ST. LOUIS — The 2019 MLB Trade Deadline passed at 3:00 PM Central earlier this afternoon. And after a relatively tame buildup, things certainly got wild towards the end with a flurry of notable moves announced by various MLB insiders, such as Jeff Passan, Ken Rosenthal, and others.
For example, the Houston Astros ending up with Joe Biagini, Aaron Sanchez and Zack Greinke (!!!!!!!!!) is madness. The Brewers acquired Drew Pomeranz from San Francisco. Atlanta landed Shane Greene and Mark Melancon. And the Cincinnati Reds traded for Trevor Bauer. Fascinating stuff, among others.
The Chicago Cubs made a couple moves before today’s madness as well, acquiring Martin Maldonado from Kansas City a few weeks ago for Mike Montgomery, LHP Derek Holland from San Francisco a few days ago, and RHP David Phelps from Toronto just yesterday.
But today, the Cubs acquired Tony Kemp from Houston for Maldonado, and namely Nick Castellanos from Detroit. The Cubs also acquired LHP Brad Wieck from San Diego, trading former pitching prospect and World Series hero Carl Edwards Jr. back to the Padres.
One thing is clear from this deadline’s activity: The front office did everything they could — within the “budget” prescribed to them by Tom Ricketts — to fill the glaring holes on the roster.
More right handed bullpen help? Craig Kimbrel (signing) and David Phelps, check. More left handed bullpen help? Derek Holland and Brad Wieck, check. More contact hitting and a utility man? Tony Kemp, check. Someone, anyone, that can hit left handed pitching? Nick Castellanos, the best bat traded at the deadline, check.
Really, all of the holes were addressed.
I wrote about the Cubs’ offensive problems that have plagued them for over a year now a few days ago, especially after their meltdown in two of the three games in Milwaukee. You can read about that here.
I also tweeted about it again after their pathetic output against the Cardinals yesterday in Game 1 of this crucial series in St. Louis.
The Cubs have help now. And with Ben Zobrist reportedly working his way back to the team and Cole Hamels on the mend, the Cubs should have reinforcements on their way for the stretch run(s) in August and September. It’s up to the players to perform now.
While the offense was pathetic yet again tonight, they did eke out a 2-0 win to tie things up in the NL Central again and guarantee they won’t leave St. Louis more than one game behind, if at all.
But the rest of the team needs to start pulling their weight. Quickly. While it’s not what we expected, the Cubs have done well to weather the large storms surrounding their season and stay in contention so far despite an awful overall bullpen performance and poor offensive consistency. The front office did the best they possibly could at the trade deadline. Time for the team to step up and deliver.
