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White Sox Promote Yoan Moncada

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The White Sox announced following tonight’s blockbuster trade that they will promote minor league infielder Yoan Moncada to the Majors tomorrow. Acquired in the team’s offseason trade of Chris Sale, Moncada is widely regarded as one of the game’s top overall prospects and ranks as MLB’s No. 1 prospect according to Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus.

Yoan Moncada | Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Moncada, 22, is off to an excellent start in Triple-A Charlotte, hitting .285/.381/.452 with a dozen homers, nine doubles, three triples and 17 steals (in 24 attempts). He should get everyday at-bats for the Sox at second base, where he’s played exclusively thus far in Triple-A this season.

This won’t be Moncada’s first exposure to the Majors, as he appeared with the Red Sox late in the 2016 campaign but looked overmatched by big league pitching at the time. In a tiny sample of 20 plate appearances, Moncada was able to notch four hits but also struck out a whopping 12 times. Strikeouts remain an issue for Moncada in Triple-A, though he’s made modest improvements in both his strikeout and walk rates this season.

Reports on the switch-hitting Moncada tout him as a potential five-tool player — one who can hit for high average with power, speed, and above-average defense at second base for years to come. His left-handed swing has drawn comparisons to that of Robinson Cano. Baseball America’s report on Moncada marvels at his athleticism, touting that he “possesses the size and strength of a linebacker and he runs like a runaway locomotive.”

If there are any questions about Moncada, they’re largely about his hit tool, though not to the point where many evaluators are too concerned about his future. ESPN’s Keith Law isn’t quite as high on Moncada, but even as a slightly more skeptical observer, he pegged him as baseball’s No. 13 overall prospect earlier this month. Law writes that Moncada still profiles as an above-average regular at second even if his discipline never fully comes around.

Moncada entered the season with just 31 days of Major League service time, and given the timing of his promotion, there aren’t enough days left on the calendar for him to reach the requisite 172 days of service to notch his first full year. The best he can do is wrap up the season with 106 days of service, which would eventually leave him shy of Super Two status after the 2019 campaign (assuming no further demotions to alter his service time trajectory). Moncada, then, wouldn’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2020 season and wouldn’t qualify as a free agent until the 2023 season wraps up.

Of course, financial considerations aren’t necessarily as great a concern for Moncada as they are for most young players. After leaving Cuba, Moncada signed with the Red Sox for a record-shattering $31.5MM signing bonus (that came with a full dollar-for-dollar penalty, meaning he cost Boston $63MM).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Yankees Acquire Todd Frazier, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle In Seven-Player Deal

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The White Sox and Yankees have agreed to a blockbuster deal that will send Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to New York in exchange for outfield prospect Blake Rutherford, left-handed pitching prospect Ian Clarkin, outfield prospect Tito Polo and veteran right-hander Tyler Clippard. The White Sox have formally announced the deal.

Todd Frazier | Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

While Frazier has been primarily a third baseman in his career, he does bring 740 innings of experience at first base to the table. That’s a clear area of need for the Yankees, who have seen injuries ruin the seasons of Greg Bird and Tyler Austin, while offseason acquisition Chris Carter has been twice designated for assignment and now cut loose back to the open market. The Yankees could deploy Frazier at first base with regularity or put him at third and slide Chase Headley across the diamond, where even his modest production would be an upgrade.

The 31-year-old Frazier is set to hit free agency at season’s end, and while his production this year hasn’t been up to par, he’s turned things on since the the calendar flipped to June. Over his past 37 games, Frazier has batted .234/.361/.508 with nine homers and eight doubles. For a Yankees team that has seen its first basemen bat a collective .208/.295/.391, even Frazier’s overall .207/.328/.432 batting line represents a marked improvement, but if he can sustain his recently increased production, it’ll be a particular boon for manager Joe Girardi’s lineup.

