The Cubs have acquired right-hander Jesse Chavez from the Rangers, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter). Lefty Tyler Thomas is heading to the Rangers in return.
Chavez, 34, is owed $1.5MM on the season under his one-year deal. (That includes an additional $500K over the base $1MM guarantee that was tacked on when he made the active roster to open the season.) While he has flown under the radar on a Rangers club that’s mired in last place, Chavez earned a reasonably lofty placement (#38) on MLBTR’s recent ranking of the 75 top summer trade candidates.
Much of the appeal in Chavez lies in his ability to function as a swingman. He has alternated between relief and rotation work over the past several seasons, generally providing useful innings in either capacity. While he’ll surely be asked to join the relief corps in Chicago, Chavez will also help pad the club’s rotation depth.
On the heels of a tough 2017 campaign in which he worked mostly as a starter, Chavez has settled into a role as a multi-inning reliever in Texas. He carries a 3.51 ERA through 56 1/3 innings over thirty appearances, with 8.0 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9.
Notably, Chavez’s velocity has trended up by over a full tick (to 93.1 mph with his average fastball) after fading somewhat last year. He’s also generating an 11.0% swinging-strike rate that’s near his personal best. Chavez has, however, allowed a few too many home runs for three years running.
For their minimal investment in Chavez, the Rangers seem to have done reasonably well to pick up Thomas. The 22-year-old was a 2017 seventh-round pick out of Fresno State. He has thrown well this year at the Class A level, turning in 75 innings of 2.88 ERA ball with 9.7 K/9 against 1.7 BB/9.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Why?
So somebody can eat the innings up when Chatwood throws 3.2 innings scoreless for 95 pitches
Lol so true
Or Kyle Hendricks, apparently.
Or John Lester Lol true ace 18-5
Are you an idiot? It’s one game
It takes 95 pitches to have 6 Ks and 6 BBs through those 3.2 IP, though. He can’t be any more efficient and maintain that BB rate.
Why not?
I can’t understand why you don’t see the value in this guy. He’s obviously not Chris Sale or anything but he a reliever that is also a starter. You can actually let the guy pitch more than one inning if need be. For that reason I wish the Braves would have picked him up.
Don’t get to worked up over losing a prospect in A ball because he was doing well. Yes it increased his value but A ball is still a long way from the majors.
Trade the only guy capable of eating innings. Genius.
Higher draft pick? Genius.
The Rangers are 14 games under .500 and 22 games out in their division. Why would they keep a 34-year-old journeyman on a one-year deal to eat innings?
“What a miserable failure Jon is. Nothing in the minor leagues, no talent to trade away at the deadline. Oh and all he wants in return is the most valuable assets the other teams have. So tired of this guy. FIRE JON DANIELS”
Love the guy, complains on one thread of nothing to trade away and then when a piece is traded that can be replaced easily by a couple of the good up and coming relievers in the minors he gets mad.
He’s only under contract through the end of the season. No reason to hold on to him in a lost season when you can add a prospect who could be valuable later when they are contending
Those Ranges are hot atm :p
That Hansel is so hot right now
Lol!
I think this means they actually acquired him from the Rockies. (Sorry, that’s a terrible “mountain ranges” pun)
you’re right. It is a terrible “mountain ranges” pun.
I didn’t even know that was a class of puns! Haha
I hope atm in this case doesn’t stand for what I think it stands for…
I get that the Cubs bullpen is good and all. But Jesse Chavez? Youre not going for first overall picks anymore guys.
Chavez has been pretty solid this year. Much better than I expected him to be when the Rangers signed him. I wouldn’t want him to be my team’s primary trade acquisition, but he brings some versatility and experience that could help a team for a couple of months. And it’s not like they really gave up much to get him, though I’m happy with the return as a Rangers fan.
Really going for it
Is this what we get instead of Hand or Britton? Wow
Calm down. You’re embarrassing yourself. The deadline is 12 days away. They acquired Chavez for a guy you’ve never heard of. And he’s going to fill in as a depth piece to the rotation with Darvish out, Montgomery coming back to earth, Chatwood being garbage, and Butler being on the DL.
This move has nothing to do with finding late inning help. It affects neither their desire nor their ability to acquire someone like Britton in the next 12 days.
Thanks for helping me not embarrass myself. That was close
Doesn’t mean they stop at Chavez. Adding a quality bullpen arm never hurts.
