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Long before the 2015 Chicago Cubs reached the National League Championship Series, former skipper Lou Piniella led this club to back-to-back N.L. Central titles from 2007 to 2008.
Despite taking the division from the St. Louis Cardinals, both postseason runs were cut short as the Cubs were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers during the National League Division Series. And then the regular season awards were handed out.
Emerging as the 2008 N.L. Rookie of the Year was Chicago’s 318th overall pick from the 2001 Major League Baseball draft, catcher Geovany Soto. The then 25-year-old crushed 23 homers while driving in 86 runs behind .285/.364/.504 batting line in his first full year with the Chicago Cubs.
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Soto made a handful of appearances for the organization since making his debut in late September of 2005 against the Houston Astros. Prior to his breakout campaign, he had only 26 hits, seven doubles, three homers, and eight RBI.
Surely, the front office was convinced that they had found themselves another franchise player until he was traded to the Texas Rangers along with veteran right-hander and former reliever, Ryan Dempster.
Before Dempster was moved to the A.L. West, Soto was shipped to the Lone Star State in exchange for pitcher Jacob Brigham. Ryan followed just a day later for both Christian Villanueva and Kyle Hendricks.
After finding himself on the disabled list to start the first half of the 2014 campaign, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics where he was united with Cubs teammate, Jeff Samardzija.
Both men ended up returning to Chicago when they signed deals with the White Sox.
Now according to Angels beat writer Alden Gonzalez, Soto is on the move and found himself back in the A.L. West after signing a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Angels.
It just so happens that the Angels will be hosting the Chicago Cubs to open the 2016 campaign, so it’ll be great to see him again. Except, the club he’s on now is a whole lot tougher than the White Sox.
Los Angeles was forced to look for another catcher when Chris Iannetta reportedly signed with the Seattle Mariners. Signing Soto will only cost them a little under $3 million, allowing them to find help elsewhere.