The Cubs have added another relief pitcher to their arsenal
If any team in Major League Baseball has defined going “all-in” it is the Chicago Cubs. They entered the last days of July with a minor need for bullpen help and they went out and hit that need hard. First, they acquired their closer Aroldis Chapman, and now they have a deal done to acquire Joe Smith, according to Buster Olney.
Joe Smith traded to the Chicago Cubs.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 1, 2016
Smith has closed games in his career, and has six saves this season, but he is more of a late inning, seventh or eighth inning pitcher. With the Cubs having acquired Chapman already, Smith fits perfectly into that role in Chicago.
Smith has an era of 3.8 this season and has a strikeout rate of 5.97 batters per nine. Those are not the best stats, but this has been a down year for Smith. He has a career era of 2.94, and a K/9 rate of 7.46. It has been a rough year for Angels pitchers overall, so maybe the change in leagues, as well as scenery, can get Smith back to being the reliable late inning guy that he can be.
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While it has not been released what the Angels will receive from the Cubs it is highly unlikely to be anything of value. Smith is a free agent this off-season, and just for the Cubs to take his $5 million contracts off of the books could be enough to start the negotiations off.
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