Diamondbacks’ Winter Meetings opening move ties back to Cubs trade bust

One of the first moves of the Winter Meetings is a reminder of a trade deadline failure for the Chicago Cubs. The Arizona Diamondbacks have signed Michael Soroka to a one-year deal. When the Cubs balked at the asking prices for top-of-the-rotation starting pitchers at the MLB trade deadline, Jed Hoyer and Co. settled on trading two organizational top-20 prospects to the Washington Nationals for Soroka.

The Cubs' decision to trade for Soroka was questioned at the moment, considering the 28-year-old veteran was coming off a string of starts where there was a noticeable dip in his fastball velocity. Soroka didn't make it out of his first start with the Cubs, landing on the IL after only two innings pitched in Chicago. He returned to the Cubs at the end of the season and pitched out of the bullpen during the playoffs, but there's no glossing over that the trade was a failure for the North Siders.

Diamondbacks sign Michael Soroka as a reminder of the Cubs' trade deadline failure.

It was limited, but Soroka was effective during his time with the Cubs. In 6 appearances, he only gave up 1 run while tallying 8 strikeouts. Once healthy at the end of the season, he also regained the velocity that appeared to be lost at the deadline.

With the Cubs continuing their search for pitching depth, especially in the bullpen, there was speculation that they could bring Soroka back. If nothing else, given his swing-and-miss profile, Soroka does offer a different look than most of the pitchers on the Cubs' staff.

That being said, once the Cubs re-signed Colin Rea, in addition to being in the market for an ace-caliber arm this winter, it would have been hard to make a case for Soroka's return.

The Cubs will never turn down pitching depth, but with Javier Assad, Ben Brown, and Jordan Wicks all still with the organization, the front office can be more selective with the pitchers they target during the offseason.

In other words, a repeat of what they did at the deadline, settling for Soroka instead of actually addressing their need, wouldn't have been an acceptable outcome.