Cubs Deal Garza to the Rangers, Soriano May Be Next to Go

With the clock ticking toward the trade deadline and rumors swirling at a fever pitch level, the Chicago Cubs (44-53) traded talented righy Matt Garza (6-1) to the Texas Rangers (55-44) on Monday.

Talk about trading up for Garza as the Rangers sit 3.0 games behind the Oakland A’s in the AL West and in the third spot for the Wild Card. As for the Cubs, well, they’re 15.5 games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals (59-37) and fans are really looking forward to seeing the Chicago Bears this year.

Matt Garza

In return for Garza, the Cubs continue their trend toward rebuilding with young players and acquired righty Justin Grimm (7-7 with a 6.37 ERA over 17 starts), Triple-A third base prospect Mike Olt, Single-A pitching prospect C.J. Edwards and additional players to be named at a later time.

Garza jumped on a plane to Dallas on Monday and could start against the New Yankees (52-47) on Wednesday.

As for Cubs fans, they may want to take a deep breath as Edwards has found success in the minors and Olt entered the season as a top-50 prospects reported HardballTalk.com. The pundits consider it a good trade and the Cubs will continue on a good path to a bright 2015–yes 2015–season.

It appears the Cubs may not be done with their trades and the next player up is possibly veteran and not a fan favorite Alfonso Soriano. He could be headed to the Big Apple and the injury-plagued Yankees. For this player, who has a no-trade clause, this would represent “going home” as Soriano played some good ball for the team from 1999 to 2003.

Alfonso Soriano

The New York Post reported the story early on Tuesday morning and noted the trade is supposedly all about money. The Yankees will pay the remainder of Soriano’s bloated contract which includes around $7 million for this season and then $18 million for 2014. The team will get some much-needed hitting as Soriano has a .259 batting average, 17 home runs and 51 RBIs to-date for the Cubs.

Add the player to the Yankees lineup and he’ll sit right behind Robinson Cano in home runs (21).

What do the Cubs get in return? Yep, a mid-level prospect.

For the Yankees, their future is a little brighter than the Cubs’ as they sit 7.0 games behind the AL-East leading Boston Red Sox (60-41) and are 16 to 1 to win this year’s AL Pennant.

But Cubs fans know Soriano’s best days are behind him and will be happy to see this trade go through.

Looking at the present time, the Cubs will continue their four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks (51-48). On Monday, they won 4-2 and knocked the Diamondbacks out of the top spot for the NL West.

Welcome back Dodgers (51-47)!

With the exit of Garza, the Cubs called up lefty Chris Rusin (1-0) from the minors for pitching duty and the young player came through on Monday. For six innings, he kept the Diamondbacks from scoring and got his first MLB win.

Rusin said of the game via the Associated Press, “You just have to step up when they call you and be ready any time. I was ready for the opportunity and I was able to throw strikes and help our team win.”

On Tuesday for Game 2, Cubs lefty Travis Wood (6-6) will take the mound against the Diamondbacks lefty Patrick Corbin (11-1).

The Diamondacks will get this win (-175, 8 o/u).

In other NL Central news, the Milwaukee Brewers (41-57) upon learning on Monday they’ve lost Ryan Braun for the rest of the season, proceeded to lose to the equally weak San Diego Padres (44-56), 5-3.

For Game 2 of their four-game series on Tuesday, the Brewers will get the win (-124, 9 o/u).

The Cardinals will open up a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies (49-50) on Tuesday and will start off with a win (-215, 8 o/u).