And, in fact, there are plenty of signs that point to some positive regression for Frazier. The slugger has upped his walk rate to a career-high 14.3 percent in 2017 while also cutting his strikeout rate by more than three percent — from 24.5 percent in 2016 to 21.2 percent in 2017. Beyond that, Frazier has cut his infield-fly rate and seen increases in his line-drive and hard-contact rates. As such, it stands to reason that he could continue to improve upon a .214 batting average on balls in play that is currently the second-worst mark among all qualified Major League hitters. Frazier is earning $12MM in 2017, and there’s about $4.92MM of that sum remaining on his contract.

[Related: Updated New York Yankees depth chart and Chicago White Sox depth chart]

Robertson, of course, is a known commodity to the Yankees. The righty spent the first seven years of his career in the Bronx, working to an excellent 2.81 ERA with 12.0 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9. Most of his career in New York was spent setting up for future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera, but Robertson thrived in the ninth-inning spotlight in his final season with the Yanks (following Rivera’s retirement), setting him up to sign a four-year, $46MM contract that was at the time one of the five largest contracts ever inked by a reliever.

David Robertson | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Now 32 years of age, Robertson is halfway through the third year of that contract and is in the midst of his best season with the Sox. Through 33 1/3 innings on Chicago’s South Side, Robertson has worked to a 2.70 earned run average with 12.7 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and an even 40.0 percent ground-ball rate. Like Frazier, Robertson is still owed $4.92MM of a $12MM salary this season. He, however, is signed through next year and is set to earn $13MM in 2018.

As for Kahnle, the 27-year-old was also once property of the Yankees, having risen through their minor league ranks before eventually making his big league debut in Colorado. The flamethrowing righty has long displayed a propensity for missing bats, but he’s taken that skill to new heights in 2017 while also dramatically slashing his walk rate. Through 36 innings in 2017, Kahnle has posted a ridiculous 15.0 K/9 rate to go along with a 41.1 percent grounder rate. The resulting 2.50 ERA looks impressive on its own, but metrics like FIP (1.47), xFIP (1.63) and SIERA (1.62) all feel that he may actually be unfortunate to be sporting an ERA even that high.

Further adding to Kahnle’s value is that he very much comes with long-term potential. If this proves to be a breakout rather than an aberration, he’d be controllable through the 2020 season via the arbitration process. Kahnle entered the year with just over two years of big league service time, so he’ll wrap up the 2017 campaign with three-plus years of service and be arbitration-eligible for the first time.

Tommy Kahnle | Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Adding Robertson and Kahnle to a bullpen that already features both Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances gives the Yankees a powerhouse relief corps to work with not only in 2017 but also through at least 2018, after which Robertson will be eligible for free agency. That group will be joined by an excellent multi-inning weapon in the form of Adam Warren as well as 26-year-old Chad Green, who is in the midst of his own breakout season — one that closely resembles that of Kahnle (1.75 ERA, 12.3 K/9, 2.5 BB/9 in 36 innings). Chasen Shreve is in the midst of a solid season and seems likely to stick as a left-handed option.

Clippard’s inclusion in this deal is primarily a means of offsetting some of the salary that the Yankees are taking on. Signed to a two-year, $12.25MM deal prior to the start of the 2016 season (by the D-backs), Clippard was a solid midseason pickup for New York last year but has struggled to a 4.95 ERA this year thanks to a recent spike in his home run rate. He’s still owed about $2.5MM of this season’s $6.125MM salary, so his inclusion will negate about a quarter of the $9.85MM that the Yankees are adding to their 2017 payroll in acquiring Frazier and Robertson. He’ll also give the ChiSox a veteran option at the back of a very inexperienced bullpen.

Clippard’s inclusion may have helped sway the Yankees into parting with a bit more in a what is essentially a three-player package that is headlined by Rutherford. The 20-year-old Rutherford was New York’s first-round pick in 2016 (No. 18 overall) and is off to a .281/.342/.391 start with Class-A Charleston. While those numbers don’t immediately jump out, he ranked as the game’s No. 36 overall prospect on Baseball America’s midseason update less than two weeks ago.

