Chicago Cubs: Remembering the Matt Garza trade

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With relief pitcher Justin Grimm released, I decided to take a look back at how he became a Chicago Cubs pitcher via the Matt Garza trade.

It was mid-July and the Chicago Cubs were in the midst of what would eventually become a 96-loss season.

The 2013 season was about as disappointing as the season before when the Cubs lost 101 games. But Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer made two moves that summer that eventually changed the organization and created history.

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First, the Cubs traded Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop on July 2.

Next, the Cubs traded Matt Garza to the Texas Rangers for prospects Mike Olt, Carl Edwards Jr., Neil Ramirez and Justin Grimm on July 23.

The deal with Baltimore

We know how the trade with Baltimore has panned out. Arrieta will go down as one of the best pitchers in Cubs history. Strop has become a very reliable reliever. Meanwhile, Feldman and Clevenger didn’t do much for Baltimore at all.

As for the Garza trade, it had its ups and downs on the Cubs end. The Rangers likely don’t regret the trade as much as the Orioles regret theirs.

The return package

Many don’t remember, but Olt was the big piece in the trade. He was a former top prospect but struggled to have sustained success at the major league level. In 65 games with the Rangers Triple-A affiliate in 2013, Olt had a strikeout percentage at a dismal 33.2 percent. He had 89 strikeouts in 268 plate appearances.

But when he did create contact, the ball was hit hard and far. In 2012, slugged 28 home runs in his full season at Double-A and only 101 strikeouts in 421 plate appearances. His down season at the next level made him available while he still had value.

Ramirez was a power-throwing right-handed reliever who pitched 103 innings for the Rangers Double-A affiliate in 2013, the most he’d ever endured since 2010. He had an era of 3.84.

Grimm had struggled in Triple-A as well but was coming off a superb 2012 campaign in Double-A, throwing 83 2/3 innings with a 1.72 era. There was potential.

Edwards was considered a nice piece as well, but many knew it would be a few years until he’s reached the major league squad. There was a reason to be excited with his 1.83 ERA in 93 1/3 innings at the Rangers Single-A affiliate in 2013.

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Garza heads to Texas

Garza went on to finish the season with the Rangers, pitching 84 1/3 innings with a 1.316 WHIP and 4.38 ERA. The Rangers went 92-71, finishing second in the AL West division. They were in the AL Wild Card race but finished one game behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the final spot to qualify for the one game playoff.

In the end, despite failing to make the postseason, the Rangers did not lose much. Olt never panned out with the Cubs, and he has not found his way back to the major league level. He hasn’t played in the majors since 2015 with the Chicago White Sox. In 2017, he played for the Boston Red Sox Double-A affiliate.

He hit 16 home runs, drove in 57 runners on base and gathered an OPS of .768.

Ramirez had a great 2014 campaign with the Cubs in what many call a developmental season. He was part of the young talent that gave fans some hope for the future with players like Anthony Rizzo, Starlin Castro and Javier Baez. In 50 relief appearances in 2014, Ramirez had a 1.44 ERA in 43 2/3 innings. He had 16 holds as one of the back-end bullpen arms as well.

Cubs gave him every opportunity

Injuries plagued him at the start of 2015, causing him to miss almost the entire season. On April 16, 2015, he was put on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. He eventually played in 19 games but did not make the playoff roster.

He was eventually put on waivers in May of 2016 and picked up by the Milwaukee Brewers on May 31. He’s played for seven different organizations since his days with the Cubs.

Like Ramirez, Grimm had a fantastic 2014 and 2015 campaign with the Cubs in their youth movement. In 69 innings, Grimm gathered a 3.78 ERA in 2014 and 1.99 ERA in 2015, but he also pitched fewer innings in 2015.

Tough to watch

The last two seasons have been hard to watch. He became more of a specialist against mainly right-handed batters or innings eater when the Cubs trailed. He spent time at Triple-A Iowa to try to gain some confidence back, and it just didn’t happen. Last season he allowed a career-high 12 home runs. It wasn’t much of a shock that he was released.

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Now that Grimm is released, Edwards is the lone player left from the trade. As stated above, it took some time for him to reach the majors as he was a late-season call-up in 2015, where he only pitched 4 2/3 innings.

The 2018 campaign will be big for him as he looks to put together back-to-back seasons of high leverage work.

In the end, both teams won this trade. The Rangers didn’t lose a superstar, and the Cubs had some bumps in the road, but looks like they found one gem out of that circa of players.

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Chicago Cubs: Remember the Matt Garza trade to Texas?