Nevin for Hairston

The Rangers have traded Phil Nevin to the Cubs for Jerry Hairston Jr. This was a good move by Texas and a poor move in my opinion by the Cubs.

The Rangers are able to get a guy who can shore up the bench by playing several positions and they shed both Nevin's salary (or the bulk of it) and his attitude (he was a guy who didn't want to go to Texas in the first place).

The Cubs get a guy whose numbers have fallen off a cliff since the league stepped up their steroid testing (and yes I just played the steroid card). Nevin will make $10 million this year and is due another $2 million next year. Hairston is only on the books for $2.3 million this year. So you figure that the Rangers are probably sending about $5 million along with the deal. Even at the price - it was well worth it to the rangers to be rid of Nevin.

What I don't get is why the Cubs went after Nevin when they could have picked up JT Snow cheap from the Red Sox. Snow's not happy with his lack of playing time behind Kevin Youkilis and the Red Sox have Hee Seop Choi available in Pawtucket. Snow is completely expendable and the Sox would probably only have asked for a single A guy in return or a PTBNL. Plus JT Snow is only making $2 million.