First Pitch: Did the Chicago Cubs trade deadline deals meet expectations?

The Cubs sold off most their assets, leaving Willson Contreras and little else from their World Series glory days. In search of another postseason run somewhere down the line, where should Chicago go from here?

The Cubs sent Kris Bryant to Chicago, Anthony Rizzo to the Bronx, Javier Baez to Queens and Craig Kimbrel on a crosstown train. There’s more where that came from, and the young talent received back could prove valuable somewhere down the line, but that’s a tough pill to swallow for a fanbase that — for at least half the season — thought the Cubs had a real change to win the NL Central.

Those postseason chances evaporated with a losing streak of epic proportions — 12 games to be exact. Just like that, the Cubs went from potential buyers at the trade deadline to the most obvious of sellers. And sell they did.

It’s not just that the Cubs sent an enormous amount of talent out of town. It’s what that talent represents: The end of a 108-year curse, and what was supposed to be the start of a potential dynasty. All four of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez and Contreras (who remains) were emerging into their prime in 2016. Now, just five years later, should’ve been at the very least the tail end of that run.

Instead, the Cubs got just one title, and given how the previous century went fans in Wrigleyville will take that and run. But decades from now it won’t be denied that this group of players winning just a sole World Series and pennant seems a bit…lacking? Surely Cubs fans will argue back in a sports bar somewhere.

Now, with the eulogy of the past generation behind us, what do Cubs fans have to look forward to? Let’s examine the trades, one by one.

Chicago Cubs: Looking at trade deadline returns

Madrigal is still injured, but when he returns he’ll be the obvious starter at second base to man the Cubs double-play combination of the future. Madrigal is a .317 hitter in 83 career games, and can slash to all fields, something the Cubs had been desperately missing. He’s considered arguably the best trade piece Jed Hoyer received in any of these deals.

Heuer was passed over in this return due to the name notoriety of Madrigal, but it’s quite possible the White Sox whiffed on this one. A right-handed pitcher with an upper-90s sinking fastball, a slider and changeup, Heuer pitched to a 5.12 ERA on the South Side. However, his stuff suggests he can be much better with some fine-tuning.

“Codi Heuer is kind of a weird sleeper here,” said Kevin Goldstein of FanGraphs on the CubsTalk Podcast. “I think the White Sox were kind of using him wrong, and I’m anxious to see if the Cubs can figure that out themselves.”

Crow-Armstrong was the 19th-overall selection in the 2020 MLB Draft and one of the Mets’ top-5 prospects. It was a steep price to pay for the Mets, but they did receive an uber-talented player in Baez at a position of need. With Francisco Lindor out for the time being, the Mets needed a shortstop.

At just 19 years old, Crow-Armstrong has plenty of time to develop in the minors, but his calling card is his defense. He also projects to be a decent power bat when he’s ready for the bigs.

Alcantara is a 19-year-old with a ton of upside. At the time of the trade, he held a .273/.330/.387 slash line in the minors. Of course, those are the lower levels.

“He’s built like a small forward,” Goldstein said. “He’s 6-6, he’s lanky, he’s wirey, he’s muscular. Another guy — bat speed, power, it’s all there.”

While it’s all there, the Cubs won’t get much output on that return for awhile. Hoyer’s plan appears to be the long play in this trade, as was the case with Crow-Armstrong of the Mets.

Vizcaino is more of a risk, per most scouts, but he has the ability to touch the upper-90’s regularly and could be good for a spot start here or there until he flashes some true potential in the minors.

Killian is an exciting get if you believe in the value of minor-league stats. He was a former eighth-round pick who was leading the Double-A Northeast in several categories. He has a low-90’s fastball with decent breaking stuff that could still develop at the minor-league level.

Canario has a strikeout problem, but he can deliver plenty of pop as well. He’s a true three-outcome type hitter at this point, and the Cubs will want to work on his plate discipline one way or another.

