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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The first 600 characters of the last 16 comments, click "View" to see rest of comment.
  • Arizona Phil 4 hours 11 min ago (view)

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  • Hagsag 14 hours 19 min ago (view)

    Does anyone know what type of injury Amaya has?

     
  • Hagsag 14 hours 22 min ago (view)

    I can not believe what a good 3b he has been playing.

     
  • Wrigley Rat 20 hours 13 min ago (view)

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  • crunch 22 hours 13 min ago (view)

    HR in the 8th.  dope.

     
  • crunch 1 day 23 min ago (view)

    he's back out in the field in the top 3rd...must be okay, but he sure doesn't look confidently healthy.  *shrug*  off-day tomorrow...

     
  • crunch 1 day 33 min ago (view)

    p.wisdom seems to have injured his right leg/knee swinging a bat...

     
  • crunch 1 day 55 min ago (view)

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    ...

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  • First.Pitch.120 1 day 2 hours ago (view)

    The thing that gets me is that she cheated with the guy providing religous-based pre-marital counseling. Hmmm... this guy is abusing his (quasi-)professional couseling position to pursue an intimate relationship; forgot the parts of the Bible about lying, cheating, & doing dirty by the 2016 WS MVP; and clearly has very conflicted feelings on the marriage construct... yep, I'm blowing up multiple people's lives to ride-or-die with THAT guy. 

     
  • Hagsag 1 day 3 hours ago (view)

    I am with my hero Zo.

     
  • crunch 1 day 5 hours ago (view)

    whole zobrist thing got fleshed out (no pun) in public now...

    https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/cubs-ben-zo...

     
  • Arizona Phil 1 day 11 hours ago (view)

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  • crunch 1 day 23 hours ago (view)

    69 (nice) pitches...goes 4.2ip and leaves with a man on 1st

    4.2ip 3h 1bb 5k, 3r/er (2hr)

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  • crunch 1 day 23 hours ago (view)

    d.ross pulls baez for alcantara for what was either a mental mistake forgetting the outs or totally not hustling by baez in the bottom 4th running the bases.

    cubs are down by 1.

    hell of manager power play.  hope this plays out well...expect it will.

     
  • crunch 2 days 34 min ago (view)

    nico expected back in early july...duffy had a "setback" and is in limbo...bote has started baseball activities, but nowhere near a return time.

     
  • crunch 2 days 50 min ago (view)

    haha.  ump checked alzolay's hat and glove between innings and declared it all clear.

    stuff so nasty they wanna make sure you're not on that "sticky fingers" bandwagon.

     
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