Rutherford entered the year as MLB.com’s No. 30 overall prospect, though his unspectacular start to the season may well cause that ranking to dip a bit. (He did not, for instance, rank on the midseason Top 50s of ESPN’s Keith Law or Baseball Prospectus.) Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo noted that he has the potential to hit for average and power, though their report notes that he’s likely to end up in an outfield corner — probably left field due to an arm that is more average than great.

The Yankees dealt from an area of depth in moving Rutherford, as Aaron Judge has cemented himself in right field, while Clint Frazier is doing his best to cement himself as a big leaguer right now. Beyond that, Aaron Hicks is controlled through 2019, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner both remain under contract, and the team is obviously hoping for a full recovery from Dustin Fowler, who suffered a severe knee injury in his MLB debut.

Clarkin, meanwhile, ranked 19th in a stacked Yankees farm system this winter, per Callis and Mayo, while ESPN’s Keith Law had him 13th. peg him as a possible mid-rotation starter if all goes according to plan, praising a fastball that sits 90-93 mph and reaches 95 mph. Clarkin commands the pitch well, and Baseball America gives him a chance to have an above-average curveball. He’s repeating Class-A Advanced and has impressed with a 2.61 ERA, 7.1 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 and a 53.7 percent ground-ball rate. With 175 1/3 innings under his belt in High-A, the former first-round pick (No. 33 overall, 2013) could conceivably be in line for a promotion to Double-A this summer.

Polo, 22, is hitting .298/.358/.446 with five homers, 13 doubles, seven triples and 25 steals through 316 plate appearances between Class-A Advanced and Double-A this season. The former Pirates farmhand went to the Yankees as part of last season’s Ivan Nova trade with Pittsburgh but didn’t crack the team’s top 30 prospects this offseason.

Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago first tweeted that the Yankees were the “closest” team to landing this trio. Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports said a deal was “very close” (on Twitter). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that Rutherford was the headliner (on Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Clarkin was in the deal (Twitter link). MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported that the White Sox would take back Clippard and his contract (also via Twitter). Sherman added that there was no additional cash changing hands. Levine tweeted that there was a fourth player in the deal.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Red Sox, White Sox “In Talks” On Todd Frazier

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The Red Sox and White Sox are “in talks” on third baseman Todd Frazier, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Heyman notes that there’s nothing known to be done yet but adds that something could come together “fairly soon.” For what it’s worth, Frazier was announced as a healthy scratch from tonight’s lineup, which further lends credence to the notion that something could come together. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that the two sides had begun to move closer to a Frazier swap.

The 31-year-old Frazier is set to hit free agency at season’s end, and while his production this year hasn’t been up to par, he’s turned things on since the the calendar flipped to June. Over his past 37 games, Frazier has batted .234/.361/.508 with nine homers and eight doubles — all of which would be a mammoth upgrade over the woeful production that Boston has received at the hot corner this season. To date, Boston third baseman have collectively posted a miserable .227/.281/.325 batting line through 359 plate appearances.

Overall, Frazier’s .207/.328/.432 slash line is hardly eye-popping, but he’s also shown some positive indicators that point toward positive regression. He’s upped his walk rate to a career-high 14.3 percent in 2017 while also cutting his strikeout rate by more than three percent — from 24.5 percent in 2016 to 21.2 percent in 2017. Beyond that, Frazier has cut his infield-fly rate and seen increases in his line-drive and hard-contact rates. As such, it stands to reason that he could continue to improve upon a .214 batting average on balls in play that is currently the second-worst mark among all qualified Major League hitters.

Yankees Nearing Deal To Acquire Todd Frazier, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle

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This post was originally published on the evening of Tues., July 18, prior to the announcement of the trade.

9:59pm: Levine tweets that there are four players going to the White Sox in the deal. Sherman adds that the fourth player will be another prospect, so it doesn’t seem as though anyone else on the big league roster is in the deal.

