Cubs Begin To Deal

With the discarding of Scott Feldman, Carlos Marmol and Scott Hairston, the Cubs have begun their second trade deadline dealing under the auspices of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. 

The dealing of Feldman to the Orioles has brought in two former fairly highly touted arms in Pedro Strop and Jake Arrieta, to the Cubs.  They continue to stockpile former high tiered young arms in addition to adding to their international bonus money and slots, which they may max out or exceed at this point.

With Alfonso Soriano starting to heat up, his name has bounced around various rumor mills, but still remains a tough sell.  With his contract, the Cubs would have to pick up a big chunk of money to make any deal work.  Still, with the Jed and Theo show at work, if they feel that a quality return would help then they may pull the trigger on a deal even with the idea of the club swallowing most of his contract.

It is interesting to note also that since the deals started flowing the Cubs have entered in to a mini upswing, finishing off the Angels last night to record their fourth consecutive victory.  Newly acquired Strop finished off the game be recording a pair of strikeouts.  Something that I need in my Fantasy League as I continue to slide in a number of categories.

Yea, I picked up Strop thinking that he may still have some upside left as a closer.  Kevin Gregg, I believe, is simply lightning in a bottle and the bottle may break at any time.  For Cub fans, they hope his bubble bursts after he is dealt to a contender.  With his effectiveness as a closer, he has become another intriguing player the Cubs can use to deal for another young arm.  When he hits the bricks of another town, Strop may very well take over the closer role. 

Arrieta and Strop are the onlly guys in these deals so far that can help in the immediate future.  Even though Arrieta is down at Iowa, if he shows any sense of upside, they are sure to call him up.  His strikeout ratio (8.6 per nine innings last year) shows that he has some tremendous stuff.  It's up to the Cubs to see if they can turn him into anything positive.  The Rangers and Orioles were not successful to this point.

Matt Garza is still the biggest chip in the Cub's trade arsenal.  It will be interesting to see what the Cubs end up doing, as there are rumors that they might just want to sign him now instead of deal him.  More to come I'm sure. If your fantasy league allows for you pick up guys like Strop and Arrieta and stash them, it might be worth a flyer on either one.