Corner infield was a major need for the Chicago Cubs this offseason and they found a potential solution thanks to the Los Angeles Dodgers' 40-man roster crunch.
The Cubs acquired infield prospect Michael Busch and reliever Yency Almonte from the Dodgers in exchange for a pair of younger prospects in left-hander Jackson Ferris and outfielder Zyhir Hope, the team announced Thursday.
Busch, a former first-round pick, has been named to Baseball America's top 100 prospects lists for the past three offseasons. He has mashed in Triple to the tune of .293./385/.544 over the last two seasons, but had little opportunities for serious playing time in Los Angeles. He has mostly played first base, second base and third base in the minors, but the Dodgers currently have veterans covering all three positions in Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy.
There is no such blockage in Chicago. Patrick Wisdom might have been the fallback option there with Cody Bellinger and Jeimer Candelario both hitting free agency, but the Cubs now have an option in Busch whom scouting services are confident can at least make contact at the MLB level.
It's not all pluses with Busch, though. His cup of coffee with the Dodgers last year didn't inspire confidence, with a .167/.247/.292 slash line in 81 plate appearances. He's also old for a prospect at 26 years old, lowering his long-term ceiling for the Cubs.
Almonte is pretty much a throw-in as a reliever who has been significantly up and down as a major league, having posted a 1.02 ERA in 35 1/3 innings in 2022 and a 5.06 ERA in 48 innings in 2023.
Why did the Dodgers do this?
It's not every day you see a team trade away a top 100 prospect as he's knocking on the door of the majors, even if he doesn't have a ton of places to play.
The Dodgers' motivation for this deal comes down to 40-man spots. As you might have heard, the team has been active this offseason and has already had to DFA reliever Bryan Hudson to make room for free agent acquisition Yoshinobu Yamamoto. With the team recently signing outfielder Teoscar Hernandez to mostly handle left field, another position Busch has played, they needed more room.
This trade now leaves the Dodgers with an extra 40-man spot, so they might not be done acquiring players this offseason. Rotation remains a need for the team, even after landing Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow.
Busch might not have been the most expendable player on the 40-man, but the lack of playing time made him a natural trade candidate. In return, the Dodgers got a pair of high-ceiling prospects in Ferris and White.
Ferris was a second-round pick for the Cubs in 2022, but his $3.01 million signing bonus puts him on par with a late first-rounder. MLB Pipeline now ranks him as the Dodgers' No. 5 prospect and describes him as a projectable left-hander with big stuff and concerns about a complicated deliver that has led to command issues. The Dodgers will be hoping their player development machine can work its magic there.
Hope was an 11th-rounder last year, but is described as Baseball America's Carlos Collazo as one of the quickest players in the class and having looked good in his 11-game pro debut last year.