LaTroy Hawkins won't have to hear the boos of the Wrigley Field faithful any longer, at least not while wearing a Chicago Cubs uniform. The Cubs traded Hawkins to the San Franscisco Giants today, along with cash considerations, for pitchers Jerome Williams and David Aardsma.

Williams had a very good rookie year in 2003 as a 21-year-old, throwing 131 innings with an ERA 30% above league average. Last year, his performance was more average, as he threw 129.1 innings with an ERA 5% above league average. This year has been bad. He started the year in the Giants rotation, but was sent down to triple-A Fresno after 2 straight poor starts on April 19 and April 24. In his first start of the year on April 9, Williams threw 7 innings and only allowed 1 run. He also has one relief appearance. Since going to Fresno, Williams has been awful. He has a 9.39 ERA in 30.2 innings over 6 starts.

Aardsma is interesting. He was the Giants' 1st round draft pick in 2003. In 2004, he made the jump from A-ball to AAA from the previous season, and then ended up pitching 10.2 innings in relief for the big league club. He has been a reliever since college, but this year the Giants put him in double-A Norwich and made him a starter. He's had some success. He has a 2.93 ERA in 46 innings over 9 games, 8 of which have been starts. His success has come as the result of keeping the ball in the park (2 homers allowed) and good control (13 walks).

It will be interesting to see where the Cubs put Aardsma in the system. The Cubs' double-A affiliate, West Tenn, currently has a stacked rotation in Ricky Nolasco, Rich Hill, Jae-kuk Ryu, Carmen Pignatiello, and Renyel Pinto. Aardsma occasionally closed games for Rice during his last year in college, and then for the Giants in the minors in 2003 and 2004, so it wouldn't be too surprising if the Cubs moved Aardsma back to the bullpen with the idea of making him a closer.

There was a good roundtable discussion on Aardsma in April at Fog Ball. (HT: Only Baseball Matters.) In February, John Sickels ranked Aardsma the #4 prospect in the Giants' system.

Hawkins is a very good reliever when not trying to hold 1-run leads in the 9th inning, but the Cubs got two young pitchers with decent upside.