With the trade deadline two days away, the Chicago Cubs have made a significant deal for a hitter, despite the fact the club entered Sunday six games back in the National League Wild Card race with six teams to climb.
After acquiring right-handed reliever Nate Pearson from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier this week, the club added Isaac Paredes to the mix in a four-player swap Sunday afternoon.
Paredes, 25, comes with three additional years of team control before free agency and is due about $1.2 million for the rest of 2024, so the Cubs aren’t simply piling on for 2024, they’re thinking about 2025 and 2026, too. Pearson has two years remaining before free agency.
Paredes, a right-handed stick, is batting .247/.355/.438 with 16 homers, good for a 130 wRC+. He put up a 137 a year ago, including 31 long balls. He makes a lot of contact, draws walks at a high rate (12%), and handles third base despite some questions about his long-term position.
The Cubs have struggled to produce consistent offensive production all year, boasting a 94 wRC+ and averaging just over four runs per game. Third basemen have batted just .213 with a .302 OBP and paltry .351 slugging percentage for Chicago in 2024. Below (far right column) is their batter run value at the position for the season.
Paredes remedies that immediately.
The Rays, who traded right-handed reliever Jason Adam to the San Diego Padres Sunday after sending outfielder Randy Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners Thursday, received Christopher Morel and two prospects in return.
Morel, also 25, comes with four more years of club control and will not be arbitration-eligible until after 2025. It’s a power-over-hit approach that hasn’t worked for him in 2024 — 93 wRC+, .199/.302/.374 slash — but did the previous two seasons (108, 119, including 26 home runs in 2023).
Morel, however, has improved his strikeout rate this season by 6.5% and is also walking more. The power is showing up in the form of 18 long balls, but his 50% hard-hit rate from a year has sunk a tad, and he’s not pulling the ball as much. If his new ability to make contact sticks, Morel has a chance to be a solid slugger moving forward, despite the poor batting average in 2024.
Where he plays may be the bigger question. At times he’s looked playable at third base, but the safer bet may be left field or a utility-type role, even if he plays mostly every day. He has experience at second base and shortstop as well as all three outfield spots.
He can run — it’s at least 55-grade footspeed — and will swipe a bag now and again.
Along with Morel, right-hander Hunter Bigge heads to the Rays. It’s a reliever profile highlighted by a big fastball touching triple digits, and a hard slider that will miss bats. He has a low-80s curveball in the mix if needed.
The 26-year-old was the Cubs’ 12th-round pick put of Harvard in 2019. He was a two-way player and possesses athleticism and tremendous arm speed and a low release that creates carry and deception. He made four appearances for the Cubs in July before being set back to Triple-A last week. The Rays could add him to the active roster immediately, potentially replacing Adam.
Ty Johnson is also headed to Tampa Bay in the trade and may be the most intriguing piece. He’s a 6-foot-6, 215-pound right-hander from Ball State who went No. 446 overall in last year’s Draft. He’s split time between the rotation and relief work but will tease 100 mph with life and arm-side run, and spin a tight power slider for strikeouts. He has a traditional curveball that’s flashed.
He’s thrown enough strikes to suggest starting should be the development plan.
While the prospects in a trade like this can always pop and make the difference, it seems Morel is the key here. Is he a part-time player inserted when the matchup advantage exists, or can he bend his skills into a legitimate everyday role?
The Rays have one of the top prospects in baseball knocking on the door of the majors in Junior Caminero whose most likely defensive position is the hot corner. Caminero made his debut a year ago and could be up as early as this week due to the roster movement at the big-league level.
TRADE GRADES (20-80 Scale)
Chicago: 60
Tampa Bay: 55
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