Cubs trade for versatile utilityman Willi Castro, lefty reliever Rogers

CHICAGO – When the smoke cleared on the Trade Deadline on Thursday, the Cubs had accomplished a few of their stated goals ahead of a crucial two-month push for the division crown. Between four trades in a 24-hour span, Chicago added depth to the pitching staff and upgraded the bench.

What the Cubs did not accomplish is what was glaring in the immediate wake of the 5 p.m. CT Deadline. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer – ultra-aggressive over the winter to net star outfielder Kyle Tucker via trade – remained conservative, kept his team’s Top 100 prospects and did not veer out of his value-based comfort zone to acquire a front-line starting pitcher.

“We worked hard on some guys that we felt like could provide significant impact,” Hoyer said inside the Cubs’ offices next to Wrigley Field. “But in the end, the asking price on those guys would have been so detrimental to our future that we obviously decided against it.”

In the final half-hour leading up to the Deadline, news broke that the Cubs had acquired super utility man Willi Castro from the Twins and lefty reliever Taylor Rogers from the Pirates. Chicago shipped two pitching prospects (Ryan Gallagher and Sam Armstrong) to Minnesota and sent outfield prospect Ivan Brethowr to Pittsburgh, which acquired Rogers on Wednesday in a separate deal with the Reds.

TRADE DETAILS
Cubs get: OF/INF Willi Castro
Twins get: RHP Sam Armstrong and RHP Ryan Gallagher

Those additions followed an earlier deal with the Orioles to pick up veteran righty Andrew Kittredge for 17-year-old shortstop prospect Wilfri De La Cruz, and a trade on Wednesday night that brought righty Michael Soroka over from the Nationals. The Cubs sent outfield prospect Christian Franklin and shortstop prospect Ronny Cruz to Washington.

TRADE DETAILS
Cubs get: LHP Taylor Rogers
Pirates get: OF Ivan Brethowr

Together, the moves absolutely upgraded the Cubs’ roster, which saw veteran righty Ryan Pressly designated for assignment as part of the 40-man roster maneuvering. And Hoyer did so without parting with Top 100 names like outfielder Owen Caissie (No. 36), Moisés Ballesteros (No. 47) and Kevin Alcántara (No. 75), or some of Chicago’s other highly-ranked prospects.

Hoyer noted that the Cubs may also be more willing to summon some prospects to help the Major League roster as part of the stretch run.

“We feel good about what we did,” Hoyer said. “I think that we kind of provided insurance in a number of different ways on the roster, and I think we have a really good team. And one of our focuses was making sure that we had the depth in order to withstand injuries that we may have during the second half.”

Hoyer said Soroka will head into the Cubs’ rotation for now, but the righty could shift to the bullpen as a multi-inning arm (especially with Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad working their way back from stints on the injured list). Kittredge and Rogers can boost a relief corps that has hit some snags in the past month, while Castro offers a good bat against lefties (.837 OPS this year) and an option for positions all over the infield and outfield.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell has shown the ability to maximize the production of players like the ones Hoyer just landed, but Chicago (63-45 and one game back of the Brewers) is also facing tight competition in the National League. And teams like the Padres, Phillies and Mets were more aggressive in their Deadline dealings.

As blockbuster deals popped off throughout Thursday, Hoyer held the line in his efforts to land a controllable starting pitcher. He did not want to part with upper-tier prospects for a rental arm and the prices remained steep for names like Joe Ryan (Twins), MacKenzie Gore (Nationals), Sandy Alcantara (Marlins), Edward Cabrera (Marlins) and Mitch Keller (Pirates), among others.

Hoyer pointed to how many starting pitchers who were potentially available wound up staying put when the Deadline expired.

“The job is to make the best decisions for the organization,” Hoyer said. “There’s times to focus on just right now and there’s times to focus on the future. Those are the conversations we have every day, and you try to be as unemotional as you can as possible.”

Hoyer added that the new multiyear contract extension he signed on Monday had no impact on how he approached Thursday’s Deadline.

“I’m thrilled it got done. I couldn’t ask for a better place to work,” Hoyer said. “The goal is to be good every year. That’s the goal. The goal is not to have massive up-and-down cycles. That’s been the focus, is to try to build something that’s sustainable that we can do this year after year. And I think we can certainly do that.”