A Prediction

Mariotti took the day off today. The Cubs traded away Michael Barrett for Rob Bowen and Kyler Burke today.

Here's my prediction, or set of predictions if you will
1) Jay Mariotti will write a column tomorrow about the Barrett trade
2) Jay will go off on Barrett for being a clubhouse poison, using analogies and name-calling over about 3-4 paragraphs that could be summed up by saying "good riddance".
3) Carlos Zambrano will magically be absolved of any guilt for the fight, because now that Barrett's out of town, it was 100% Barrett's fault.
4) There will be maybe one sentence mentioning the players received in the trade, possibly including Bowen's current stat line, but nothing more, because Jay couldn't tell you one thing about Kyler Burke besides his position.
5) Jay will cry about how management and players are not giving their true opinions on being rid of Barrett (i.e., public figures are not being tactless enough), and I haevn't even heard anyone express their opinion yet.
6) Jay will not mention anything about why the Padres made this deal, seeing as how they have no real reason to trade for a catcher that has performed slightly worse than their starter, Josh Bard, because of Bard's sizeable advantage in OBP and Barrett's defensive follies. Bowen was playing pretty well.
7) The closing sentence will be something to the effect of, "He's your problem now, San Diego"


Of course, there is the chance that Jay just decides to do one of his usual flip-flops and bash the trade completely (even though the Cubs made off pretty good on this one...Bowen has had a knack for drawing walks so far in his major league career) but even so, I'm sticking with those seven. I just can't wait to see.....