Here's what some prominent (and not-so prominent, I guess) baseball writers have to say about the trade that brought Nomar Garciaparra to Chicago:

■ Rick Morrisey of the Chicago Tribune:

I'm not sure about a lot of things when it comes to the Cubs, but they keep offering reasons to believe. They keep throwing more logs on the fire when the World Series seems like a cold, remote possibility.

They do more than make big splashes that signify nothing. They're working on something beautiful here. Greg Maddux goes for his 300th victory Sunday. If it doesn't happen then, it will happen another day, but when it does, it will feel right. Maddux belonged back in a Cubs' jersey, and the franchise made sure it happened. For years this was an organization that didn't seem interested in trying very hard. That has changed.

The trade that is bringing the 31-year-old Garciaparra, a five-time All-Star and .386 hitter this July, isn't just too good to be true. It's so good that Cubs general manager Jim Hendry needs your prayers. He must have sold his soul to beat the curse.

How else do you explain Hendry being able to orchestrate a four-team trade involving three contenders that improves only one of the three?

The Red Sox lost a great bat yesterday, but they liberated 24 players who can move forward with the traditional understanding that everyone in the clubhouse is working toward a common goal.

It was not that way this year with Nomar. Already unsure about his desire to stay in Boston, he was irreparably wounded by the Alex Rodriguez trade efforts of last winter. He was unable to focus on the job at hand.

He can say whatever he wants in front of the camera and he can flash that insincere smile, but make no mistake: He hates Boston and he hates the Red Sox and you should be glad that he's gone. If you are a Red Sox fan, he is not your friend.

The Cubs -- constructing a complicated four-team swap engineered by Hendry -- look like the biggest winners, landing superstar shortstop Nomar Garciaparra from the Boston Red Sox without having to kiss goodbye any of their coveted starting pitchers. Hendry looks like a genius, even if he doesn't sign Garciaparra beyond this season. Hendry put together a package of talent that seems feasible only on radio call-in shows.

Although Hendry didn't give away any of the organization's top-ranked prospects in the four-team deal, it's true that the minor-leaguers he sent to Minnesota (Justin Jones) and Montreal (Francis Beltran, Brendan Harris) could be good someday.

But this season isn't about what could haunt the Cubs far into the future. It isn't even about the curses that have haunted the Cubs for most of the past century.

It's about the here and now - and Hendry's acquisition of Garciaparra makes the Cubs much, much, MUCH better in the here and now.

Perhaps some other day there would have been a deeper reaction to the plight of Nomar. But the Yankees are more worried about themselves than they are about the Red Sox, or anyone else. People here are more interested in the fact that they were able to rid themselves of (Jose) Contreras, an expensive mistake, and replace him with (Esteban) Loaiza, who should make them a better team.

This is one of the great, great, great trades in the history of Chicago baseball. ... Not since the Brinks job has there been a Boston robbery to match this. Ted Williams must be spinning in his freezer. First we got Bobby Orr. Then we got Carlton Fisk. Now, Nomar. Oh, people of Boston ... why are you so good to us?

After years of heckling the Tribune Co., I no longer can accuse Dennis FitzSimons, Andy MacPhail and the blueblood boys of not going for it. In a best-case scenario, the Cubs are getting a two-time American League batting champion and six-time All-Star who will catch fire in a lineup with Sammy Sosa, Aramis Ramirez, Moises Alou and Derrek Lee; place New England in his rear-view mirror; clean up his recent defensive deficiencies and understand his possible place in baseball history. At worst, he won't be nearly as dismal as A-Gone.

Chilly logic be hanged. This is a day to raise a chilly Old Style out there beyond the Wrigley vines.

Two syllables. Two syllables, and it’s all good again.

Two syllables, and the wind is blowing out, the gun’s catching Prior and Wood at 96-plus, even Steve Bartman has been forgiven. Dusty Baker’s a genius again. Somewhere Harry’s working on new ways to mangle “Garciaparra.”

Nomar, by God. Nomar.

To make this succeed, Garciaparra has to view his change of scenery as a chance to go from a team he'd stopped believing in last winter to a place where he's wanted and needed. But it would be impossible for him to be any less productive than the shortstops who preceded him in Chicago -- who ranked last in the big leagues in average (.222), slugging (.331) and runs scored (32).