Chicago Cubs: Yu Darvish trade not great for Cubs

The Chicago Cubs reportedly traded Yu Darvish and Victor Caratini to the San Diego Padres on Monday. It was….not great. Here’s why.

Ah, yes. 2020. The year where everyone has stumbled about, wondering what the heck is unfolding with each passing day.

As the year comes to an end, fans of the Chicago Cubs are no doubt asking that for the 2.8 millionth time on Monday night. According to reports, the Cubs have agreed to trade SP Yu Darvish and C Victor Caratini to the San Diego Padres for SP Zach Davies and four prospects.

None of those prospects are top ten prospects. All of them have an ETA of 2024, according to MLB.com.

No word yet on whether or not the Padres are going to make Cubs GM Jed Hoyer call them daddy in 2021.

Though it’s true that it will be a number of years before we truly see just how bad (or good? Maybe? No, definitely bad) this trade was, it doesn’t look good on the surface.

Just 24 hours ago, the Padres traded for former Cy Young winner Blake Snell. In doing so, the Padres sent their No. 3 and No. 7 prospects to Tampa Bay, as well as their No. 14 and young catcher Francisco Mejia.

Meanwhile, the Cubs sent the 2020 NL Cy Young runner-up and a solid depth catcher to San Diego and got a bunch of guys who haven’t even played affiliated baseball before.

Of course, the Cubs aren’t going to get as good of a haul for a 34-year-old starter. Nevertheless, they gave up quite a bit in also sending over a solid catcher.

Just a few days ago, reports were that the Cubs were “asking for Babe Ruth” in any trade involving Yu Darvish.

Turns out they were just asking for a Baby Ruth candy bar.

This could be just the start of things for the Cubs. Whether or not this is the beginning of a full rebuild remains to be seen. The trade was certainly a salary dump, but how they spend the money is now the next question. Will it go into the pockets of the Ricketts family, or will the team use it to make one final run with the core in place?

If they are indeed starting a full rebuild, trading the Cy Young runner-up for anything less than a top prospect is not a great place to start.

Not to mention, Cubs fans have been promised that a full rebuild isn’t necessary more times than Americans have dropped the F-bomb in 2020.

After almost entirely refusing to improve the team ever since the 2016 championship, the front office owes it to the fans to make a run at a title in 2021 before core pieces like Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo are lost to free agency.

Perhaps the Cubs could put the money to a Jon Lester return, or possibly add some bullpen or hitting depth.

Let’s be honest though, it will probably go to the Ricketts Family Trust.

There are many aspects of this team that need to be improved in order to contend for a World Series run (much less a shot at the playoffs), but giving up your ace and backstop depth isn’t an improvement in any way regardless of the return. Not only that, the only major league ready talent that they got in return was a guy with a 3.79 career ERA.

Here’s to hoping things go up from here for Cubs fans. Because after consecutive years of brutal disappoint and whatever the heck this year has been, the fans deserve some respect and appreciation from the owners who wouldn’t have income if it weren’t for the fans.

Hey, at least we didn’t give up Fernando Tatis, Jr.