Getty
Cubs get bad news in trading away Owen Caissie.
The Chicago Cubs have made two big moves, trading for starting pitcher Edward Cabrera and signing Alex Bregman.
However, the move to acquire Cabrera did cost a lot as the Cubs had to trade away star prospect Owen Caissie. Chicago also traded infielder Cristian Hernandez and corner infielder/outfielder Edgardo De Leon in the move.
Caissie was the Cubs’ top-ranked prospect and the 47th-ranked prospect in all of baseball. And, MLB analyst Harold Reynolds compared Caissie to former Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker.
“Caissie reminds me so much of Tucker,” Reynolds said on MLB Network. “The way that we are talking about Tucker, this guy is going to grow into that. I just want you to look at the swings and the similarity of going opposite field power in Wrigley, opposite way.
“It’s the swing and the different things he can do. When you start thinking about Kyle Tucker, and if you follow as long as we have in his days in Houston, Caissie is ahead of Tucker, I think, in his development. He’s going to grow into being this player.”
If Caissie does develop into a player of Tucker’s caliber, it would be a massive gain for the Marlins and a huge loss for the Cubs.
Chicago already traded Cam Smith as part of a package to acquire Tucker, who was a one-year rental. Now, the team could move on from the next Tucker.
Marlins GM Excited to Add Caissie
Miami decided to move on from Cabrera as the team got a solid package including Caissie.
Caissie will likely fit right into the Marlins lineup next season, and general manager Peter Bendix is eager to add him.
“I think we’re getting somebody who hits the ball very hard and hits for a lot of power—that’s a hard thing to find,” Bendix said about acquiring Caissie. “It’s a hard thing to find in any area. It’s usually very expensive to acquire and I think every good team needs power.
“With him, we’re getting someone who has shown the ability to make adjustments as he’s gotten older and as he’s faced better pitching. He’s still very young and has room for improvement offensively and defensively, but his performance to date in his career has been exceptional.”
Caissie appeared in 26 MLB games, hitting .192 with 1 home run and 4 RBIs. In Triple-A, however, he hit .286 with 22 home runs and 55 RBIs in 99 games.
“To have somebody who’s on that career trajectory much earlier in their career, who crushed Triple-A pitching at a much younger age, that’s really exciting,” said Bendix. “It doesn’t guarantee anything and doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily going to step in right away and hit 40 home runs or anything like that. There’s certainly risk there, but it is unusual to have a player like Caissie, at his age, perform the way that he did at a high level, and that makes us really excited.”
Although the Marlins traded Cabrera to the Cubs, Bendix likes what the team got in return.
Cubs Sign Bregman
Although Chicago did lose Caissie, the team replaced his bat and more by signing Alex Bregman.
The Cubs signed Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract, and he will be the team’s starting third baseman.
Bregman hit .273 with 18 home runs and 62 RBIs last season with the Red Sox as he dealt with injuries.
Bregman adds some much-needed experience to the roster, as well as a solid bat and glove. He’s a three-time MLB All-Star, as well as a one-time Silver Slugger Award winner and a one-time Gold Glove Award winner.
Cole Shelton Cole Shelton covers the NHL, MLB and Cleveland Browns for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton
More Heavy on Cubs
Loading more stories