Cubs Close the Book on Geovany Soto and Jeff Baker Trades

Submitted by Arizona Phil on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 11:13am

RHP (acquired from TEX as the PTBNL in the trade in 2012) and RHP (acquired from DET for INF in August 2012) have been released.

The Cubs acquired RHP from TEX for Soto at the July 31st trade deadline in 2012, but Brigham was returned to the Rangers after the 2012 season as "damaged goods" (pre-existing elbow issue) and was replaced by Loux. But Brigham has continued to pitch and progress (he made his MLB debut with the Atlanta Braves last month), while Loux has been attempting (unsuccessfuly) to rehab from both post-2013 shoulder surgery and 2014 TJS.

The 26-year old Loux was healthy enough at Minor League Camp this past March that he was able to begin the 2015 season in the AAA Iowa starting rotation, but was placed on the I-Cubs 7-day DL with a right triceps strain in late April after only three starts. He was sent to Extended Spring Training (EXST) to rehab, where he threw in a couple of "sim" games and then started an intrasquad game on May 23rd. But Loux couldn't get his velocity up past 86 MPH, and was shut-down.

Carreno had shoulder surgery two years ago, and has since been unable to return to the mound full-time. He made a couple of brief, furtive attempts to pitch over the past couple of seasons (AZL in 2014 and three EXST "sim" games this season), but he had zero command and couldn't throw harder than 85 MPH. Now 24, Carreno was eligible to be a minor league free-agent (6YFA) post-2015, so his future with the Cubs was already cloudy (at best). 

Tags: 
Cubs Minor Leagues
Barret Loux
Marcelo Carreno
Jeff Baker
Geovany Soto

Comments

Submitted by crunch  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 1:23pm  
a.russell since june 1st... .203/.295/.260 in 139 PA ow. the power outage has been drastic after an emerging may.

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 1:28pm  
I can only assume that if La Stella was healthy he would be the starting second baseman.

Submitted by jacos  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 1:32pm  
growing pains hopefully he gets up to average by end of the year, and builds on it next year I don't think Lastella's glove is as good as Russell's, but I'm sure someone will show me stats to show I'm wrong.

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 1:42pm  
Agreed, Russell is a long term solution at 2b or SS. That said, since the Cubs are fighting for a playoff spot I would think that they would rather have him work out his growing pains in the minor if they had a better alternative.

Submitted by jacos  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 1:50pm  
Maybe more of a platoon with Herrara, where Russell finds more success. I'm fine with him sticking, Fowler and Castro are the one's that need to step up.

Submitted by jacos  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 2:06pm  
Or According to Gammons "The Royals, Nationals, Cubs, Mets, Yankees and Pirates are all in the mix for Ben Zobrist at this time."

Submitted by WISCGRAD  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 2:14pm  

If they land Zobrist, perhaps Russell will go down for 6 weeks to get consistent at-bats and try to get his stroke back. He then comes back September 1 and you have him, Zobrist, and Herrera to mix and match in the infield for the stretch, with Baez and Alcantara potential additions as well.

Submitted by jacos  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 2:28pm  
Or Castro gets traded

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 2:31pm  
Fingers crossed.

Submitted by jacos  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 3:04pm  
Or your fingers will stay that way and you will never use chop sticks again

Submitted by Rob Richardson  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 3:44pm  
Is that a thing?

Submitted by The E-Man  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 4:11pm  
I am not sure Alcantra will see action even in September. You for sure will see "CEASAR!", however.

Submitted by Arizona Phil  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 4:33pm  

I think if the Cubs do acquire Ben Zobrist from the A's, that Arismendy Alcantara and Dan Vogelbach will be going to Oakland. And if they do acquire Zobrist (a Joe Maddon guy from his Tampa Bay days), I would expect the Cubs to sign him to a two-year contract extension before he hits free-agency. 

And if the Cubs acquire Will Venable from San Diego, Junior Lake or Matt Szczur plus a mid-level pitching prospect (somebody like Black, Pineyro, or Tseng) will probably be the cost. And if they do acquire Venable, I suspect the Cubs will try and sign him to a contract extension before he hits free-agency, too. 

