Cubs News: Getting to know the guys coming back in the Yu Darvish trade

Here’s a look at who’s coming back in the Cubs and Padres Yu Darvish trade.

The Chicago Cubs have reportedly traded Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini to the San Diego Padres in exchange for starting pitcher Zach Davies and minor league prospects Reginald Preciado, Owen Caissie, Yeison Santana and Ismael Mena.

Less than a day after trading for Blake Snell, reports indicated the Padres were increasing their efforts to acquire Darvish and his battery-mate Caratini. San Diego will take on the remaining three years and the bulk of $59 million left on Darvish’s contract, pending physicals.

After processing this trade, I’m a believer this was purely a salary dump by the Cubs. Jed Hoyer knew it, and so did Padres GM AJ Preller. That’s why there’s not a single top-10 San Diego prospect involved in the deal. That being said, the Padres have a loaded farm system so any minor leaguers rated as a top 20 prospect in their organization could probably be regarded as top-10 on any other team.

The talent the Cubs are getting in return are all well regarded and extremely young.

• Reginald Preciado – Shortstop (Padres No. 11 Prospect)  17 years old
• Owen Caissie – Outfielder (Padres No. 13 Prospect) 18 years old
• Ismael Mena – Outfielder (Padres No. 15 Prospect) 18 years old
• Yeison Santana – Shortstop (Padres No. 16 Prospect) 20 years old

It would have been great to get an MLB top 100 prospect like MacKenzie Gore (#3) and/or Luis Campusano (#42), but seeing as the Padres were taking on the majority of Darvish’s contract, they weren’t willing to part ways with either. Getting rid of a Cy Young runner-up in Darvish without immediately knowing the value of the return is a little disappointing, but seeing as there’s still a way to go in the development of these players makes it way too early to call this trade a bust.

For the fans who have been wanting the Cubs to go younger, here you go because it doesn’t get more youthful than this.

So let’s take a look at the players coming to the North Side.

Zach Davies will join the team he has the most career starts against, the Cubs.

In all these Darvish-Padres rumors, it was reported the Cubs were trying to bring in one or two MLB-ready studs along with prospects from San Diego. Instead, Zach Davies is the lone player with big league experience coming to Chicago, so depending on your definition of “stud” he may, or may not be that guy.

Cubs fans will remember Davies from his five seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers where he pitched against Chicago in 19 career games. Last season, the soft-tosser posted a 2.73 ERA with a 1.067 WHIP in 12 starts.

Davies is going to be far from the hard-thrower that Darvish was for the Cubs. The right-hander is more of a Kyle Hendricks-type of a pitcher, mixing his soft offspeed pitches with a deceptive low high-80s cut fastball that will look low-90s at times.

After the trade, the Cubs 2021 starting rotation will likely consist of some form of the following players:

• RHP Kyle Hendricks
• RHP Zach Davies
• RHP Alec Mills
• RHP Adbert Alzolay
• RHP Tyson Miller

Whether or not Hoyer and the Cubs plan on bringing in another arm while some of those pitchers continue to develop remains to be seen.

The good news is Davies is certainly no scrub, holding a career 2.5 K/BB ratio and lots of familiarity with the NL Central Division. He’s only 27 years old so there is still some room to grow and he gets to learn a lot to learn from his new teammate, “The Professor”.

The downside here? Davies is passing through arbitration one last time this winter and is due to hit free agency at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign. So the one big league-ready piece Chicago netted in the deal could walk after one year.

Cubs: Owen Caissie and Ismael Mena have lots of raw talent

As it turns out, the two outfield prospects coming to the Cubs are so young and have such little experience, there are no Getty images of them in action for us to use. In the meantime enjoy this picture of Jed Hoyer in mid-conversation.

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Owen Caissie, 18 years old, is rated as the #13 prospect in the San Diego farm system. A 6’4, 190-pound outfielder, Caissie was drafted out of high school with the 45th pick in the 2nd round of last summer’s draft.

The Ontario, Canada native is said to have plus raw power from the left side of the plate with above-average speed on the base paths. Defensively, Caissie was a corner outfielder for the Canadian junior national team, throwing in the low-90s.

Also 18, Ismael Mena is the other outfield prospect (#16) the Cubs will be getting in return. Drawing comparisons to Gregory Polanco, Mena covers the strike zone well as a left-handed batter and is believed to eventually be a potential leadoff hitter thanks to his plus-running abilities. Mena is already viewed as an above-average defender with excellent route running abilities and a high baseball IQ while currently listed at 6’3, 185 pounds.

Barring any immediate impacts in the minor leagues and a desperate need for outfield help, it’s probably going to be a while before we see either outfielder playing at Wrigley Field. Still, both Caissie and Mena have the tools and makeup to be valuable assets to the future of the Cubs.