Dead Blog Period

Being in the throes of summer break, I've been largely unplugged from the blogosphere for the past few months.  Sure, there have been a few posts here and there, but no more than a handful in each 30-day period.  With the benefit of having two and a half months off in the middle of the year - thanks to my IT position at our local school district - you darn well better believe I'm spending as much time as possible enjoying the wonderfully warm weather.  Blogging has taken a back seat to barbecues, fireworks shows, vintage baseball games, and tubing down the DuPage River, among other outdoor activities.

Plus, the Cubs have been exceptionally frustrating over the past two months, playing just .500 ball during that time period due to their largely absent offense and shaky bullpen.  Thus, I haven't been paying as much attention to the club as I usually, ravenously do.  After all, they haven't been bringing us Chicagoans much joy this summer and Marie Kondo says to cut that out.

However, as yesterday's trade deadline came and went, baseball once again regained my attention.  The flurry of transactions that occurred in the final hour made fans across the country sit up and take notice as players were suddenly bouncing around the league like ping pong balls.  Puig became an Indian, Greinke became an Astro, Stroman became a Met, etc. - it was almost impossible to keep up!  My beloved Cubbies were no exception either (although they did make us sit and sweat for a little bit) making several moves in the lead up to this year's final deadline.

I must admit, with the trades that they made over the past few days, I think the Cubs have successfully pulled me back in... and not just because school starts back up in a couple of weeks.  I think that Theo and Co. did an excellent job of retooling their flawed roster on the fly and within the confines of an (artificially) strained budget.  Let's review:

While one can easily make the case that the Cubs actually started their deadline dealing with the Craig Kimbrel signing back in June, I already banged out a whole post about that transaction.  Thus, let's start with the first bit of player movement made in the immediate lead up to baseball's line in the sand.

On an afternoon where I was busy chasing a steam locomotive around the the Chicago suburbs, the Cubs went out and picked a lefty off of the scrap heap.  Derek Holland had been designated for assignment by the Giants a few days previous and Theo saw an opportunity to grab a LOOGY out of the bargain bin.  Having flamed out as a starter due to his complete inability to put away righties (.291/.382/.640 in 2019), the southpaw is still absolutely lethal against same-handed opponents (.188/.278/.200).   Courtesy of his previous DFA, the Cubs were able to secure Derek's services for relative peanuts, costing just modest "cash considerations."

Provided he never sees another righty again, this shrewd move could pay dividends as part of restructuring a leaky bullpen.  Hopefully the Cubs can rehab Holland's career, much like the Union Pacific did that Big Boy!

Speaking of retooling the bullpen, on the day before the final deadline, the Cubbies pulled the trigger on another reliever trade, swapping AA hurler, Thomas Hatch, to the Blue Jays in exchange for David Phelps.  Mr. Phelps is a former Yankee prospect who has had success as a late inning reliever since transitioning to the bullpen with the Marlins in 2016.  In his previous 159 2/3 innings at the MLB level, David has posted an impressive 2.82 ERA with 10.9 K/9 against 4.0 BB/9.  Unfortunately, the dreaded Tommy John Surgery has stunted his career somewhat, as he missed all of 2018 after going under the knife.

Phelps signed with the Jays on a "make good," incentive-laden pact this past offseason and he pitched well enough for the rebuilding club to swap him for a modest prospect in Hatch (the Cubs' third-rounder in 2016).  Although, Thomas has struggled in his second trip through the AA level; so, unsurprisingly, Phelps' set-up man credentials loom far more important to the success of the Major League club.

On the other hand, what was surprising to me was just how many Phelps' cards I had in my trade stacks.  Honestly, non-closing bullpen arms rarely get any cardboard love... how did I end up with so many pasteboards of a random reliever?  I guess that's the benefit of being a former Yankee blue-chipper.

