JUAN CRUZ TRADED TO ATLANTA
I guess this shouldn't be all that big of a surprise. Cruz has been a bit of a disappointment in Chicago. He had an opportunity to become a starter when it was announced that Mark Prior would be on the DL to start the season but got knocked around in his three starts in spring training so the Cubs decided to deal him. Chicago has a few good pitching prospects, so they had flexibility. I'm a little surprised that they didn't deal Cruz for a player that could fill a void on the roster at the big league level, as opposed to dealing Cruz and Steve Smyth for two other prospects. Jim Callis of Baseball America has an analysis of this trade and a few others on ESPN.com.