The Chicago Cubs began their sell-off on Thursday night when the team announced that they had traded veteran left fielder Joc Pederson to the Atlanta Braves for power-hitting first base prospect Bryce Ball.
When the Cubs signed Pederson this past off-season, the idea was that former Los Angeles Dodgers’ outfielder would either contribute to a contending Cubs’ team or would potentially be a piece that the team could move at the deadline. With the Cubs firmly in the sell category at this season’s trade deadline, Pederson was an attractive bat for contending teams.
The Pederson trade should also give Cubs’ fans hope for what President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer is able to do at the trade deadline. When Hoyer confirmed two weeks ago that the Cubs would be sellers at the trade deadline, the fear was that the Yu Darvish trade from the off-season would be the blueprint for trades that the Cubs made at the deadline.
That is not going to be the case. The Cubs were in a different place when they traded Darvish this off-season than the place they are currently in. When the Cubs traded Darvish last off-season, it was a move that was a directive from Tom Ricketts as the team was in desperate need to recoup some financial resources after their “biblical losses”. The Darvish trade was all about the Cubs’ saving money, not replenishing the farm system.
The Chicago Cubs are hoping that this leads to big things at the trade deadline.
Now, two weeks before the Major League Baseball trade deadline, the Cubs are not in a position where their goal is to save money. The goal for the Cubs at the deadline is to replenish their farm system. Replenish in the sense of either acquiring prospects that can be a part of the Cubs’ next contending window or prospects that have value in which the Cubs can trade for Major League ready talent this off-season.
That is why the Pederson trade was a success for the Cubs. Ball has the potential to be a left-handed power-hitting first baseman. For the Cubs, that means that Ball could be viewed as a potential replacement for Anthony Rizzo in 2023 or the Cubs can package Ball in a later trade to secure Major League ready talent.
The Cubs will not be trading the likes of Craig Kimbrel, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, and/or Javier Baez for mere lottery tickets. Ball was the Braves’ No.12 overall prospect and that is an impressive return for a rental bat in Pederson that had a 0.2 WAR this season. The Pederson trade proves that Hoyer is going to be calculated with the trades that he makes and that is an encouraging sign for a Chicago Cubs team that is selling their talent for the first time since 2014.