Cubs trade Jae Kuk Ryu

Today the Cubs trade pitching prospect Jae Kuk Ryu to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for 2 minor leaguers, Andrew Lopez and Gregory Reinhard. If you noticed I didn’t put the word prospects in front of their names for a reason. It is because neither is considered more than a fringe player. I am not sure why the Cubs gave up on Jae Kuk Ryu, but hopefully it doesn’t come back to haunt them. The one thing about Reinhard is that is seems to be a hard thrower, in 195.1 career minor league innings he has 187 strikeouts.

Over the last 3 years neither player the Cubs acquired had been mentioned in Baseball America’s to 10 team prospects or in the team chats. Jim Hendry said the Cubs acquired these guys with Tim Wilken’s influence, well let’s hope Mr. Wilken’s knows something that the rest of the baseball community doesn’t.