Cubs Trades

If the departure of Theo Epstein in mid November was not a clear sign of things to come, today's trade of Yu Darvish certainly heralds the arrival of a rebuilding phase for the Chicago Cubs. It has been widely reported that the Cubs and Padres agreed on a deal sending Darvish and Caratini to sunny San Diego, fomer Brewer Zach Davies to the Cubs rotation, and two pairs of young shortstops and outfielders to Cubs' minor league facilities for years to come.

The deadline for "non-waiver" (unrestricted) trades is 4 PM (Eastern) on July 31st, or 4 PM (Eastern) on Friday July 30th if July 31st falls on a Saturday. or 4 PM (Eastern) on Monday August 1st if July 31st falls on a Sunday.

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Cubs have acquired Justin Wilson and Alex Avila for Jeimer Candelario, Isaac Paredes, and a player to be named or cash.

UPDATE: The deal is official and Dylan Floro has been DFA'd to make room on the 40-man roster. The other roster moves will be announced tomorrow.

The Cubs have acquired Jose Quintana from the White Sox for OF Eloy Jimenez, RHP Dylan Cease, 1B Matt Rose, and IF Bryant Flete. 

Quintana, who has been very consistent in his six years with the White Sox, had a very rocky start to the season but has since recovered. Since June 1, he has a 2.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 27 percent strikeout rate in seven starts. For his career, he's 50-54 with a 3.51 ERA. The switch to the NL might turn him from a solid 3-4 starter to perhaps a number 2.

The Cubs have acquired 26-year old Venezuelan flame-throwing RHRP Henry Rodriguez from the Washington Nationals for minor league RHP Ian Dickson.

Dickson was the Cubs 35th round draft pick out of Lafayette College in 2011, and was used as both a starter and a reliever at Kane County this season, posting an ugly 6.88 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 35.1 IP and 11 Games (3 GS). He was a candidate to get demoted to Boise (and probably released post-2013) if he hadn't been traded. 

Rodriguez was Designated for Assignment by the Nats on June 4th to make room on their 40-man roster for LHP Ian Kroll, so they had until Friday (6/14) to either trade him, release him, or send him outright to the minors. However, because it takes two days to get a player through waivers, Washington really only had until 2 PM (EDT) Wednesday (today) to trade him. (He was NOT placed on waivers, otherwise he could not have been traded).

UPDATE #2: Just kidding. November Fools!!! Anyway, Marmol apparently was asked to waive his no-trade clause, that leaked before the Cubs and Angels officially had a deal. Then allegedly the Cubs nixed the deal...some say it was over the medicals but who knows. At the end, Haren's option was bought out and he's a free agent now. Twitter Rumors 2, Cubs 0.

Now that the trade deadline is behind us, what are Cub fans supposed to pay attention to? The games?! I tried that earlier tonight, and I'm sorry I did.

— I heard a recorded interview with Derrek Lee on WGN Radio early this evening in the run-up to the Cubs/Rockies game. David Kaplan asked Lee about Ryan Theriot, and Lee described him as "a grinder." In that moment, I came up with my own definition of a grinder. It's a guy who plays hard enough to occasionally make you forget that he's not very good.