And now we've reached Deadline Day.  In the morning hours, the Cubs once again plunged into the scrapheap and came up with a salvageable piece.  Like Holland, Tony Kemp had also been recently designated for assignment by his former club and thus came with little expense.  In exchange for the diminutive (5'6") utility man, the Cubs traded third-string catcher, Martin Maldonado, back to Houston.  Maldonado had only been acquired a few weeks prior, in a knee-jerk trade to replace the briefly injured Willson Contreras and the rid the roster of the dissatisfied, dead-weight of Mike Montgomery, but the elite pitch-framer's services were an unnecessary luxury once Contreras came back healthy.

Meanwhile, Tony Kemp plugs a gap in the middle infield - with the sluggish performance of Addison Russell having been (thankfully) demoted to Iowa - and brings with him a disciplined bat, something the strikeout-prone Cubs offense could use:

Kemp has a...

85.2 contact%
89.3 contact% in zone
6.7 swinging-strike%

The 2019 Cubs have a...

73.3 contact% (15th NL)
83 contact% in zone (14th)
12.4 swinging-strike% (15th)

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) July 31, 2019

All in all, not a bad way to reshuffle the bench.  Although, the Cubs offensive woes seemed to indicate that a bigger bat was needed to jump-start the lately listless lineup.  Right up to the 4 o'clock deadline that afternoon, it seemed as though that need would go unfulfilled.  That is, until just a few minutes after the bell:

According to a sourced report that I've since lost, the Cubs and Tigers supposedly completed their long-rumoured Nick Castellanos swap just forty seconds before the hard Deadline.  Talk about going all the way to the wire!

I must admit, my opinion on the team's deadline dealings went from slightly unsatisfactory to joyful upon the reports of Nick's acquisition.  While the bench pieces and bullpen arms were nice, the need for a big bat was far to great to ignore and Nick seemed like the perfect fit.  The outfielder can take over right field at Wrigley, shifting Jason Heyward to center and Albert Almora back to the bench where he belongs.  Castellanos' .273/.328/.462 slash should provide a boost to the offense, especially when facing southpaw hurlers, when it inflates to .347/.415/.611.  for some reason, soft-tossing lefties have absolutely stymied the Cubs in 2019, so Nick checks a couple of big boxes for the team!

In the end, Nick's rental (he's set to become a free agent) ended up costing the Cubs a pair of pitching prospects in Paul Richan and Alex Lange, but that's the cost of doing business. Honestly, I was more concerned about adding a Castellanos card to my Cubs All-Time Roster Collection because apparently I just don't pull Tiger cards.  This Opening Day card from 2016 was somehow my only Castellanos single, despite his being one of the most notable pieces of the Motor City lineup in this decade.

To conclude, shortly after news of the Castellanos trade dropped, the Cubs' last major move was leaked.  The struggling Carl Edwards, Jr. was shipped to San Diego in exchange for lefty reliever, Brad Wieck.  On one hand, it's a damn shame to see the live-armed Edwards shipped off, another piece of the 2016 World Series core.  On the other, Edwards was in dire need of a change of scenery, as 2019 and most of 2018 was a disaster for the "Stringbean Slinger."  In short, I'm sad to see him go but I understand why the move was necessary.

Grabbing yet another arm for the bullpen was probably a good idea, considering the inherent volatile nature of relief corps.  Brad Wieck was optioned to AAA Iowa upon the completion of the trade, though the front office has indicated the he'll likely be up with the Big League club in September.  Unfortunately, he's never appeared in a mainstream baseball card product and only has team-issued, minor league singles to his name.  At least I have a month before I officially need to add Brad to the CATRC!

With that, you can see that Wrigley Roster Jenga missed out on a lot of action of the past week or so.  Four new names will be added to my CATRC binder and one further player will likely be added in a few weeks time.  Now, with that missed coverage out of the way, I can move on to the off-the-wall cardboard acquisitions I've made in the last few days.  Let's just say that they've come from some unusual sources and I cannot wait to share.

Are you happy with your favorite team's trade deadline moves (or lack thereof)?  Personally, I give my beloved Cubbies a solid B+ and they've successfully roped me back in on the back's of Castellanos, Kemp, Phelps, and Holland.  Please sound off in the comment section below!