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The 2021 Sell-Off:An Interim Grade




Last suvm Certainly the departed hamer the Cubbies sold off eight players: Pederson, Marisnick, Tepera, Chafin, Kimbrell, Riz, Javy, and KB. They got back twelve, all of them significantly younger than those who left. Nearly a year later, how does it look?

Certainly the departed have not performed at a level anywhere close to the salaries they got. So in that sense, the trades make sense, But how do the twelve prospects/suspects look today?

Four have already appeared in Wrigley; all of them show promise. Obviously the jury is still out on Madrigal and Heuer, but at the very least they look to be useful pieces on the Next Winning Team. Kilian looks to be a solid mid-rotation starter and Espinosa, probably in the bullpen for a few innings at a time, also looks to have big league skills.

And the eight still working their way up? Pete Crow-Armstrong, Alcantara and Canario are all showing best-case All-Star potential. Bryce Ball and Baily Horn are excelling at Double A. 22 year old Daniel Palencia has been good and bad at High A. Vizcaino is still missing due to injury. Only Deichmann looks to clearly be a bust, and ne's the guy who has homered in each of his last four games,

So, based on the combination of what we gave up, what we've seen in Chicago, and how much progress we see on the farm, this is starting to look like the best string of deals since Dallas Green took over in the 1980's, or of course Theo's first rebuikd.

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