Now that the Cubs are being asked by the Boston Red Sox for compensation for Theo Epstein, sportswriters have started to jump on the fact that the Cubs gave half the farm to obtain Matt Garza last Winter.
Nothing could be further from the truth unless you are under the assumption that the Cubs only had four pro-prospects in their farm system. In my opinion they only gave up (RHP)Chris Archer and (SS) Hak Ju-Lee. Lee is not a guy that is going to move to another position and the Cubs felt like Starlin Castro is the future at shortstop and they made the deal.
The Cubs do not have the deepest farm system but they do have some decent players among the middle infield and the outfield, mainly centerfield.
The fact of the matter is that Brandon Guyer and Sam Fuld were never going to make an impact with the Cubs because too many players with superior talent in the Cubs minor leagues were rated above both of them.
People need to understand that the Cubs had what they considered a player being blocked and liked that they could get Garza while he was still young and they had control. I thought it was a great move.
Most Sportswriters in Chicago never mentioned any of these players until they were gone. The Daily Herald’s Bruce Miles and the Score’s Steve Stone were the only two in the mainstream media that mentioned anything about either player(Lee and Archer) long before they were traded. In fact, most other writers before that trade would say that there was nothing in the Cubs farm system to trade.
After the trade they all pointed to how they sold the farm. Listen carefully people because these are the same people that have never mentioned Junior Lake or Trey McNutt until the compensation issue came up and now they will act like the Cubs may give up the farm again.
Have the Cubs drafted well enough to give up the farm two times in less than a year? If compensation is players for Theo Epstein, Chicago Sportswriters will tell you they have.