Overall, the return for Bryant was a little overwhelming because the Giants were able to return his entire salary.

Cubs: How should fans feel about trade deadline decisions?

Hoyer came out firing after the deadline, stating that he tried to offer extensions to every player eventually dealt, but to no avail. He went as far as to insinuate that they did not want to play in Chicago.

"“I don’t know why guys didn’t want to sign. I don’t know why guys didn’t want to even counteroffer,” Hoyer said on ESPN1000. “Every one of these guys would say they wanted to stay in Chicago, ‘we wanted to be a Cub,’ but then we would sit down and do negotiations, that wasn’t how they acted.”"

To get more clarity on the fan perspective of these deadline deals, I spoke with Jacob Misener of Cubbies Crib.

1. In the end, did the returns for Bryant, Rizzo, Baez and Kimbrel meet expectations, or underwhelm given the caliber of player(s)?

Jacob Misener: “When you’re talking about trading the core that ended the most infamous championship drought in American sports, I don’t think it’s possible to meet expectations. I think the Cubs themselves are to blame by a lot of folks feeling underwhelmed by the return in the sense they set that bar in the Jose Quintana trade back in 2017, shipping out Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease. Teams rarely do that – but Cubs fans seem to have set that as the bar in their minds heading into the trade deadline. Given Chicago didn’t nab even one top five organizational prospect in any of the trades (Madrigal having graduated from prospect rankings obviously taken into account) – it’s hard for most folks to be happy. But based on everything I’ve seen from around the league, front offices seem to think Hoyer did very well for himself in the trades.”

2. Which players/prospects should Cubs fans be most excited about in these trade returns? Do any stand out among the rest, or is it far too soon to tell?

JM: “I think it’s largely too soon to tell. The return in the Rizzo deal was the one that really excited me – and I think a lot of the returns match up with what we saw with the Yu Darvish trade last winter (high-risk, high-reward). I think Madrigal will play a huge role for Chicago as Hoyer looks to shift his team away from a three true outcome approach to offense. Whether you loved or hated the core, no one can argue the Cubs failed to manufacture offense far too often in recent years and Madrigal’s strong bat-to-ball skills – paired with Nico Hoerner – should go a long way in remedying that moving forward.”

3. On Monday, Jed Hoyer said he was ‘disappointed’ by the lack of extension discussion with the since-traded stars in particular, and even brought up Lance Lynn of the White Sox as an example of a player who truly wanted to stay in Chicago. Does any of this change the perception of Bryant, Rizzo or Baez among Cubs fans, or is it more water under the bridge?

JM: Pair Hoyer’s comments with Anthony Rizzo’s response on Tuesday and what you have is a complete loathing of the Cubs front office and ownership. Fans almost unanimously side with the players here and given Tom Ricketts’ unwillingness to supplement this core in recent years, his crying poor and running the Cubs like they’re the Tampa Bay Rays, there’s about a zero percent chance fans will ever side with the organization over those three guys. I will say, though, that this back-and-forth in the media has the makings of something that could derail any hopes of reunions and potentially keep FA targets from considering Chicago as a destination.

4. With the Wild Card race essentially a moot point for the Cubs the remainder of the way, who/what should fans be watching for down the stretch?

JM: You’re watching to see if any of these guys show they can be contributors in the long-term plan. Is Patrick Wisdom the real deal or just a run-of-the-mill guy who got hot at near-30 years old? Same goes with Rafael Ortega. For me, though, it’s about pitching: we’re watching Manny Rodriguez, Justin Steele when he comes back and joins the rotation after being stretched out at Iowa, Keegan Thompson, etc. This team has been among the worst in baseball when it comes to developing pitching – so having some up-and-comers actually get a legit look in these final two months will be something we’re all a bit unaccustomed to seeing here in Wrigleyville.

First Pitch is a weekly FanSided.com MLB feature in coordination with the FanSided network.