[December 12th] -- The Chicago Daily Herald's Barry Rozner has an interesting article in this morning's paper that suggests that the Cubs might pursue Jose Vidro if the Orioles' Miguel Tejada proves unavailable (which now seems to be the case).

From the Cubs perspective, Rozner says that the team could "...probably could get away with giving the Nats only Corey Patterson or Jerry Hairston since the Nats are looking for an outfielder/leadoff man."

Interesting. Let's take a closer look. Patterson's best season came in 2004, when he batted .266-24-72. Not bad. He struck out 168 times. Not good. He had a .320 on base percentage. Last season, he slumped to .215-13-34 with an OBP of .254 [no, this is not a misprint]. In more than 2,000 career at bats, Patterson has a career on-base-percent of .293. Jerry Hairston Jr. came to the Cubs from Baltimore last season in the Sammy Sosa trade. The good news is that he outhit Sosa. The bad news is that 'aint saying much. Playing second base and the outfield, he hit .261-4-30 with a .331 OBP.

Rozner describes Vidro this way: "Vidro would be an excellent fit with the Cubs; in fact, some believe that if Vidro is healthy (which he was not the last two years) he's just as good for the Cubs, if not an even better fit than Tejada" ... "Vidro, whom the Cubs have looked at many times before, is a switch hitter who has spent much of his career in the No. 2 hole, where he'd look good behind leadoff man Juan Pierre and in front of Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez" ... "Vidro reportedly will be healthy next spring and might be poised for a 20-homer, 100-RBI season" ... "Vidro also is an excellent bunter, is terrific when behind in the count and does something the Cubs rarely do: he works the count in every at-bat" ... "If he's healthy, Vidro is a steal at any price."

Let me get this right. Rozner believes that Vidro is one of the best second baseman in the National League, likely to hit .300-20-100 in 2006 and will be healthy going into spring training.

In return for the all-star infielder, the Nationals would accept two players who wouldn't start on the majority of MLB teams, and might not even make some of the upper echelon teams as a reserve?

I wouldn't trade Marlon Byrd for Cory Patterson, and I wouldn't trade anyone for Jerry Hairston. This trade would be a giant step backwards for the Nats.

And Rozner knows it.

# posted by Farid Rushdi @ 9:08 AM