9:27pm: MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets that the White Sox would indeed take Clippard’s contract back in the trade as a means of offsetting some salary. Sherman tweets that there will be no cash considerations exchanging hands. Clippard is earning $6.125MM this year in the second season of a two-year, $12.25MM pact. About $2.5MM of that sum is still owed to the veteran reliever, so he’ll offset roughly one quarter of the nearly $10MM the Yankees are adding to the payroll by taking on the salaries of Robertson and Frazier.

9:17pm: Sherman reports that left-handed pitching prospect Ian Clarkin would also head to the ChiSox as part of the package (Twitter link).

9:09pm: Outfield prospect Blake Rutherford, New York’s first-round selection from the 2016 draft, would head to the White Sox as part of the package, reports USA Today’s Bob Nightengale (on Twitter).

9:04pm: Heyman tweets that the two teams are hoping to finalize a deal tonight, suggesting that well-regarded but lower-level prospects will likely be headed to the ChiSox in return.

8:01pm: The Yankees are indeed “pushing hard” for that trio, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post, though he notes that the deal is not yet at the finish line.

7:52pm: The Yankees are “very close” to a deal with the White Sox that would bring Todd Frazier, David Robertson and Tommy Kahnle to New York, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (on Twitter). Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago first tweeted that the Yankees were the “closest” team to landing that trio.

Notably, Frazier was announced as a healthy scratch by the White Sox tonight. A move to grab all three of those players would obviously be a significant upgrade for the Yankees’ roster, particularly the bullpen, but would also be important in that it’d keep Frazier (and possibly Robertson) away from the division-rival Red Sox. Boston was reportedly in talks with Frazier within the past hour, and there were some rumblings connecting Robertson to the BoSox as well.

While Frazier has been primarily a third baseman in his career, he does bring quite a bit of experience at first base to the table. That’s a clear area of need for the Yankees, who have seen injuries ruin the seasons of Greg Bird and Tyler Austin, while offseason acquisition Chris Carter has been twice designated for assignment and now cut loose back to the open market.

The 31-year-old Frazier is set to hit free agency at season’s end, and while his production this year hasn’t been up to par, he’s turned things on since the the calendar flipped to June. Over his past 37 games, Frazier has batted .234/.361/.508 with nine homers and eight doubles. For a Yankees team that has seen its first basemen bat a collective .208/.295/.391, even Frazier’s overall .207/.328/.432 batting line would be a marked improvement, but if he can sustain his recently increased production, it’d be a particular boon for manager Joe Girardi’s lineup.

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Latest On Todd Frazier, David Robertson

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The Red Sox are “moving closer” to a deal with the White Sox that would send third baseman Todd Frazier to Boston, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports (Twitter link). Both the Red Sox and archrival Yankees, who are 2.5 games behind AL East-leading Boston, sent scouts to Chicago on Sunday to observe Frazier and teammate David Robertson, according to FanRag’s Jon Heyman. However, it seems the teams have different motives. While the Red Sox are more interested in landing Frazier than Robertson, it’s the other way around for the Yankees, per Heyman.

[Related: Red Sox and Yankees news and rumors on Facebook]

If the White Sox move Frazier prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, the soon-to-be free agent’s unlikely to bring back a big return, with Nightengale suggesting he’d net the White Sox a “fringe prospect.” Moreover, Chicago would probably have to eat some of the remaining $5MM-plus left on Frazier’s contract, adds Nightengale (on Twitter). The 31-year-old would offer an acquiring team a competent everyday player, though, as he’s in the midst of his sixth straight respectable full season. Overall, the slugger has hit .210/.330/.483 with 16 home runs in 330 plate appearances. Those numbers are clearly superior to the production the Red Sox have gotten from their slew of third basemen, who have batted a woeful .234/.292/.327 with seven homers in 494 PAs.

