The Cubs have at last dealt Ryan Dempster.  He goes to the Texas Rangers. Dempster has a 2.25 ERA (good for second in the NL) and 83 strikeouts against 27 walks in 104.0 innings. While Dempster has obviously been outstanding in 2012, there’s reason to believe that he’s not going to be quite this good moving forward. That’s especially the case now that he’s in the DH league and pitching in Arlington.With that said, he’s clearly an upgrade for the Rangers, whose only real weakness is uncertainty in the rotation, what with the struggles of Roy Oswalt, the (likely) season-ending injury to Colby Lewis and the uncertain status of Neftali Feliz. In return, the Cubs will receive right-hander Kyle Hendricks and third baseman Christian Villanueva. Hendricks, age 22, is thriving this season at High-A Myrtle Beach (2.82 ERA, 130.2 IP, 112 K, 15 BB), and the 21-year-old Villanueva is hitting .285/.356/.421, also at Myrtle Beach.

Dempster had been scheduled to start Tuesday night against Pittsburgh,but Casey Colemanmwho was recalled from Iowa,will get the nod against the Pirates.

Matt Garza remains a Cub,but could always be dealt if the Cubs can get him through waivers,but that’s not likely since many teams will be primed to put a ‘block’ up to keep certain Clubs from claiming him.