At first, there was just a rumor to spice up your Wednesday afternoon:
Cubs close to acquiring Felix Doubront from Red Sox.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 30, 2014
And right after that, this one, apparently making it official:
doubront goes to cubs @jonmorosi mentioned 1st
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) July 30, 2014
Theo Epstein must still think he sees something in the lefthander he signed as an amateur free agent in 2005 out of Venezuela.
Doubront has had his moments as part of the Red Sox rotation; overall, though, he's been below-average, posting a career 4.32 ERA, 4.28 FIP and 1.476 WHIP in 98 appearances (69 starts) since 2010. He's been back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen this year (10 stars, seven relief appearances).
He'll turn 27 in October, which is still fairly young. (He's about eight months younger than Travis Wood, for whatever that's worth.) I'll dig out the old saw that "lefthanders sometimes mature later than righthanders," which, admittedly, isn't always backed up by numbers. But I'll say this and I don't think anyone here will contradict me: I'd much rather see Felix Doubront in the Cubs' rotation than Edwin Jackson.
We still don't know what the Cubs are sending to the Red Sox in exchange; I'll update this post when we find out.
Have at it!