Cubs make a trade with the Astros, but there's little reason to get excited about it

Desperate for pitching depth, the Chicago Cubs dipped back into the well in their latest move. That well, of course, is putting together a trade with the Houston Astros, who have become a popular trade partner for Jed Hoyer in recent years.

At face value, though, this isn't the type of deal to get too worked up about.

Chicago acquired right-handed reliever Jayden Murray, who was designated for assignment last week, in exchange for High-A first base prospect Cameron Sisneros. The Cubs need pitching depth - there's no question about that - but it's hard to see the appeal in acquiring Murray, who has never been successful at the big-league level and whose metrics hardly inspire cause for optimism.

He's had some runs of success, sure, but a good portion of his body of work to this point has come at Triple-A, where he has a career 5.62 ERA. Sure, he had a 1.17 ERA with Houston last year (in just 15 1/3 innings) - but virtually every meaningful metric told a very different story. The right-hander ranked near the bottom of the league in strikeout, whiff and hard-hit rate, as well as barrel percentage.

Murray doesn't bring much in terms of swing-and-miss, either. He leans heavily on a fastball-slider combo that accounts for nearly 70 percent of his pitches, also featuring a sweeper. Projection models aren't super enthusiastic about what's to come from the 29-year-old, but depth is depth, I suppose.

Cubs' trade deadline focus remains on adding to the pitching staff

Saturday's bullpen meltdown only emphasized the Cubs' need to add to the staff, both in the rotation and bullpen. Colin Rea was brilliant, but a series of relievers coughed up eight runs across the seventh and eighth innings, wasting an opportunity to gain more ground on the Brewers, who dropped their third straight game.

Injuries continue to plague Craig Counsell's staff and the hope is, at some point, this group can get healthy - and stay that way. The rotation is without Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, Justin Steele and Cade Horton and the anchor of the bullpen, Daniel Palencia, is also sidelined. Everyone has been focused on rotation reinforcements, but given the ineffectiveness of Hoyer's two big offseason additions to the pen in Hunter Harvey and Hoby Milner, it's a clear area of need.

Unfortunately, I don't see Murray being part of that solution.

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