Britton has not gone anywhere yet and how would the Cubs have landed hand? You think Tyler Thomas would headline a deal for Hand? Or trading Hand handcuffs the Cubs?
Nobody said that. But you’re over valuing what they’ll get for Britton. Basically, one top prospect got the Dodgers Machado and one top prospect got Cleveland arguably 2 of the top controllable arms in the game. With his injury history and the fact he’s a rental, I think Bote and another prospect could get him to the Cubs.
Chavez adds some depth to both the rotation and bullpen because Duensing has been terrible and Norwood is a taxi guy. For the pro-rated version of $1,000,000 and what seems likely to be a C prospect to a minor league depth piece, what’s the risk.
Exactly what Phillies2017 said. Well stated
You make a good point…but you were way off on that username
This makes no sense. Phillies are finally good, and ur trolling him for proving he’s not bandwagon fan.
I assumed it was a World Series prediction
Maybe the Cubs minor league pitcher coming to the Rangers is…Yu Darvish???
The Cubs might do that if the Rangers take on the entire contract.
At age 34, Chavez still has time to match or beat Octavio Dotel & Edwin Jackson’s record for most MLB teams played for. That’s something to shoot for.
Jackson is 34 himself.
I remember seeing that when he made his first start for the A’s a few weeks ago. It feels like he’s been around forever.
Yeah 9 teams so far. He’d have to go to 6 more. Highly unlikely.
The record is 13 (and counting, for Jackson). Chavez now has 9. So 4 more to tie the record; 5 to break it.
Fun.
Of course he is only in A ball, but Tyler Thomas had been a bright spot for Cubs minor league pitching this year. Chavez is…not sexy, but I think the Triple A guys who have been pitching extremely well will start to falter / regress a bit, so he should hopefully be of assistance (though his career numbers aren’t sexy, by any means).
Don’t worry, Theo and Co. have absolutely no interest in developing a pitcher.
Maybe so, but they sure know how to trade for them.
Not when they don’t have a farm. Then they have to give out lucrative contracts to Darvish & Chatwood.
How’s that worked out so far?
What pitching prospects did they have in the first place? Dylan cease and what else?
So far, so good. In first place and widening the gap every day. Thanks for including the “so far” in your question.
The farm is in Chicago. You realize the ages of the kids in first place don’t you? And wondering if you excluded Heyward intentionally from your snide remark or do you now agree he’s just fine in RF? Cubs hard is delicious for Cubs fans. Keep it coming….
Tell Chavez he isn’t sexy to his face. You won’t.
Almost no risk. Montgomery hasn’t been an effective starter for long stretches before, ever. If he gets cooked for a bit, Chavez can step in to cover. I have a suspicion that Darvish is going to be out until late August,
I wouldn’t believe this to preclude Theo and company from adding someone on the same level of Morrow (which is needed for the postseason, IMO)
I wish they’d take a run at deGrom. I think a package with Russell, Caratini, our two best healthy minor league pitchers (Albertos and Lange) and a couple of lottery tickets would be enough to get it done. We’d keep Happ, but would need to acquire a bench catcher.
Yeah, no……that is certainly not enough for Degrom,
Any conversation for Degrom starts with Happ as 1 of the main pieces. Caratini, Russell, Bote, would be secondary pieces. Any pitching prospects would round out the deal.
Happ, Caratini, Bote, Alzolay, and Little or Lange would be what it would take to get Degrom since so many other teams can beat what the cubs could potentially offer.
Dodgers can easily offer Verdugo or Ruiz or both as their center piece and have better prospects to deal from. So do the Astros,
Happ is the best trade chip the Cubs got (As far as guys they’re willing to trade.) He’d certainly be part of a deal.
If the cubs find a way to get degrom that would be an amazing piece to their rotation
The one two punch of degrom then lester
Lmao.. russell is all around better than happ.. so if theyd want happ over russell then by all means..
I think a package of happ, bote, alzolay, and hatch and 1 or 2 more guys in the 15-30 range could get degrom no problem. Just depends if the cubs would do it.. bote is very under rated. Definitely a future starting 3rd baseman especially for the Mets.
Wow, you guys must be Cubs fans. You sound like teams are dying to acquire Happ and Russell. They’re not.
Scouts love Happ
Producing the way they are at age 23/24, I’m sure that there are 25 or 27 teams that will take them. The return may be a different story, but….there are teams that would like those two players. First round draft picks seems to be sought after. That said, there really isn’t a package above that would get DeGrom…….if that is what you meant.
