Cubs biggest trade deadline deal has been a massive failure for both sides

The 2024 MLB trade deadline has come and passed. There was a ton of excitement for every team in the league. Nobody was really left out of the fun this season.

One of the bigger surprises of the deadline was how aggressively the Tampa Bay Rays entered the sellers' market. They were willing to deal away just about anybody, including 25 year old All-Star infielder Isaac Paredes.

The Chicago Cubs, who many see as out of contention, went in to acquire Paredes in a bit of a long-term move. At the time, the deal looked quite beneficial for both sides, but that couldn't be further from the truth based on the production we have seen over the first few weeks.

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Revisiting the Cubs-Rays trade for Isaac Paredes less than a month later

For those that aren't familiar with the details of the trade that sent Paredes to Chicago, these were the agreed on terms. The Cubs would send third baseman Christopher Morel and two prospects, Hunter Bigge and Ty Johnson, to the Rays in exchange for Paredes.

Since being traded to the Cubs, Paredes has gone from a player that earned his first All-Star appearance to a player that doesn't even look like he belongs on a big-league club. In 19 games with the Cubs, he's slashing .149/.237/.284 with five extra base hits and an OPS+ under 50.

Before the trade, Paredes was the kind of bat that could get on base and slug at the same time. He didn't strike out often and he looked like a borderline star. He's been far short of a star since joining the Cubs.

“I don’t feel good. I feel lost out there," Paredes told Jesse Rogers of ESPN.

Christopher Morel has to be playing better than Paredes, right?

In about the same sample size, Morel is slashing .147/.256/.250 with three extra base hits and 25 strikeouts in 18 games. The infielder that looked like he could smash 30 home runs this season has turned into the disaster, whiff machine that many of his critics paint him to be.

It's not often that both sides of a trade look so horrible. Usually, one side or the other seems to have won the deal.

But both Paredes and Morel are young, talented players. They have the potential to turn this around and be stars with their new teams. They just haven't done so yet.