While Frazier to Boston may be “almost inevitable,” as Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network reported Saturday, there are other third basemen on the Red Sox’s radar, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick tweets, with a source describing their search as “wide open.”  One other possible candidate could be A’s second baseman Jed Lowrie, whom the BoSox have been scouting, Crasnick relays (Twitter link). Heyman lists the Padres’ Yangervis Solarte and the Marlins’ Martin Prado (previously reported) as other possibilities.

Lowrie began his career in Boston, which selected him in the first round of the 2005 draft and dealt him to Houston in 2011 for reliever Mark Melancon. Now 33, Lowrie hasn’t seen significant action at third base since 2015, when he was still with the Astros, but his bat would bat be an upgrade over what the Red Sox’s hot corner choices have offered this year. The switch-hitter has slashed .273/.340/.448 with nine homers in 365 trips to the plate with the A’s, who are rebuilding and have no real reason to keep the $6.5MM man around through the season. With a $6MM club option (or a $1MM buyout) for 2018, Lowrie could be more than a rest-of-season stopgap for Boston, though the club might only need a Band-Aid at third with highly touted prospect Rafael Devers creeping closer to the majors.

Solarte, 30, carries even more team control than Lowrie. He’s due a guaranteed $6.5MM through 2018 ($2.5MM this season, $4MM next) and has two affordable club options after that ($5.5MM in 2019, $8MM in 2020). Also a switch-hitter, Solarte has slashed .268/.349/.425 with 10 long balls in 289 PAs this season. However, a strained oblique has kept him out of action since June 20.

While Lowrie to Boston would be a homecoming of sorts, the same would apply to Robertson going to New York. The Yankees drafted Robertson in 2006, in Round 17, and he developed into a shutdown reliever with the club a few years later. Robertson was so effective as both a setup man and closer with the Yankees that Chicago handed him a four-year, $46MM contract as a free agent in 2014.

Even though the Yankees let Robertson depart, they “always have” been bullish on the right-hander, a source told Heyman. His $12MM salary this year and $13MM guarantee in 2018 aside, any bullpen-needy team would love to have Robertson, who’s amid the best of his three seasons in Chicago and has posted a 2.78 ERA with 12.8 K/9 and 3.06 BB/9 over 32 1/3 innings. Robertson is the closer for the White Sox, but he’d return to his old setup job with the Yankees and form what would figure to be an elite game-ending trio with Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman. Robertson would also fill a seventh- or eighth-inning role with the Red Sox, who have an all-world closer in Craig Kimbrel.

Todd Frazier To Red Sox "Almost Inevitable"

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  • A Red Sox trade for White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier seems “almost inevitable,” according to Rosenthal. (Rosenthal’s choice of words is strikingly strong here.) The Red Sox need a short-term infusion of power at third, with top prospect Rafael Devers as their long-term answer at the position. Frazier, who is eligible for free agency next winter, fits the bill perfectly, in Rosenthal’s view. Frazier has batted a modest .210/.331/.438 in 326 plate appearances this season, but he has a solid history of hitting for power and has batted a robust .248/.377/.540 since June 4 after getting off to a slow start to the year.

White Sox Acquire Yeyson Yrizarri From Rangers For International Bonus Slot

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The Rangers have announced that they’ve traded minor-league infielder Yeyson Yrizarri to the White Sox for an international bonus slot. The move gives the Rangers additional flexibility to sign international amateur talent. Their July 2 class is currently headlined by Venezuelan outfielder Wilderd Patino ($1.3MM), Venezuelan shortstop Keyber Rodriguez ($1M) and Mexican right-hander Damian Mendoza ($1M).

That Yrizarri would be traded for the rights to international bonus spending is somewhat ironic, since he himself was the product of an earlier international spending spree. The 20-year-old Dominican signed for $1.35MM during the Rangers’ 2013-14 signing period, in which they spent more than $8MM on international talent. He has played this season for Class A Hickory and Class A+ Down East, posting a cumulative line of .258/.285/.399 with 57 strikeouts and just six walks.

