This year's trade deadline deals brought in five prospects while saying good-bye to four of our starters. The Cubs Minor League Affiliates web page has three of the new prospects ranked in their top 20. They are ranked at #3, #6, and #17.
***Side Note***Recently, I emailed Josh Timmers of bleedcubbieblue.com who was kind enough to write back. He explained to me that the rankings on this sight are not very accurate and outdated (even though they recently added in the new prospects). He gave me his top 10 off the top of his head. He has Vizcaino at #5 (Affiliates sight has him at #3) and Villanueva at #7 (Affiliates sight has him at #6). I trust these rankings a lot more because they include Soler and Almora. The inclusion of these players pretty much proves that the Cubs Affiliates rankings are indeed outdated.
Back to the trade deadline deals. Were they good and am I happy?
The Good:
Pitchers, pitchers and more pitchers. 4 of 5 new additions were pitchers. Two new pitchers in out top 20 prospects. One new pitcher in our top 5. This is exciting and I'm happy. I'm particularly excited about the return we got from the Braves.
Soriano and Garza: I think we'll get a much better return for these two later, so I'm glad we didn't rush to a deal.
The Bad:
Soto: I know he was seriously uderperforming, but I still don't like the return we got for him.
DeJesus: I would've liked to see him traded, opening up a spot for the youngsters to get some Major League experience.
Overall Happiness:
Very. Including the draft and the signing of Soler, 25% of our top 20 prospects are new additions, making our farm system that much stronger. Going by Timmers' Top 10, and including the same players, 40% of our top 10 are new additions.
***Side Note***Timmers' Top 10 includes three Third Basemen. This should be interesting to watch. Josh Vitters is one of them, but he may no longer be the Third Baseman of the future.
