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The Cubs and Diamondbacks completed a trade that sends recently DFA'd Tony Campana to Arizona while the Cubs acquire two 17-year old pitching prospects.
The Cubs dealt popular speedster Tony Campana to the Diamondbacks for a pair of 17-year-old Venezuelan right-handed pitchers: Erick Leal and Jesus Castillo.
Campana, 26, led the Cubs with 30 stolen bases last season, but he didn't get on base consistently enough to utilize his speed. He was designated for assignment on Feb. 10. In 89 games last season, Campana batted .264 with a .308 on-base percentage.
"It's difficult to lose Tony from the organization," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. "Great person, he's a fantastic base stealer and a guy we really enjoyed getting to know. But ultimately you can only protect 40 guys on the roster, and he got caught up in the roster crunch. We have a little bit of depth in the outfield and less depth in pitching, and given that, it led us to designate Tony for assignment."
Leal could play in the U.S. this year, but Castillo will likely stay in the Dominican Republic and play in the Dominican Summer League. Leal was 6-2 with a 2.44 ERA in 14 appearances for the DSL last season, striking out 70 over 70 innings. Castillo was 2-4 with a 5.40 ERA in 14 appearances in the DSL.
Impossible to know much about these guys based on their numbers at that age, but the fact the Cubs got something younger than 24 or 25 is kind of impressive.
From Ben Badler and John Manuel of Baseball America:
Castillo was Arizona's most expensive international amateur signing in 2011, when he signed for $250,000 from Oswaldo Camacho's program on Aug. 27, his 16th birthday. With his August birthday, he was one of the youngest signings in 2011 and pitched the entire Dominican Summer League season at age 16. Castillo is from Valencia but has also lived in Spain. He used to play soccer as well and his athleticism is evident in his smooth delivery, which he repeats well for his age. He has a long, loose arm stroke, a long stride and gets good extension out front. He signed throwing in the mid-80s with a lanky build, but he now touches the low-90s and has a good changeup for his age, although his breaking ball is still a work in progress. Castillo did post a 5.40 ERA last year, but if he were born a week later, he wouldn't have even been eligible to sign until July 2, 2012, so he's an intriguing arm for the Cubs to take a flier on.
JonKneeV wrote:
Seriously?
@ dmick89:
Ohhhhhhhh yeah.
Baseball America has nice things to say about both kids: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/majors/trade-central/2013/2614744.html
Cubs fans, of course, are losing their shit:
@ Aisle424:
I had a similar reaction as the last tweet, except I wasn’t mad, I was euphoric because it was unbelievable that the Cubs actually pulled this off.
Now I’m wondering if both prospects are broken somehow.
Need more optimism goggles.
@ Aisle424:
(dying laughing)
Uh, so hang on a sec, when you said “prospects”, it looks like you actually may have meant “prospects”.
So,
A) Is it just me or is getting two actual srs prospects for a DFA’d player kind of amazing, and
2) How many Ericks are there in Venezuela?
The Cubs waited too long to trade Campana to AZ. If they did this earlier in the offseason, they could have traded him for Trevor Bauer, considering how little the DBacks valued him (dying laughing)
@ fang2415:
I would assume that there are serious issues with both of these pitchers because, well, they were acquired for a DFA’d Tony Campana. It’s nice that these guys are young and all that, but for now, what we know about these two is this: they were traded for Tony Campana. Hopefully this works out and they become more than just that, but for now, I’d say the Cubs came away with a really good deal, but probably didn’t steal the next Verlander.
@ Aisle424:
Ugh. Speed is only valuable if you can get on base, which Tony did about as well as Brett Jackson at. He slugs about as well as a decent hitting pitcher, and has a noodle for an arm. He’s NOT good at baseball. If another team who hopes to be in contention can use him as a pinch runner or to race a horse before the game, LET THEM HAVE HIM!
Is it too late to get my email address in for the bunt tournament?
(Entry Recorded)
Mucker, can you post that in the contest thread? A lot easier for us that way. Thanks.
I think Campana has value as a defender and base runner. His WAR so far is pretty good and while that wont continue, he does have value. More to a contending team.
@ dmick89:
Yeah sure. I didn’t know if that thread was dead or not. Thanks.
Don’t worry everyone. Campana will eventually be scraptastic enough to fight his way back to the cubs bench! His small size and incredible whiteness will make it happen!
@ Aisle424:
Marquise Goodwin (UTx), Tavon Austin (WVU), and DJ Monroe (UTx) are pretty fast. I guess the Cubs should draft them this spring and put them on the roster. We’ll be WS bound for sure.
/Cubs Twitter fanned
Who cares if their primary position is Wide Receiver.
SVB wrote:
They’re fast and they can pitch?
@ dmick89:
His career WARP is 0.
Rizzo the Rat wrote:
So you’re saying he only runs on impulse?
/BoldlyWent
Via CCO: http://chicagocubsonline.com/archives/2013/02/scouting-reports-and-video-on-rhps-erick-leal-and-jesus-castillo.php
An actual story about the Cubs TV deal from an actual reporter that contains actual information:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0219-cubs-20130219,0,7523734.story
Where’s the dig at Zambrano? I’m confused.
@ GBTS:
Besides the TV rights news, which can be summed up as “the WGN portion of games will be auctioned off to the highest bidder” prior to the 2015 season, I also learned about some potential stadium billboards. What’s up with that? Toyota-style, or Torco-style? Wouldn’t they need city approval for more inside the stadium billboards?
Suburban kid wrote:
Yes, they’d need to relax some rules and Tunney is currently being a bitch about it.
@ GBTS:
Was that guy implying the Cubs are in for a Dodgers-like payday? They won’t get that. They’re not as popular as the Dodgers are. They’ll get more than some of the other teams who have signed huge deals, but they won’t come close to the Dodgers. I don’t know what fair market value is for a Cubs game, but I’d guess a sizable percentage less than the Dodgers. That’s still much more than they currently get.
@ Aisle424:
They’ve always been a bitch about it. It’s why the Cubs should threaten to leave the Wrigley area. They’ll give the Cubs whatever the hell they want after that.
Dick McCheesedoodle hadn’t been around for awhile, but he entered our contest. (dying laughing)
@ Aisle424:
That’s great that he’s the fastest runner, but what good is that when he’s not getting on base?
@ Rice on bus:
Kool Aid! ??
@ Jeff:
Because opposing teams have to THINK that he could come in and pinch run at ANY TIME, so it pressures them to throw more perfect games which leads to mistakes.
@ mobile svb:
It’s the best.
Just saw an MLBTR headline that Soriano would consider trades. Apparently not to San Francisco though.
FYI – if you signed up for the OV bunt tourney contest we removed your emails from the comments after we grabbed them, lest spambots do the same
@ dmick89:
Alfonso Soriano said:
Trader!
/morans
@ Berselius:
I went ahead and sold all their emails to spam sites anyway. We’re rich.
I don’t think I’ve actually logged into the e-mail I provided in like two years.
@ dmick89:
I used that money to sign up all the participants in the Hormel Spam of the Month club. Each shipment comes with a complimentary case of Cookie’s BBQ sauce!
It sounds like Mat Gamel re-tore the ACL that was injured last year, and is donezo for this season as well.
New aside
http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/mild-lat-strain-for-garza-will-rest-for-one-week.html
@ dmick89:
I heard there was a manufacturing problem with the OV mugs, mb.
dmick89 wrote:
Does that mean we can finally afford an unobstructed view?
BA Top 100 —-> out like a gay.
@ Berselius:
Whoops, I meant to make that an aside. I guess it’s the new thread (dying laughing)