Despite a worrisome lack of strike-zone control, though, Yrizarri does rate as a real prospect — MLB.com rated him the No. 17 farmhand in the Rangers organization, praising his bat speed and noting that he seems likely to stick at shortstop. He’ll join a White Sox prospect list that’s heavy on players also acquired in recent trades, including Yoan Moncada, Michael Kopech, Eloy Jimenez, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dylan Cease, although, of course, he’ll rank lower on the list than any of those players.

Zack Burdi Believed To Have Torn UCL

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White Sox pitching prospect Zack Burdi is believed to have suffered a UCL tear that will require Tommy John surgery, Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago first reported on Twitter. While he’ll first receive a second opinion, indications are that he’ll join his brother — Twins prospect Nick Burdi — in the lengthy TJ recovery process.

The younger Burdi landed with the White Sox organization after following his brother in posting a stellar run with the University of Louisville. Chicago grabbed Burdi with the 26th overall pick in last year’s draft — quite a steep position for a relief pitcher.

At the time, prospect watchers believed that Burdi could move quickly toward the majors. His triple-digit heater, quality slider, and serviceable change give him the arsenal of a closer; surely, the South Siders used that lofty pick in expectation that he’d become an elite pen arm.

Burdi sprinted through the Sox’ system last year, reaching Triple-A in his first professional season. The expectation heading into 2017 was that he’d finish off his preparation and potentially get his first taste of the big leagues at some point later in the current season.

Even before the injury, though, there was perhaps some cause to pump the brakes on Burdi’s rise. He has allowed fifteen earned runs on thirty hits and seventeen walks through his 33 1/3 innings at Charlotte this year, though he has also racked up 51 strikeouts.

Still, the plan obviously was for Burdi to begin making an MLB impact sooner than later. While the rebuilding White Sox can deal with some delay, a major injury to a significant prospect obviously constitutes disappointing news. If he does indeed require a new UCL, the 22-year-old will likely miss the entire 2018 season — though perhaps an Arizona Fall League assignment next year could be possible.

White Sox Release Everth Cabrera

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The White Sox have released veteran shortstop Everth Cabrera, according to Dan Hayes of CSN Chicago (via Twitter). He had been playing with the team’s Triple-A affiliate.

Cabrera, 30, had hoped to make a comeback with the Sox after sitting out the 2016 season. Things obviously did not turn out that way for the fleet-footed switch-hitter, leaving his future in doubt.

Through 202 plate appearances in the minors this year, Cabrera carries only a .196/.279/.240 batting line. He is now far removed from a productive 2013 season that was ultimately marred by a PED suspension. Cabrera has appeared in just 119 MLB contests since that time.

Reactions To And Effects Of The Jose Quintana Trade

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After a nearly silent All-Star break on the rumor front, the Cubs and White Sox stunned the baseball world by announcing a blockbuster deal that sent left-hander Jose Quintana from Chicago’s American League club to its National League team in exchange for minor leaguers Eloy Jimenez, Dylan Cease, Matt Rose and Bryant Flete. Over the past 24 hours, both teams have addressed the media, pundits from around the media have weighed in on the swap, and others have reported details on alternative talks that each team had leading up to the blockbuster move. Here’s a before-and-after, if you will, of how what might be the summer’s biggest trade transpired…

