I felt pretty good earlier this season when the Cubs made a trade for Phil Nevin, sending Jerry Hairston, Jr. to Texas and leaving the Rangers with all but a fraction of Nevin’s salary. The numbers at the time looked fairly good for Chicago, and the last two months have further validated my optimism.

Hairston
59 AB, 11 R, 12 H, 2 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 5 BB, 13 K, 2 SB
.233 AVG in June
.185 AVG in July
.203 AVG combined

Nevin
116 AB, 16 R, 30 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 9 HR, 22 RBI, 13 BB, 32 K, 0 SB
.259 AVG in June
.243 AVG in July
.258 AVG combined

Nevin has been better for average, better for power, and with 22 runs batted in has become a key offensive player in Chicago. Hairston strikes out a bit less and has better speed, but he hasn’t been nearly as useful to his team as has Nevin.

So at two months out, it looks like Cubs management should refer to this deal as it considers making its final trades for the season over the weekend. Heaven knows some other recent trades have become an example of what not to do…

By the way, here are the stat lines on two major league centerfielders, chosen at random:

Corey Patterson - 50 R, 10 HR, 37 RBI, 33 SB, .281 AVG
Juan Pierre - 50 R, 1 HR, 23 RBI, 37 SB, .281 AVG

Interesting, no? I wonder which one gets paid more.