Cubs acquire top-100 prospect Michael Busch, reliever Yency Almonte from Dodgers
Younger prospects Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope will go to Los Angeles in the swap
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.
The #Cubs today acquired INF Michael Busch and RHP Yency Almonte from the Dodgers for minor league LHP Jackson Ferris and minor league OF Zyhir Hope. To make room on the 40-man roster, C Brian Serven has been designated for assignment. pic.twitter.com/J0uCKek7jE
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 11, 2024
Busch, a former first-round pick, has been named to Baseball America's top 100 prospects lists the past three offseasons. He has mashed in Triple-A to the tune of .293./385/.544 the past two seasons, but he had little opportunity for serious playing time in Los Angeles. He has mostly played first base, second base and third base in the minors, but the Dodgers 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 at the corners, 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 much confidence, with a .167/.247/.292 slash line in 81 plate appearances. He's also old for a prospect, at 26, 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-leaguer, 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 that 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 spots on the 40-man roster. As you might've heard, the team has been active this offseason and 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, the Dodgers needed more room.
This trade leaves the Dodgers with an extra 40-man spot, so they might not be finished acquiring players this offseason. The starting 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 available to him made him a natural trade candidate. And in return, the Dodgers got a pair of high-ceiling prospects in Ferris and White.
Ferris was a second-round pick by the Cubs in 2022, but his $3.01 million signing bonus puts him on par with a late first-rounder. MLB Pipeline ranks him as the Dodgers' No. 5 prospect and describes him as a projectable left-hander with big stuff and concerns about a complicated delivery 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 by Baseball America's Carlos Collazo as one of the quickest players in the class who looked good in his 11-game pro debut last year.