  • The Yankees, Brewers and Astros were all involved in varying levels of trade talks regarding Quintana before the Cubs ultimately acquired him, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). The Braves, too, were in on Quintana “until the end,” USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets. Meanwhile, Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post tweets that the Rockies were “never really in” on Quintana despite a potential need for some rotation upgrades with some of their younger arms sputtering lately.
  • The Cubs tried to engage the Tigers in trade talks on Michael Fulmer before acquiring Quintana, reports Nightengale in a full column. However, Detroit gave no indication that it was willing to listen unless the Cubs were willing to include both Javier Baez and Ian Happ in trade talks. They also inquired on Justin Verlander, per Morosi (also via Twitter), though he notes that, similarly, talks between the two sides “never gained momentum.”
  • While many were stunned to see the Sox and Cubs line up on a trade — their first since 2006 — White Sox GM Rick Hahn scoffed at the notion that their shared city would serve as an impediment to trade talks, writes Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. “This notion that we wouldn’t do business with them because they’re in town — or somehow we would actually take an inferior baseball deal for non-baseball reasons because of emotion or a rivalry or something totally unrelated to putting the best possible team on the field for the next several years — is laughable,” said Hahn. The South Side GM went on to laud Jimenez’s upside, calling him a potential middle-of-the-order bat with power potential and the ability to hit to all fields. Hahn adds that yesterday’s package was “far and away the best offer, the best possibility, that we’ve discussed with any club since we’ve started this process roughly a year or ago or so.”
  • The Cubs believed that they were out of the running to acquire Quintana after talking to Hahn in June, president of baseball operations told reporters (via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Sun-Times). Hahn, though, re-engaged with Epstein on Sunday night, and the two talked over the next few days, including a conversation that included Hahn ducking behind an exhibit at All-Star FanFest in Miami to avoid being seen (per ESPN Chicago’s Jesse Rogers, on Twitter). Ultimately, it became clear that the Cubs would have to part with two of their very best prospects to get the deal done. “This deal had zero-percent chance of happening without both Eloy and Cease in it,” said Epstein. The Cubs president went on to say that they’ve been trying to acquire a pitcher like Quintana for “a long time” and added that his analytics and scouting teams “[dug] deep” to determine whether there were any changes that led to Quintana’s slow start t the season. “Our assessment on both fronts was that he is the same guy, and our staff felt that way with conviction,” Epstein said.
  • Also via Wittenmyer’s column, Epstein said that the team isn’t necessarily done yet, though their play in the next two weeks will dictate what other moves are or aren’t made. “We need to play well coming out of the gates here, and we’ll assess what we’re trying to do in large part based on how we play and where we are in the standings, and how realistic we think a World Series run is this year,” Epstein said. “Everything is still on the table for this year.”
  • ESPN’s Keith Law opines (Insider subscription required and recommended) that both clubs did well in the trade. The Cubs picked up a durable arm that has a near-ace-level track record over the past three years whose raw stuff “didn’t really waver” even through his struggles earlier this season. Quintana can help offset the loss of right-hander Jake Arrieta after the season, joining Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks in the rotation for the next several years. His contract is also affordable enough that the team can comfortably pursue rotation help on the free-agent market this winter. Law projects Jimenez as a middle-of-the-order bat and suggests that he alone could’ve been an acceptable return, though the inclusion of Cease sweetens the deal. Cease has questions about his command as well as his durability and may end up in the ’pen, though his velocity and pair of potentially above-average secondary offerings make him a nice upside play. Law notes that he’s been leapfrogged by a pair of pitching prospects on the Cubs’ organizational rankings, which might’ve made him easier to deal.
  • Both Nightengale and Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network opine that it’s ridiculous that this is just the second trade these two teams have made this decade and offer praise for Hahn and Epstein for their pragmatic approach to dealing with one another. Teams are making more rational and data-driven decisions than ever before, Rosenthal notes, ultimately surmising that that trend should also include a willingness to deal within the same city and within the same division.
  • Yahoo’s Jeff Passan writes that Quintana’s contract was every bit as important to the Cubs as Quintana himself. With significant arbitration raises looming for players like Kris Bryant, Addison Russell, Kyle Hendricks, Javier Baez, Carl Edwards Jr. and others looming in the next two years, the team’s enviable young core is going to rapidly become considerably more expensive. Shedding money from aging veterans like Arrieta, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist will obviously free up some cash, but Quintana’s contract meets an important nexus of future payroll flexibility, remaining under the luxury tax and improving the near- and long-term roster.

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