Cubs address first base void, add Michael Busch via trade with Dodgers

Deal details: Cubs acquire UT Michael Busch and RHP Yency Almonte from the Dodgers for LHP Jackson Ferris and OF Zhyir HopeIt’s not often that we get prospect-for-prospect trades, but the Cubs and Dodgers lined up for one, as the Cubs add Michael Busch to address their first base vortex of awful and a hard-throwing reliever in Yency Almonte in exchange for a projectable lefty prospect in Jackson Ferris and a just-drafted teenaged outfielder in Zyhir Hope.

Busch has been on my preseason top-100 prospect rankings for the last three offseasons, coming in at No. 74 last winter, and will probably make it one last time this year as he’s at exactly 45 days on the active roster, meaning he’ll lose his rookie eligibility with just one more day in the majors. He’s an advanced hitter who’s hit for power with hard contact for three straight years in Double A and Triple A. That’s come with 79 homers over the last three seasons, although I expect him to be more of a high doubles, 18-22 homers guy in the majors. In his brief stint with the Dodgers last year, he put the ball on the ground too often, and his swing is much more geared toward low line drives than big fly balls.

He’s a natural first baseman and almost certainly plays there for the Cubs, with experience at second and third base, much better at the keystone than the hot corner. He also helps the Cubs get more left-handed thump, as their lineup was very right-handed. He also has hit southpaws well enough to project as an everyday player; other than switch hitter Ian Happ, the Cubs didn’t have a definite left-handed bat for their opening-day lineup unless Pete Crow-Armstrong were to win the center-field job.

Cubs’ first basemen hit an aggregate .241/.299/.414 last year, ranking 27th among MLB teams in first base OBP and 22nd in total batting runs from the position, as the Cubs tried Matt Mervis, Patrick Wisdom, Eric Hosmer and more to fill the hole. Busch should fill that need and give them 2 WAR or so of production, with strong defense at first and the capacity to back up Nico Hoerner at second.

Almonte has a career 4.51 ERA in 207 1/3 major-league innings. (Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)

There are a lot of right-handed relievers in baseball, and Yency Almonte is one of them. He’s got a potential out-pitch in his slider but gave up a ton of hard contact last year and has always had issues with left-handed batters (.358 career OBP against, .421 last year), with a couple of good seasons on his major-league resume and as many ungood ones.

Lefty Jackson Ferris was the Cubs’ second-round pick in 2022 and made his pro debut last year as a 19-year-old in Low A, posting a 3.38 ERA in 56 innings in a pitcher-friendly environment at Myrtle Beach with a 32 percent strikeout rate, 14 percent walk rate and 15 wild pitches. He’s a four-pitch guy who’s up to 95 mph with a plus slider, needing to work on the changeup more often to keep right-handers in check. Overall, his main issue is repeating his delivery for better strike-throwing and durability. He can overextend in the back and see his arm slot drift upward, causing timing problems out front, which will only get worse as he’s stretched to more than three innings per outing. He’s a strong athlete with a great pitcher’s build and has the weapons to be a mid-rotation starter, with a lot of reliever risk due to the present command/control.

Zyhir Hope was the Cubs’ 11th-round pick in 2023, a superb athlete and plus runner who would do a backflip on the field before every high school game, Ozzie Smith-style, but who faced no quality pitching as an amateur, leading to concerns about how long he’d take to be ready to face full-season pitching. To his credit, he played very well in his brief pro debut in the Arizona Complex League, with a .286/.419/.543 line in 43 plate appearances, although he still struck out 30 percent of the time and it’s a minuscule sample that shouldn’t change what we knew about him from prior to the draft. The Dodgers love athletic players and have a tremendous track record in helping them make adjustments, so I can see what they might like here even though Ferris is the main return in the deal, while they also clear two 40-man spots and cash-in on Busch, who was blocked at first and second by a pair of MVP candidates.

(Top photo of Michael Busch: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)