The Boston Red Sox have dealt 26 year old starting pitcher Felix Doubront to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later. Doubront had been in the Red Sox system since he was signed as a 17 year old in 2005.
More from Fantasy Baseball
- 5 fantasy baseball waiver wire pivots to replace Triston McKenzie
- Fantasy baseball mock draft 2023, 12-team: Aaron Judge over Trea Turner?
- 3 fantasy baseball sleepers being drafted too late
- NBA DFS picks December 25: Merry Bucking Christmas
- Fantasy Baseball: Hot pitchers worthy of starting this weekend
The “player to be named” is expected to be a low-level prospect that will be determined sometime after the rule 5 draft in November.
Doubront has struggled in the majors this year, posting a 2-4 record with a robust 6.07 ERA in ten starts. He didn’t fare well out of the bullpen either, allowing 11 runs in seven innings this month. His swan song with the Sox was a six run implosion on Monday in just two thirds of an inning. So much for “relief”.
In fact, Doubront has struggled most of his time in the major leagues. He has a career 4.82 ERA, a 26-22 record, and 186 walks in 418 innings pitched.
Can the Cubs coax the talent out of him? Perhaps working for Theo Epstein again will help Doubront out.
He will likely move into a Cub rotation that is still trying to replace departed starters Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. Doubront is expected to slide into one of those slots since Justin Grimm, Chris Rusin, and Dallas Beeler have struggled while trying to fill them.
Despite Doubront’s struggles this year, he has won 11 games in each of the last two years, albeit with an ERA a little on the high side (4.86 and 4.32 respectively). Still, that is good enough for the Cubs to take a chance on the lefty. Patience within the organization and the fan base likely predicated this deal.
Let us not forget that the Cubs hijacked another once-promising prospect for peanuts at last year’s trade deadline when they got Jake Arrieta from Baltimore along with Pedro Strop for Steve Clevenger and Scott Feldman.
Will the Cubs come out ahead in this deal as well?
Better yet, will you? Doubront owners are few and far between right now, but in deep leagues he could be a sneaky pickup. If you have a bench slot, pick him up and hope for the best.