A continuing series examining past Cubs trades, and whether they moved the needle to creating a winning team.
The Epstein/Hoyer Contention trades – Year 4
After the disappointing finish against the Dodgers in 2017, the Cubs replaced Jake Arrieta – who left to go to the Phillies – with Yu Darvish. The Cubs also added Peter Bourjos, Tyler Chatwood, Steve Cishek, Brandon Morrow, and an injured Drew Smyly. Alex Avila, Wade Davis, Jon Jay, Hector Rondon and Koji Uehara moved on, and John Lackey retired. They did not make a single trade in the off-season between 2017 and 2018.
Here are some of the previous entries in this series:
- Introduction
- Epstein/Hoyer rebuild year 1 (2012)
- Epstein/Hoyer rebuild year 2 (2013)
- Epstein/Hoyer rebuild year 3 (2014)
- Epstein/Hoyer Contention year 1 (2015)
- Epstein/Hoyer Contention year 2 (2016)
- Epstein/Hoyer Contention year 3 (2017)
2018 In-Season Trades
Date: July 19, 2018
Cubs trade: Tyler Thomas (minors)
Rangers trade: Jesse Chavez (1.9)
WAR comparison: Cubs 1.9 – Rangers 0.0 (Cubs +1.9)
Intangibles: Chavez was amazing for the Cubs, and helped they stay in first in the division until the last week. He also pitched an inning in the Wild Card game
Analysis: The Cubs closer, Brandon Morrow, suffered what turned out to be a career ending injury in July (although he did attempt a comeback with the Dodgers in 2020 and 2021). He had been a revelation as the Cubs closer, with a 1.47 ERA and 22 saves, relacing Wade Davis. Pedro Strop became the new closer, but the Cubs needed a replacement in the bullpen, and gave up very little for Jesse Chavez. He responded with a 1.15 ERA and 0.80 WHIP in 32 games. He had 42 strikeouts and only 5 walks. This was one of the better short-term trades the Cubs made over the past 20 years, ad Thomas never made it to the majors.
https://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/mlb/id/24158585
He finally retired in 2025 after 18 seasons:
Date: June 27, 2018
Cubs trade: Rollie Lacy (minors) and Eddie Butler (-0.3) and Alexander Oviles (minors)
Rangers trade: Cole Hamels (5.0)
WAR comparison: Cubs 5.0 – Rangers 0.0 (Cubs +5.0)
Intangibles: With Yu Darvish getting injured and Tyler Chatwood struggling, the Cubs desperately needed another starter. Cole Hamels was past the peak of his career, but he was still very effective for the Cubs, and was successful in stabilizing the rotation. He did well enough that they brought him back in 2019.
Analysis: Another good trade with the Rangers of prospects for a very useful player. Only Butler ended up playing for the Rangers, and they were not able to flip any of them in subsequent trades. Hamels had 12 starts for the Cubs in 2018, and put up a 2.34 ERA in 76.1 innings. The Cubs ended up blowing the NL Central, but the in-season trades made by were not the problem.
https://www.espn.com.au/mlb/story/_/id/24203873/chicago-cubs-acquire-lefty-cole-hamels-trade-texas-rangers
Although, the biggest memory of Cole Hamels for Cub fans was not a plesant one:
Date: July 31, 2018
Cubs trade: Jhon Romero (0.1)
Nationals trade: Brandon Kintzler (1.0)
WAR comparison: Cubs 1.0 – Nationals 0.1 (Cubs +0.9)
Intangibles: Kintzler was brought in to provide bullpen help, and he was awful in 2018. The bounced back in 2019 for a team that did not make the playoffs.