Proven major league talent over prospects that may not play a major league game?
So a few unproven prospects are better than guys who have shown they can hit MLB pitching with authority? Yeah that makes sense.
Boy Scouts
Montgomery has pitched very well as a starter in place of Darvish for quite awhile now and they’d be in deep trouble without him.
Unfortunately for the Cubs, other teams will make offers for deGrom as well…
Nice little steal by Theo.
Solid depth pen piece for Chicago, and a nice pickup for the Rangers as well…Looks like a win/win for both..
Guys, chill, the cubs need a inning water. That’s all he mostly will be. Not like hes gonna be thrown in to high leverage spots. Hes clearly there for when the starters struggle to go past 4 or 5 innings which seems to happen couple times a week.. why over pitch guys controlled for years to come when you can get someone that’s gone after the year to do it for practically nothing
the thug got traded?
Guys with Darvish out and Morrow and the ongoing injuries that cubs just needed a veteran reliever to give them some more flexibility on other arms such as Cishek morrow Edwards etc. the cubs do not need to pay the price for an “elite arm” just need more guys who can eat some innings and not allow stagering amounts of runs. I don’t think that this should be the only move however and I would take this trade any day but it’s not really important as the cubs have switched pitchers from the minors and down and it has worked out well Mazzoni Hancock Bass etc. I hope they trade for one starting pitcher and bump chatwood to the bullpen and tell that guy you walk a guy that is fine, all you have to do is give us 1 good inning… if quitana pitches a little bit better and Hendricks pitches like Hendricks and Lester keeps doing what he’s doing. That would be solid. Then to have a guy who is mediocre in the trade market right now and hopefully Darvish. Comes back and pitches like Darvish. That’s a stellar rotation. And then you’d be able to bump Monty back to the bullpen and have Smyly coming back sometime soon.
Quintana*
Weird move, I feel a trade is blossoming with the Orioles that has Montgomery included in it. Thoughts?
Unless its for Givens, Monty is going nowhere.
I don’t really think the Orioles would need or want Montgomery, especially for Givens
Montgomery is more valuable than Givens.
Not familiar with Givens, looking at only the stats I’d think I’d rather have Montgomery but then again he’s on ththe Orioles and in the al east.
Underrated grab by the Cubs. Out of 128 relievers with 80 IP since the beginning of last season, only eight have a better K/BB ratio than Jesse Chavez.
Out of those 128, where does he rank in fip and era? Having a nice k/bb ratio is good but it’s also not that telling when it comes to production
Shhhhhh. Let the cubs fans cherry pick stats and drink koolaid
And let the White Sox fans keep whining from the cheap seats.
First place Cubs…correct yourself kid.
Cubs big move *drum roll please*
Yeah that’s their big move sure buddy.
Will they be still be able to get Britton chwap?
The Cubs’ problem is that their prospects these days are…underwhelming.
They are all in Chicago…..
The Cubs should be making a serious run ar deGrom or Britton. These under the radar moves don’t matter if you’re trying to win a championship. They need more impact players.
They don’t have prospects for deGrom. It would take at least Happ plus 3 other prospects maybe starting with Adbert Alzolay just to start. Not sure that’s worth it.
For Degrom it’s worth it, not Britton. He’s only a rental.
This is generally false. The teams that win it all usually don’t make a huge splash as they already had a great core of players that put them top in the league to begin with. Chapman’s era wasn’t great during the postseason it was 3 something. Era isn’t everything but he certainly wasn’t dominant. Cueto for the royals was 4-7 with a 4.31 era and outside of the World Series game didn’t pitch great at all. Year the giants won the only trade they made was for Peavy who nobody thought he had anything left. The best teams usually get a extra pen arm or a 4OF with speed they don’t need to make a huge splash.
the cubs have glaring holes. dont act like they are perfect.
Please tell me the cubs “glaring holes” besides a 5 starter to replace chatwood? Their pen is one of the best in the majors.. do they need another pen arm? No.. could they use a extra arm? Yes, every contender could.
Let’s look at the other 4. Lester, hes fine. Hendricks is a mess mechancially and his next homerun given up will be a career high. Q has been mediocre since going North. Darvish…does he even play? Chatwood walks the entire stadium. Montgomery, has been fine, but they seem unwilling to use him in a starting role moving forward.
