Chicago Cubs: Filling huge holes at a small prices

The Chicago Cubs needed to fill three main areas last month. They needed a starting pitcher, relievers and an impact bat. They did so without breaking the bank.

Make no mistake about it. The Chicago Cubs boasted a tremendously deep roster even before the additions of the last month-plus. But after Theo Epstein went out and picked up Cole Hamels, Jesse Chavez and Daniel Murphy (among others), this is just getting silly.

Even before then, the team knew it needed more depth to return to the Fall Classic in 2018. The Cubs signed Tyler Chatwood in the winter to help solidify the back end of the starting rotation.

As we know, he hasn’t done that at all. Chatwood has been bad, and by bad I mean completely defective. In 20 starts this year, he is 4-6 with a 5.22 ERA and has issued a league-leading 93 walks.

The other guy the team looked to in terms of pitching? Yu Darvish. Brought in to replace former Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta, the big right-hander made just eight starts before being shelved, ultimately, for the entire season.

Chicago Cubs: Putting together the pieces of the puzzle

Aside from the rotation, the Cubs needed bullpen depth after being overworked in the first half. That workload, paired with the injury to Brandon Morrow made it a big-time need. Then, came the deal to acquire veteran right-hander Jesse Chavez for a minor leaguer.

In 19 appearances out of the bullpen, he has pitched to a 1.05 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. He has also should the ability to throw multiple frames to save the bullpen in several games since coming over from Texas.

Granted, he isn’t a “big-name” arm, so he wasn’t going to cost much anyway, but still, a major leaguer for a low-level minor league prospect is still somewhat surprising. The best part? Epstein wasn’t done.

With Kris Bryant on the disabled list and the bats struggling, the Cubs made the move for second baseman Daniel Murphy from the Nationals in exchange for a minor league infielder plus a player to be named later or cash.

All Murphy has done in his time as a Cubs is satisfy the leadoff spot in the batting order, and put up an .819 OPS with with three home runs and eight runs scored. The veteran has provided the injection of energy the Cubs’ offense so desperately needed.

Chicago Cubs: Top-to-bottom, this front office is stellar

The truth is, I won’t ever figure out how Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer fill these high price needs with bearly giving up anything of note. However, a large part of it goes to the steller scouting department. They search where other teams won’t look to find diamonds in the rough.

We’ve seen it for years now. Adding guys like Hamels, Chavez and Murphy are just the latest evidence to support this claim.

Thus proving that even though Theo and Jed get the majority of the publicity and credit the front office should be congratulated as a whole and not just two people.