Submitted by The E-Man  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 5:40pm  
PHIL: Isn't Vogelbach Rule 5 eligible coming up? If so, we can all be sure the Cubs are working to include him in a deal.

Submitted by Arizona Phil  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 5:42pm  

E-MAN: Yes, Dan Vogelbach is Rule 5 Draft eligible post-2015. 

Submitted by billybucks  on Mon, 07/20/2015 - 2:31pm  
Only 2 XBH since June18 -- both doubles. Hopefully he gets it going in Cincy.

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  • Hagsag 3 hours 39 min ago (view)

    Predictions on the Rule 5 draft this morning?

     
  • Hagsag 3 hours 57 min ago (view)

    Very, very interesting Phil. Thanks for the post.

     
  • Arizona Phil 8 hours 9 min ago (view)

    What was the stated purpose of the 1953 Bonus Rule? 

    COMMISSIONER FORD FRICK: "We want the kind of bonus rule that will discourage the Majors from paying out big bonuses, and encourage the little fellows (he is referring here to the minor leagues) to sign these youngsters and then sell them to clubs of a higher classification."

     
  • crunch 10 hours 38 min ago (view)

    g.cole - yanks - 9/324m

    s.strasburg - nats - 7/245m

    a.rendon - angels - 7/245m

    boras has signed $814m of contracts for his guys this week.  not bad.

     
  • crunch 10 hours 45 min ago (view)

    still waiting for rich hill to happen over here...i promise to be totally not impressed or happy about it.  not a tj guy, but he's injured as hell and not expected to show up until mid-season at best.

    whoever they pick to give a few million dollars over a couple seasons to not pitch for the cubs in any of them, i welcome them.

    on a serious tip, there are rumors of a minor league deal for b.morrow.

     
  • bradsbeard 11 hours 19 min ago (view)

    Taijuan Walker is a good candidate. 

     
  • cubbies.4ever 12 hours 44 min ago (view)

    So who is left in the free Agent market that has had Tommy John surgery?  That seems to be a Prerequisite for Theo.  Cotton and Winkler both did adding to all the other signings of Theo.  I would love to see how many people Theo has signed or drafted who has had TJS.

     
  • Charlie 21 hours 26 min ago (view)

    I hope "isn't happening" was more like, "we'd love to continue to discuss this soon"--after extensions/trades of younger players are a bit more sorted.

     
  • Charlie 21 hours 30 min ago (view)

    If only they had revenue from having recently won the World Series and a string of playoff appearances along with a new TV contract! Then they could really spend.

     
  • crunch 21 hours 46 min ago (view)

    i wish this team was owned by billionaires rather than these...oh, nevermind.

     
  • Dolorous Jon Lester 22 hours 24 min ago (view)

    Apparently Cubs were approached by Rizzo's agent about an extension. They told him it wasn't happening.

    Cubs organization is performing a master class in how to burn good will among fans!

     
  • Arizona Phil 1 day 11 hours ago (view)

    jdlym: The contract Brad Brach signed with the Mets includes a $850K base salary for 2020, a $1.25M club option for 2021, $400K in potential performance bonuses in 2020, potentially $2.25M in 2021 salary accelerators, and $500K in potential performance bonuses in 2021, so ordinarily the Cubs salary obligation to Brach would be the difference between Brach's new 2020 base salary ($850K) and what would have been his 2020 player option salary ($1.35M) if he hadn't been released by the Cubs. 

     
  • crunch 1 day 15 hours ago (view)

    d.ross meets the media at winter meetings...video/audio

    https://www.pscp.tv/w/1ypKdBvlvzyJW

     
  • jdrnym 1 day 19 hours ago (view)

    Hey AZPhil, when a player is released with money/years still remaining on his contract, does his next team *have* to give him the prorated major league minimum or can they offer more (meaning the original club owes less) to "outbid" other teams that may have had interest? I'm assuming that's what happened with Brad Brach, where the Mets signed him for 2020 at $850,000.

     
  • crunch 1 day 20 hours ago (view)

    jeremy jeffress agrees.

     
  • Rob Richardson 1 day 23 hours ago (view)

    It's high time if you ask me.

     
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