The Cubs made what initially looked like a nice little trade on July 31st, dealing OF-R Darren Lewis to the Pirates for OF-R Chad Hermansen. While Hermansen still hasn't brought his plate discipline up to a level that makes him worthy of a starting outfield job, he does offer moderate speed and power off the bench. He's also a few years away from free agency.

Additionally, Hermansen was Pittsburgh's first round pick in 1995, so he theoretically still owns a lot of undeveloped tools. The Cubs possess one of the best hitting coaches in the game for teaching strike zone judgment in Jeff Pentland, and Hermansen could very well be the next player to emerge under his tutelage. Hermansen also has a wide variety of defensive experience, so he could become a very useful utilityman.

Lewis possesses decent plate discipline, complimented by good speed and defense, but he's 10 years older than Hermansen and a pending free agent. Hermansen is out of options and therefore unable to return to the minors except through waivers. The Pirates didn't want to keep him on the active roster but felt that he would be claimed if they attempted to demote him. Consequently, they made a trade in order to attain some sort of compensation. However, I'm very unsure why they were interested in Lewis given that he wouldn't be around to help next year and they're hardly in pennant race this season.

Whatever Pittsburgh's interest, it no longer matters as Lewis announced his retirement following the trade, throwing everything out of whack. Consequently, Lewis won't be joining the Pirates, and while they could have chosen to cancel the trade, Pittsburgh instead wisely chose to renegotiate. In the altered trade, the Cubs sent LHP Rick Palma and LHP Tim Lavery to the Pirates for Hermansen and OF-L Aron Weston.

As much as I approved of the original deal, the Pirates robbed the Cubs in the completed trade. Palma signed with Chicago as a nondrafted free agent out of Venezuela in 1996. The Cubs assigned him to the Short Season New York-Pennsylvania League the following season. In 1998, Palma advanced to the A Midwest League where he stayed through the 1999 season. Chicago promoted him to A+ Daytona in the Florida State League in 2000, before sending him to AA West Tennessee in the Southern League last year.

Palma had some troubles with his command through A+, but the Cubs converted him to relief when they moved him up to AA. Since the switch, his strikeouts have risen and his walks decreased. The Cubs strangely returned Palma to AA for the first half of the season and had only recently promoted him to AAA prior to the trade. After compiling a 70:25 K:BB with 61 H and 6 HR in 71 IP in AA last season, he went another 58 IP in AA this season with a 56:17 K:BB, 52 H and 2 HR allowed.

The 22-year-old could have easily begun the year in AAA and there's little reason for him not to be ready to work as a left-handed reliever in the Pirates' pen next season. However, he's young enough that Pittsburgh could also choose to try him out in their AA rotation. His numbers as a starter weren't that far away from desired skill levels.

Chicago drafted Lavery out of the University of Illinois in the 11th round of the 1999 draft. The Cubs sent him to the Short-Season Northwest League after the draft and then placed him in the Rookie-level Arizona League in 2000. Lavery spent last year at A Lansing in the Midwest League. He hasn't settled into either starting or relieving spending most of 1999 and 2001 in relief, while starting in all five games in which he appeared in 2000. This year at A+ Daytona, he has allowed 99 H and 4 HR in 90.2 IP with a 56:14 K:BB over 8 starts in 29 appearances. Lavery's upside is definitely questionable, but the 23-year-old still retains value as a young lefty.

The only thing the Cubs gained for exchanging these two left-handed pitchers for Lewis was Weston. Pittsburgh drafted Weston out of high school in the third round of the 1999 draft. Weston went to the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League after the draft, and the Pirates placed him at A Hickory in the South Atlantic League in 2000. He was still at Hickory at the time of the trade, though he only received 74 AB last season, indicating a possible injury. During this year's sojourn in A-ball, Weston has 54 H, 10 2B, 2 3B, and 4 HR with a 35:49 BB:K and 20/25 SB% in 226 AB for a .239 BA, .337 OBP, and .354 SLG. While the speed and plate discipline look somewhat promising, the fact that he's in his third season in the Sally League is disconcerting. He's quickly using up the time he gained by foregoing college, as he'll turn 22 in November.

Pittsburgh GM Dave Littlefield indicated that he had something else in the works at the time of the Lewis trade. While teams can't trade players on their 40-man rosters after July 31st without sending them through waivers, players not on the 40-man can be dealt without such restriction. If the two teams were planning on making a separate deal involving some of these players prior to Lewis' retirement, then I'm seriously disappointed in Cubs GM Jim Hendry. Hendry almost certainly should have rescinded the trade if possible from his end rather than accepting this reworking, and not doing so makes his inexperience quite evident. Whereas there was very little downside and a great deal of upside to the first trade for Chicago, Hermansen will now need to show significant improvement in order to justify the trade.