Chicago Cubs: Remember the Matt Garza trade to Texas?

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.