If another team shows interest in the organization’s players, management must find the right approach: What do they see? And what might we miss? It’s not necessarily paranoia, but that awareness certainly needs to be heightened when that team is the Tampa Bay Rays. The Chicago Cubs still moved forward with the Isaac Paredes deal at the trade deadline, illustrating a different way of doing business at Wrigley Field.
Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer has achieved his goal of signing players for 2025 and beyond without hurting the current major league club or giving up prospects for rental players. At 59-63, the Cubs are still not good enough. According to FanGraphs, this week’s loss to the Cleveland Guardians has dropped their playoff chances to 3 percent, with only 40 games remaining.
But the reacquisition of Paredes — who was traded at the 2017 deadline to help the defending World Series champions — represents something of a correction to the way the Cubs were run after 2016. Until last month, the Cubs had been a clearly defined buyer or seller at every trade deadline since Hoyer reunited with Theo Epstein after the 2011 season and moved to Chicago. The trade of high-profile reliever Mark Leiter Jr. to the New York Yankees — after they bundled two pitching talents with Christopher Morel to get Paredes from the Rays — put the Cubs in a more gray area.
For various reasons, the Cubs held on to their young players long after the championship parade down Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue, watching their collective value decline and their contractual control dwindle. The Cubs also rarely traded players from their major league roster for other types of major league talent.
The Cubs aren’t yet in full offseason planning mode — and won’t easily turn their attention to player development as the ultimate goal of the season’s final weeks — but the Paredes trade is a way for the team’s key decision-makers to anticipate a critical winter. Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins spent the first 14 years of his career with a Cleveland organization that is considered a model of small-market efficiency.
“With any deal like this, the question is: How does it affect the earnings forecast for this year and the years to come?” Hawkins said, citing factors such as payroll, where other defensemen can play and how the rest of the hitters fit together. “There’s certainly an opportunity cost in trading someone like Christopher Morel.”
“In terms of what we could have gotten for him elsewhere, there were a lot of teams that would have offered us a lot of prospects for Christopher Morel. We’re very confident about the transfer window we’re going into here with this club. We felt that Isaac basically raised our bar. Not a lot – because Chris is a really good player – but enough to make an impact. Now is the right time to do a deal like that.”
Christopher Morel has a batting average of .104/.232/.229 in 56 at-bats for the Rays. (Thomas Shea / USA Today)
Cubs manager Craig Counsell came from the Milwaukee Brewers, another team that consistently exceeds expectations. Over time, Tampa Bay’s system has worked very well, but that doesn’t mean the Rays win every trade in a blowout. In a uniquely timed deal during the season (May 21, 2021), the Brewers acquired dynamic shortstop Willy Adames (and pitcher Trevor Richards) for pitchers Drew Rasmussen and JP Feyereisen.
“The Rays are certainly a well-run organization,” Counsell said. “The Paredes trade was similar to the Adames trade in some ways, because as soon as they have players that can replace more expensive players, they trade them.”
Back then, the Rays were looking to give Wander Franco more opportunities (before he signed an 11-year, $182 million contract and was later accused of sexual assault in the Dominican Republic). Right now, the Rays are looking at Junior Caminero, a 21-year-old third baseman who is considered one of the most promising talents in baseball.
“At first I didn’t really think much about it,” Paredes said through an interpreter. “But when the rumors started coming out, it kind of hit me. I realized I was potentially going to get traded and I wasn’t going to be there that long.”
Things can change quickly, but the Cubs now have a projected infield set that extends at least through the 2026 season. Michael Busch, acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a creative trade last winter, established himself as a solid defensive first baseman and mature left-handed hitter with 16 home runs and an .806 OPS in his rookie season. Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner are Gold Glove defenders with high production (though they’re not on track to match last year’s combined WAR of 10). Paredes fits as another two-way player who is only 25 and could win three more arbitrations.
“He’s going to be a big player this year and for years to come,” Hoerner said. “He gives up a lot of walks. He doesn’t strike out a lot. And he’s got extra-base hits and power on the pull side. That’s a trio you don’t find in a lot of hitters. It’s impressive what he does. Plus, he just has the stability he has as an everyday third baseman, and that means a lot to our group.”
Paredes’ presence gives the Cubs options. They don’t have to rush young players into a playoff season next year or overpay to sign a free agent who can play third base competently. They can repurpose the money and further utilize the farm system to improve other areas of the roster. After months of seeing the same kind of frustrating play over and over again, they believe he will add a new dimension to their offense.
“Those are the guys we don’t like to face at all,” Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks said. “The guys that just don’t chase. They hit the ball with the bat. And they struggle to hit it out of the ballpark. That’s a nightmare for us. You really have to make sure you follow through. If you make a mistake, they’ll usually make you pay for it. That’s what he does.”
(Top photo: Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images)
Chicago Cubs
