The Cubs busy Trade Deadline continues to be busy as the Cubs acquired right-hander Clay Holmes and outfielder Tyrone Taylor from the New York Mets for Top-100 infield prospect Jefferson Rojas.
The deal is reportedly dependent on a medical review, which isn’t a given considering Holmes is on the injured list at the moment.
The talk all season has been how perfect the ground-ball pitcher Holmes would be with the Cubs infield defense. The Cubs have seen how much improved David Peterson has been after coming from the Mets to the Cubs, and the hope is that Holmes will be even better.
Holmes, 33, had his right fibula broken on May 15 on a 111 mile per hour line drive comebacker. He’s been on the IL since then, but he’s made three rehab starts and went 5.1 innings on Sunday for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He’s reportedly ready to be activated.
But before he went down, Holmes was having the best year of his career. Over nine starts, Holmes was 4-4 with a 2.39 ERA. Holmes relies on his 93 mile per hour sinker and he induced an elite ground ball rate of 62 percent over the course of his career and 56 percent this year. He’s only allowed three home runs over 52 innings this year.
Because of that groundball rate, pundits have been predicting that Holmes would excel if he got the Cubs infield defense behind him. To be fair, he wasn’t bad with the Mets defense.
The Mets turned Holmes into a starter, but he was an also an effective reliever with the Pirates and Yankees, serving as the Yankees closer for three seasons.
Taylor, 32, is a backup outfielder with a good glove and some pop. He is hitting .241/.290/.503 with ten home runs in 67 games this year. He’s been on fire since late-June, hitting .354/.436/.875 with seven home runs in his last 24 games. Taylor also has decent speed and can play all three outfield positions.
Both Holmes and Taylor can be free agents at the end of this season.
The cost of these two players is extremely high, with the Cubs’ number-two prospect, shortstop Jefferson Rojas, going to the Mets. Rojas is an extremely-promising hitter, putting up a .270/.339/.461 with 15 home runs in 91 games in Double-A Knoxville at just 21 years old. Defensively he’s more of a third baseman than a shortstop and that’s where the Cubs have been playing him lately. But he could be an above-average defender at third.
The Cubs are giving up a potential starting infielder in Rojas. But he became expendable with the development of Pedro Ramirez, who is currently producing in the majors and has similar upside. With the Cubs’ infield all under contract for the next three years and Matt Shaw (when healthy) and Pedro Ramirez fighting for playing time, it seemed like now was the time to sell on Rojas. The Cubs agreed and pulled the trigger on Holmes and Taylor for him.
