Good Morning Cubs fans.
Late last night Tom Ricketts and the front office made a trade.
The Cubs got a very good bat in return, let’s just say that.
The #Cubs today acquired minor league INF Esteban Quiroz from the Rays for OF Harold Ramirez.
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 26, 2022
The Cubs traded outfielder Harold Ramirez to the Tampa Bay Rays for, Esteban Quiroz.
Ramirez just arrived at spring training for the Cubs after dealing with visa issues and now he’s headed to Florida to be with the Rays.
In the CPX league in 2021, Quiroz slashed .417/.611/1.167/1.778 with a BABIP of .500, his wRC+ was 307, and his K% 22.2, with a BB% of 16.7.
He only had 18 plate appearances in the CPX league, so yes it’s a small sample size and he does strike out a lot, but he makes up for it with his bat.
Quiroz got to Triple-A with the Rays in 2021, and wow he was really good. He slashed .268/.401/.526/.927 with a BABIP of .308, K% of 21.4, BB% 16.4, and a wRC+ of 149, in 262 plate appearances.
Quiroz was just ranked as the Rays 55th best prospect, and now he’s a Cubs prospect.
Quiroz’s Tool Grades According To Fangraphs
Hit 55/55, raw power 45/45, game power 35/35, run 40/40, fielding 35/35, and throw 45.
Fangraphs said this about Quiroz.
quiroz spent 2015 to ’17 crushing the mexican league. he signed with boston in NOVEMBER OF 2017 AND was hot early during his pro debut in 18′, but then missed three and a half months with an abdominal strain. he only played in 24 games at double-a, then had 62 extra plate APPEARANCES in the arizona fall league, where he played well and was seen by the entire pro scouting community. san diego traded a 40-man crunch relief arm to boston for quiroz, then later flipped him to tampa bay as part of the tommy pham deal. the rays’ glut of quality UPPER-LEVEL infielders has kept him from making his big league debut even though “pony” has a career .401 obp in affiliated ball.
Quiroz can barely play second base, and his lack of defensive versatility has prevented him from playing a long-term role on somebodys bench. but he has deft, all-fields contact ability and can punish mistakes enough to be an above-replacement player, someone’s low-end regular at the keystone. now 30, the window for that type of brief career (which this guy probably deserved to have) is closing and instead of Quiroz getting the opportunity to be a cult hero, this has become a “what could have been?” Story.’
With the rosters expanding to 28-man for the first month of the season, Quiroz will still likely start in Triple-A.
If an injury of some sort happens, Quiroz would be the first one to get called up.
Enjoy a video of him hitting an absolute moonshot, and yes the dude can hit.
Esteban Quiroz (2B at AAA) career minor league stats:
562 PA, 144 G
.277/.396/.548
29 HR, 36 DoublesHe’s off to a great start this year too: .300/.444/.600 with 3 HRs. As one of the most ML-ready bats in the system, I wonder what TB has in mind for him
pic.twitter.com/EwXb72aUS0— Rays Metrics (@RaysMetrics) June 10, 2021
