that, rest assured that the other twenty-nine Major League GMs can see it, too. Since Chuck LaMar isn't running a team anymore, I don't think even Obi-Wan Kenobi could trade Jones for anything immediately useful. You're just setting yourself up for heartache if you expect anything more than a box of baseballs in return...