34-year old righty swinging outfielder Reed Johnson is in line for either more P.T. due to the trade of Kosuke Fukudome to the Indians, or he could be dealt by Sunday’s trade deadline. Johnson has played in 63 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 45 for 137 (.328 avg, .924 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 4 homers, 23 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. Those are amazing numbers when you consider that he has only walked 3 times while whiffing 36 times. Johnson can play all three outfield spots which will make him valuable on the trade market. It will be interesting to see if Johnson gets a bump up in P.T. or if he’s dealt to another team this week.

The Cubs have sent 34-year old lefty swinging outfielder Kosuke Fukudome and $3.9 million bucks to the Cleveland Indians for 21-year old righty swinging outfielder Abner Abreu and 25-year old righty reliever/starter Carlton Smith. Neither of the prospects the Cubs got from the Indians were ranked in the Tribe’s top 30 prospects before the 2011 season started according to Baseball America. Abner has played in 91 games in A-ball so far this year and he is 82 for 336 (.244 avg, .723 OPS) with 42 runs scored, 12 homers, 35 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. He has now played in 367 games in his first five years in the minors and he is 379 for 1,418 (.267 avg, .754 OPS) with 188 runs scored, 38 homers, 201 RBIs and 42 stolen bases. Abreu is still young but he still hasn’t played above A-ball in his first five years in the minors, so you have to wonder about him. Carlton Smith has pitched in 34 games (0 starts) in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 2-3 with 2 saves, a 4.50 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. Smith has now pitched in 194 games (66 starts) in his first 7 years in the minors and he is 36-28 with 8 saves, a 4.21 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP.

Kosuke Fukudome was a gigantic bust in his time with the Cubs. He was expected to be a cross between Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, but that never happened. Fukudome played in 87 games for the Cubs this year and he was 80 for 293 (.273 avg, .742 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 3 homers, 13 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. He played in 513 games in his four years with the Cubs and he was 432 for 1,651 (.262 avg, .772 OPS) with 236 runs scored, 37 homers, 169 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. The Cubs save $775,000 bucks in this deal but that’s about it as the “prospects” the Indians sent the Cubs are not very promising.

The Chicago Cubs are going to be dumping players like it’s out of style this week. With the Cubs willing to absorb most, if not all of Alfonso Soriano’s contract, I see him getting dealt this week. Carlos Pena is another one of the really solid trade chips the Cubs have with the Yankees and Pirates likely being the most interested. Marlon Byrd, Kosuke Fukudome and Geovany Soto are other starting players that could be on the move by this coming up Sunday. Blake DeWitt, Jeff Baker and Reed Johnson are reserve players who are wanted by other teams and the Cubs will likely move them if they get a decent prospect in return for them. The most likely pitcher to be dealt this week will be lefty reliever John Grabow. Starters Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano and Rodrigo Lopez are all available for trade also. Righty reliever Kerry Wood doesn’t want to be traded but the Cubs could get something nice for him. The Cubs need to tear the roster down and rebuild it so that they can get back to winning in the future.

27-year old righty starting pitcher Matt Garza has been solid overall this year for the Cubbies. Garza has started 18 games for the Cubs so far this year and he is 4-7 with a 3.80 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. He has given up 104 hits in his first 109 innings pitched this year and he has whiffed 110 batters while only walking 39 of them. Garza has been nowhere near as dominating as the Cubs thought he would be in the National League, but he should have a winning record with the way he has pitched so far this year.

The Cubs have signed 31-year old righty reliever/starter Dave Bush to a minor league deal. Bush pitched in 17 games (3 starts) earlier this year for the Rangers and he was 0-1 with a 5.79 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He has now pitched in 210 games (187 starts) in his first 8 years in the majors and he is 56-69 with a 4.70 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. The Cubs are desperate for pitching so Bush will be called up if he gets off to a good start in the minors.