Cubs Trade Rich Hill For Mystery Man

Team acquires infamous player to be named later from Orioles; Wuertz sent to Oakland

For a week or so, rumors surrounding Rich Hill and an impending trade have been dramatic and intense, engulfing the entire city of Chicago into an ongoing Rich-Watch the likes of which this city has never seen. Ratings soared; news items boomed; and at least one NBCChicago.com blogger is set to win a Pulitzer Prize for his daring, relentless commentary.

Haha. Just kidding. None of that happened. At all.

Instead, the Rich Hill story has been about as boring as it comes. Today, it ended as it existed -- with a whimper. The Cubs traded Hill to the Orioles for a player to be named later. Whoever that player is, we're betting he's not very good at professional baseball.

In a way, that's the story of Rich Hill. He had the potential -- for one year, he even had the ability -- to be a top-notch No. 2 or No. 3 starter in Major League Baseball. Then, for whatever reason, he lost it, and now he's being shoveled off onto a frequent Cubs trading partner for a player that may or may not be part of some sort of Cubs-Orioles Ponzi scheme. How far the mighty have fallen.

That's not the only Cubs trade made today. The Athletics sent two minor-leaguers to Jim Hendry in exchange for reliever Michael Wuertz. Now that's the sort of offseason excitement we're talking about! They don't call it the Hot Stove for ... eh, nevermind. Sigh.

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