Analysis: This ultimately turned out to be an OK trade, but Kintzler was so bad in 2018 for the Cubs (7.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP in 18 innings over 25 games) that it overshadowerd his solid performance in 2019 (2.68 ERA, 1.02 WHIP in 62 games over 57 innings). Oddly, 5 of of Kintzler’s 6 career playoff appearances came against the Cubs – with 2 scoreless innings in the 2020 series for the Marlins. Romero was another minor leaguer the Cubs traded away in 2018 who did not accomplish much in the majors.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24245968/reliever-brandon-kintzler-traded-chicago-cubs-washington-nationals
Date: August 21, 2018
Cubs trade: Andrew Monasterio (0.0)
Nationals trade: Daniel Murphy (0.5)
WAR comparison: Cubs 0.5 – Nationals 0.0 (Cubs +0.5)
Intangibles: One of the most unfortunate stories of the 2010s for the Cubs was the collapse of the career of Addison Russell. I have sympathy for a domestic abuser, and I’m happy the Cubs got ride of Russell. But purely from a baseball standpoint, the fact that he did not turn out to be a star for the Cubs was another big reason the team was not able to accomplish more. He was technically injured when Murphy was acquired, and played in 18 more games (starting 11) before being put on administrative leave until September 19th, But I’m guessing the Cubs were aware of allegations of abuse by his ex-wife, and needed a fill-in. They turned to veteran Daniel Murphy, who had demolished the Cubs in the 2015 playoffs, and hit a home run for the Nationals in the 2017 NLDS. Javy Baez moved over to shortstop, and would play there the rest of his Cubs career. Murphy played well for the Cubs down the stretch, but was 0-4 with a walk in the Wild Card game loss.
Monasterio was a throw-in to the Indians in a trade for Yan Gomes, but did not play in the majors for a few years after joining the Brewers as a free agent.
Analysis: Murphy did fine for the Cubs, although his defense at second base was not very good. He slashed .297/.329/.471, which was actually much better than the .250/.317/.340 Russell had put up. It was after the normal trade deadline, so Murphy did have to clear waivers. Again, a nice trade for a contending team to fill a real need.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24437992/washington-nationals-trade-daniel-murphy-chicago-cubs-matt-adams-st-louis-cardinals
I’m not linking to any videos of Murphy killing the Cubs :).
Date: August 30, 2018
Twins trade: Bobby Wilson (0.0)
Cubs trade: Chris Gimenez (0.1)
WAR comparison: Twins (0.1) – Cubs (0.0) (Cubs -0.1)
Intangibles: None
Analysis: A nothing-burger of a trade. I really am not sure why the Cubs made it.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24526645/minnesota-twins-trade-bobby-wilson-chicago-cubs-chris-gimenez-catcher-swap
Pre-2019 Season Trades
Date: November 20, 2018
Cubs trade: Jason Vosler (0.0)
Padres trade: Rowen Wick (0.9)
WAR comparison: Cubs (0.9) – Padres (0.0) (Cubs +0.9)
Intangibles: Wick pitched fairly well for the Cubs before injuries finished his career. He never pitched in the postseason. There was a brief Rowan Wick/Brad Wieck era for the Cubs, which was fun to say.
Vosler did not pitch for the Padres in the majors before being released.
Analysis: A good minor trade. For a while, it looked like the Cubs might have really gotten a good player for almost nothing, but it did not turn out that way.
https://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=25335001
Date: November 29, 2018
Cubs trade: Tommy LaStella (2.2)
Angels trade: Conor Lillis-White (0.0)
WAR comparison: Angels (2.2) – Cubs (0.0) (Cubs -2.2)
Intangibles: La Stella produced a 1.8 WAR for the Angels in 2019. with 16 homers a very good .845 OPS. The Angels flipped him in 2020 for Franklin Barreto, who didn’t provide value. Lillis-White never pitched for the CUbs in the mojors.
Analysis: I’m not sure why the Cubs traded La Stella away. He had a previous instance of insubordination in 2016:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17434048/chicago-cubs-recall-infielder-tommy-la-stella-triple-iowa
Perhaps there was some lingering bad blood, but who knows. La Stella broke his leg in 2019, and never was able to replicate his success in subsequent seasons with the A’s Giants and Mariners.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25410705/chicago-cubs-trade-tommy-la-stella-los-angeles-angels
WAR Scorecard for 2018 in-season and post season
Gained WAR: 9.2
Lost WAR: 2.3
NET: +6.9
Updated Scorecard for Epstein/Hoyer:
Gained WAR: 122
Lost WAR: 70.9
NET: +51.1
This was the rare year where the Cubs actually did better as the contender as compared to the teams they traded with. This was primarily due to none of the Cubs minor leaguers they traded away having any impact for their new teams. Hamels, Murphy and Chavez were really nice pick-ups. And the Cubs were in line for another division title in 2018, with 95 wins. Unfortunately, the Brewers went of a massive run, going 20-7 to close the season, winning their last 8 games, including a 1-game playoff against the Cubs to determine the division winner.
Cubs in 7 
Leave a comment