The Derrek Lee/Hee Seop Choi trade

The Cubs and Marlins made a trade today. The Cubs get Derrek Lee from the Marlins, and the Cubs send Hee Seop Choi and a Player to be Named Later.

Already I've seen a few reactions to the trade, and already they run from ecstatic to direly disappointed.

I'm somewhere in the middle.

I think Derrek Lee's a solid acquisition. He's youngish (28), a good first baseman, one who swings the bat well, is excellent on the basepaths and has a pretty good glove to boot. Putting him at first answers the question of whether we're keeping Randall Simon around (we aren't), and it means we no longer have to ask ourselves if and when Big Choi was going to reach his potential.

I am disappointed to see Big Choi go, however. In him, I saw potential for a scary left handed bat to go in the five or six spot in the lineup....one whom we've been high on for a long time. I thought he was getting close to where he needed to be when he suffered his concussion during the Wood/Clemens game early in the summer. He never was the same after that.

There are still the worries in the back of my mind anytime a guy who's still a prospect gets traded for a player, with all respect to Lee, who is only above average.

But that's the gamble, I guess.

Ultimately, it's one less question to be asked for next season, and for the next few seasons.

I just hope we get to quickly answer the questions behind the plate, in the bullpen and at second base.