Forgotten Cubs slugger traded as the MLB offseason gets off to a scorching start

Forget that post-World Series lull. The MLB offseason quickly jumped into action on Wednesday, headlined by the Atlanta Braves trading former slugging Chicago Cubs prospect Jorge Soler to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for right-hander Griffin Canning, who is heading into his final year of arbitration.

Soler, who turns 33 in February, split the 2024 season between San Francisco and Atlanta, finishing with a 121 OPS+ in about 600 plate appearances. He was a big offseason signing for the Giants but didn't even make it through his first season there before the team sent him back to the Braves, who he helped lead to a championship down the stretch in 2021.

The Angels are on the hook for the final two years of that deal he signed last offseason, totaling $16 million annually in 2025 and 2026. He'll add badly needed power to an offense that ranked 28th in the league in slugging percentage last season.

In return, the Braves pick up Canning, a 28-year-old former second-round pick who really struggled this year. He's never put it together consistently at the big-league level, but if their track record is any indication, no organization in baseball is better equipped to help him figure it out than Atlanta.

It doesn't seem like it's been eight years since Soler last wore a Cubs uniform. After the team's 2016 World Series run, Chicago traded their young outfielder to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Wade Davis, who took over as the team's closer with Aroldis Chapman returning to the Bronx via free agency.

It was in Kansas City that Soler broke out in a big way, walloping 48 home runs back in 2019. Since then, he's averaged 26 long balls per season, appearing in games with the Royals, Marlins, Braves and Giants. His best days weren't as a Cub, but that doesn't harden the soft spot most fans in Chicago have for him given his role during the early years of the team's turnaround.