(670 The Score) The Cubs were expected to deal All-Star catcher Willson Contreras before the MLB trade deadline last Tuesday. Instead, they held on to him and their most prominent move was unexpected.
The Cubs traded rookie reliever Scott Effross to the Yankees in exchange for Triple-A right-hander Hayden Wesneski. The 28-year-old Effross appeared to be a long-term piece for the Cubs’ bullpen, but president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer was motivated to make the trade because Wesneski is a starting pitcher close to big leagues and the organization believes its pitching infrastructure can produce more success stories like Efross.
Wesneski, 24, was the Yankees’ No. 7 prospect. He has a 3.78 ERA over 63 appearances in the minor leagues, including a rocky debut with Triple-A Iowa during which he allowed eight earned runs in 1 2/3 innings of work.
On Hit & Run with Matt Spiegel on 670 The Score on Sunday morning, ESPN baseball insider Kiley McDaniel explained that Wesneski is a promising prospect who could pay dividends with more work in the Cubs’ pitching infrastructure.
“There was obviously a question for the end of the Theo Epstein regime, the beginning of the Jed Hoyer regime, if they could develop pitching and sort of cross that line at where they could manufacture guys at the way where the Dodgers, the Yankees and the Guardians are able to,” McDaniel said. “The answer so far seems to be maybe, possibly. There’s been some progress in that area.
“The Yankees did a version of their sort of pitching lab from him where they raised his slot, they changed a couple things on his delivery. I think he could be kind of going down the same road, but he’s a little more of a finished product than he was coming out of school. But he’s another guy that probably needs some fine-tuning as he gets closer to the big leagues.”
Wesneski was 6-7 with a 3.81 ERA over 19 starts with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate before being dealt to the Cubs.
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