By Jim Callis
March 29, 2003

As if the Cubs weren't already loaded with pitching prospects, they added another on Saturday. Chicago picked up righthander David Cash from the Giants for catcher Gerard McCall and a player to be named later.

Cash isn't overpowering but he has been very effective since signing as a 2001 sixth-round pick out of the University of California. Unless the player to be named is significant, this deal appears to be one-sided in the Cubs' favor. Cash, 23, uses a sinker, four-seam fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. He gets ground balls and has been tough to hit, permitting just a .237 average as a pro. He went 5-8, 3.05 in 34 games (12 starts) at Double-A Shreveport last year, with 88 strikeouts and 39 walks in 109 innings. He pitched very well in relief, compiling a 1.82 ERA, and will stay in that role as he opens the 2003 season at Double-A West Tenn.

The Cubs signed the 23-year-old McCall this spring after he spent the last two years in independent leagues. He hit .199-3-31 in 78 games with Jackson (Central) in 2002. He also struggled behind the plate, throwing out just 18 percent of basestealers. A White Sox 13th-round pick out of a Mississippi high school in 1998, McCall hit .277-7-49 in 93 games in Rookie ball in 1999-2000 before being released in March 2001.

Nov. 20: The Giants, who earlier received $2,500 as part of the trade, also got righthander Jeff Verplancke to complete it. Verplancke began his pro career with San Francisco, signing for $600,000 as an 11th-round pick out of Cal State Los Angeles in 1999, before getting traded to the Cubs for Bill Mueller in September 2002. But Verplancke didn't pitch at all in 2003. He had Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his elbow while in college in 1998, more elbow tenderness in 2002, and turned out to need a second Tommy John operation. When healthy, Verplancke threw a 93-mph fastball with nice tail and run, and mixed in sliders, curveballs and changeups. He projected as a setup man if he could refine a second pitch. McCall never played this year either, so essentially the Cubs traded Mueller for Cash.