You do understand while Hendricks and Quintana have both been messes that they both maintain a high 3 to 4 ERA right? And darvish has an injury. Or did you not know that either?
17 over. 500 and 1st place beeeaaactch
Chapman’s ERA “wasn’t great” during the postseason because his manager absolutely used and abused his arm.
It was exactly the same as Andrew Miller’s in the World Series. In a one run game, everyone glosses over the home run he gave up to David Ross in game seven. Playoff baseball is very, very different than regular season baseball. Use and abuse anyone you wish…you have an off day coming up and a whole winter to recover. Nobody ever seems to question Francona’s usage of Miller and he lost the World Series.
Nice, MLB trade rumors–this article doesn’t even show up in the Rangers (that’s how you spell that) feed.
Britton is not the answer either for the cubs. Hand was the guy but they have nothing to trade. The rotation sucks if they make the playoffs. Lester than a huge drop off. Hendricks is not the maddux everyone thought he would be, Q is ok as a 3rd…Darvish probably wont pitch at a high level. The rotation will be their downfall and the BP will be taxed plus it is not over powering enough to shorten games in the playoffs
Hey I was wondering are you a Sox fan?
Hendricks is having a mediocre first half so hes no good now.. lmaooo.. moron
So sox79—here’s the plan—get ahead of the Brewers by 8 or 10 by the end of August and ease back on everyone the last month….just like 2016…or like the Astros and Dodgers of 2017……also, thanks for your scouting report on Hand and Darvish. Since Hand was the guy I just put a boatload of money on the Indians to win the World Series.
internettoughguy obviously cannot read.
Well done by Texas. Bought low on Chavez and turned him into a starter prospect with potential. Hopefully the start of a handful of moves.
I follow the Cubs system pretty closely and forgot Thomas was still pitching for them, I’d say good trade lol
What handful of moves are needed?
I don’t understand how a team with 5 guys riding the AAA Iowa-Chicago shuttle that have pitched very well in the big leagues. The Cubs ALMOST have 2 usable big league bullpens. Depth is not needed. A Top flight guy to get you outs in the last 2 weeks of the regular season and postseason. Whether that be Hameln, Happ, Bundy, Eovaldi(for tax purposes, he’s my pick) or a shutdown reliever to add to Morrow, Strop, Edwards,JR. Wilson, Cishek, Monty, Rosario, Norwood, Bass, and I like Hancock. But depth to that is NOT a need. A top guy who can close when Morrow is injured is. Or a DeGrom or Eovaldi to our behind Lester. Because right now? We don’t have it.
But if you can go…..
Lester
DeGrom
Quintana
Darvish
Hendricks
You have made yourself very tough. Right now our starting pitching is what is keeping us from being World Series contenders. We’re contenders like ATL and Philly and others. But right this min , the way our starting pitching is separating us from the likes of Bos, NYY, HoU, LAD
I agree with most of that. They definitely need another late innings arm. I just don’t think Theo would give up the talent it’d take to get DeGrom. It would probably cost them Russell and Happ/Almora and the cream of what’s left of the farm. Man, I just think that’s too rich for this team. Not because DeGrom’s not worth it, but because outside of the 4th and 5th starters, they have a very strong roster they shouldn’t mess with. IMHO.
Yeah if degrom is on the cubs he is the ace. If he doesn’t start game one of a playoff series, and Lester does, joe madden should be flogged.
Have to agree. For as great as Lester has been all season, if DeGrom is on your team, then he instantly becomes the ace.
Completely agree. The starting rotation is the Cubs’ only Achilles heal.
If Darvish can come back to form, that’s great, but I’m not counting on it. I’ve written Chatwood off, at this point. Hopefully Hendricks and Quintana can just stay stable.
With that said, the Cubs absolutely NEED to pull the trigger on a deal for either DeGrom or Archer. Obviously, preferably DeGrom.
I think a package of Happ, Bote, Montgomery, and a prospect or two can get it done.
Omg now the brewers are done lol
The Brewers were never relevant in the first place. And Counsell will mange like it’s the mythical Game 7 they’ll never see….all season long. They can’t figure out he’s why they start fast and fade hard every season.
He’ll be with the Cubs for a lights out season next year.
I hope he is as good for the cubs as he was for the dodgers.
Welcome to the cubs 2.0 IP 0 hits vs Cards.
Chavez just made his Cubs debut. Looks really confident. 6 batters face, 6 batters retired. No one hit the ball hard. I’d say a great first impression was made.