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Cubs Trade Feldman to Orioles and Much, Much More!!!
Busy morning in Cubville...to the news ticker!
The Cubs have dealt RHP Scott Feldman and C/INF Steve Clevenger to the Baltimore Orioles for Brian Roberts.
I keed!!
It's for RHP Jake Arrieta and RHP Pedro Strop and some international pool money (more on that in a bit).
Here's the pertinent details...
Arrieta is a 27-year old righty that's been a disaster in the majors to the tune of a 5.46 ERA through 358 major league innings and knows the path from Baltimore to Norfolk all too well.
BUT....he's got a helluva an arm, once rated the #67 prospect in all of baseball and then #99 in 2009 and 2010 and the #2 - #4 prospect for the O's heading into 2010 with a B+ grade from John Sickels. He put up a real nice spring training this year as well and won a spot in the rotation that he couldn't keep, but the stuff has always been there if the command and consistency haven't. And quite importantly, he's not eligible for arbitration until this offseason and free agency until after 2016 I believe (might be one more year as he's spent time in the minors this season, so we'll wait for AZ Phil to clarify).
Strop's a 28-year old that the Cubs will control at least through 2017. His numbers make Carlos Marmol look like he's in control (career 5.4 BB/9). But he gets the fastball in the mid to upper 90's and is the type of power arm the Cubs want for their bullpen and are lacking in their minors.
Whether either figures it out will be the great mystery....but the Cubs definitely landed some talent here, even if it's not polished. I don't know if I was expecting more or less, but considering the O's can't offer Feldman any type of compensation for leaving free agency, this seems about the right price for a 3 month mid-rotation rental.
As for the international bonus money, it's for $388,100 and should help continue the Cubs spending spree. This morning he Cubs had already signed Dominican RHP Jefferson Mejia for $850K and Venezuelan shortstop Gleyber Torres for $1.7M. That's over half their cap money (around $4.5M) and they were rumored to still be the favorite for OF Eloy Jimenez and were in on P Erling Moreno.
And just as I was typing this, the Cubs completed the deal with the Dodgers for Carlos Marmol and they'll get the Dodgers cast-off in Matt Guerrier. The Cubs will send about $2M to the Dodgers to offset the difference between Marmol and Guerrier's remaining salaries AND also sent some international pool money the Dodgers way to complete the deal ($209,700). I can't say I understand that one...at all.
THEN...the Cubs sent INF Ronald Torreyes (part of the Sean Marshall deal) for some international pool money from the Astros ($784,700K coming from the Astros).
I'll update with any new info as it comes in, but overall I can't say I love the O's deal, but it certainly makes a lot of sense. The Cubs get years of servitude and upside at the cost of a cheap 1-year rental. As good as Feldman has been this year, he's not known for durability over his career, so a multi-year deal was probably off the table and even if it was, there's no stopping the Cubs from pursuing it next offseason.
PS...Clevenger is a Maryland native and his agent says he was nearly in tears and excited to be coming back home. Awww!
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