Chicago Cubs former prospects thriving at the MLB level

As frustration continues with the current Chicago Cubs roster, fans cannot help but notice the number of former Cubs farmhands thriving in the majors. What should we make of it?

There have been a lot of mixed feels when it comes the moves Theo Epstein has made since the 2016 Chicago Cubs season that ended in a World Series championship. As with any front office, there will be moves that worked and ones that did not. Sometimes it is easy to forget the context of the move at the time and judgment on the initial decision made purely on the results. This can apply to a number of his recent trades.

The fact of the matter is that a good number of guys Epstein has traded away have blossomed or at least shown signs of blossoming this season. Most of these players were traded away when they were still highly-touted prospects with little to no MLB experience. People knew these guys had a promising future, but seeing them thrive now can naturally make a Cubs fan revisit them. But how should fans take this? Should they be mad? Should they be indifferent? It depends on the context of the trade.

One important thing to remember is that a contending team with a good/great farm system is not going to hang on to every prospect. Some will be traded for proven veterans to increase their World Series odds. That happened in 2016, and a championship is priceless. However, some of these blooming studs would also look very good on this team right now. Here is a look at how one might organize how to look at these former Cubs prospects.

Chicago Cubs: Losing these guys may have been necessary at the time, but it still kind of hurts.

I do not think there is any question that the most controversial trade made by Epstein was the Jose Quintana deal. Giving the crosstown White Sox not one, but two top-prospects for a cost-controlled veteran pitcher was a big gamble no matter what on both ends.

After the 2016 World Series, videos surfaced of then-Cubs prospect Eloy Jimenez hitting homers off light towers like Roy Hobbs. In addition to that, the scouts and MiLB writers were very impressed by prospect Dylan Cease‘s pitching abilities. Both now are on the White Sox and showing early on why they were hyped up so much.

Jimenez after a slow start has 15 homers in 60 games and slashed .284/.340/.602 in June. It seemed fitting that Jimenez hit the game-winning home run against the Cubs at Wrigley back on June 18th. He is only 22 and will continue to grow into a star. Meanwhile, Cease made his MLB debut last week and went five innings giving up three runs on four hits with six strikeouts and four walks. The stuff looks good, and honestly, the Cubs lack of pitching development makes losing him arguably worse than losing Jimenez.

Here is the thing, if the Cubs got the Quintana that pitched so consistently well with the White Sox and maybe made another World Series, it would feel different. Quintana has a 4.00 ERA and 1.28 WHIP in 359 2/3 innings as a Cub. He has had more good starts than bad, but overall he has been average/slightly above average, which is disappointing considering what was given up for him.

Theo needed to make a move in 2017, and honestly, Quintana was pretty big in that run to the NLCS that year. But man, Jimenez and Cease have the potential to be great on the South Side for a long time.

Chicago Cubs: Probably should have either not gotten rid of them or brought them back. That is looking like a mistake.

So one of these guys was a former Cubs prospect, and the other was not a prospect, but they got him when he was young with little experience, and he turned into something. We are, of course talking about DJ LaMahieu and Tommy La Stella. Two guys that if still here would fix both a second base hole and a depth hole.

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First, with La Stella. He was traded this past offseason to the Angels after a four-year run in Chicago as a pinch-hit master. He totaled a .273/.356/.397 slash in 587 plate appearances with the Cubs.

The trading of him was to make room for veteran Daniel Descalso…who has eight hits since May 1st. La Stella, in an everyday role with the Angels, has hit an eye-popping 16 homers and slashed .300/.353/.495 before sadly getting hurt this past week on a foul ball off his leg. Yeah, not a good move, Theo.

As for LaMahieu, this can be looked at many ways. He was traded to the Rockies for Ian Stewart after playing his first 37 career games as a Cub in 2011 at age 22 and since has won a batting title, three Gold Gloves and made three All-Star games. Stewart in 2012 was a disaster and only played in 55 games just slashing .201/.292/.335.

So okay, maybe Epstein did not think LaMahieu was going to be this good, and Coors Field helped him out, but he still could have made his way back to Chicago. He was a free agent this past winter, and there was still a question at second base. LaMahieu ended up with the Yankees and is slashing .337/.382/.521 with 12 homers in 80 games. The idea of signing him this offseason looks more and more like a missed opportunity.

Chicago Cubs: Despite these players still having promise and shown flashes, these are trades that should not be regretted.

There are a few names that Epstein has traded away that did not fit with the Chicago Cubs, and that’s okay. One of the biggest examples is Jorge Soler. Once thought to be one of the core pieces of the Epstein rebuild, he could not stay healthy for a full season and did not develop as hoped despite showing flashes of greatness. Soler is currently hitting .239/.309/.500 with 23 homers in Kansas City.

Power and run production (59 RBIs) look outstanding. However, I would personally do the Soler-Wade Davis trade 10/10 times as Epstein did before the 2017 season. Davis converted 32/33 save opportunities and posted a 2.30 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 12.1 K/9 in 58 2/3 innings in 2017. Soler’s defense is not good at all and will be best used as a DH in the American League, especially with the injury history.

Another example is Jeimer Candelario, who was involved in the Justin Wilson and Alex Avila trade in 2017. Wilson did not pan out as hoped, but Candelario has not exactly budded just yet. So far as a Tigers he has hit .234/.325/.389 with 25 homers in 222 games. Candelario played in 16 games as a Cub, but only when extra reinforcements were needed. He had no permanent place on the team. At least Avila had some big game-winning hits as a Cub in 2017 which aided to their division title.

The consensus on looking at the success of these prospects should arguably not necessarily be on what the Chicago Cubs Cubs lost, but what they still have. It is disappointing to see all these guys leave and have success while former big-time prospects still on the team like Albert Almora, Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ and Addison Russell has not panned out as hoped.

Yes, some of these guys were key in a World Series run and have shown flashes, but we want to see growth with them, and that has not happened yet.