Deadline trade: Cubs say f-you to Effross
Trade funky righty to the Yankees for a starting pitcher prospect

Sometime this afternoon I had a very strange sensation. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

It was as if a million very wrong Cubs voices all cried out at once. Tomorrow is the trade deadline and just like last year, Crazy Jed is having a huge sale and his prices are INSANE! So it was no shock to hear that the Cubs had made a trade. It was also not a surprise that they’d traded a relief pitcher to the Yankees. Former Yankee David Robertson is a fit as is former Orioles righty Mychal Givens. But it wasn’t either of them.
It was 28 year old Scott Effross. Nobody had that on their radar. He seemed like the kind of guy you would want in your bullpen on the (groan) next great Cubs team (end groan). He has 68 strikeouts in 58.2 big league innings, strikes out nearly 11 per nine and walks under two.
But while the knee jerk reaction was, “Oh no!” The reason I felt that strange sensation was the trade makes perfect sense. Dare I say, it even makes it seem like there might actually be some sort of plan?
The Cubs minor leagues are supposedly stocked with all kinds of live arms, but little by little it’s looking more and more like most of those arms are best suited to be relief pitchers. And that’s fine, because live armed relievers are of great value on your team and as we found out today can be traded for other stuff.
And the stuff in this instance is the Yankees #4 prospect, starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski. Unlike most of the Cubs recent trades the returning player wasn’t 14 years old or 34 years old, rather Wesneski is 24.
And, according to MLB.com he is now the Cubs eighth ranked prospect, just behind starting pitchers Caleb Killian and Jordan Wicks.
Despite what the prospect perverts will tell you, most prospects don’t pan out, so the best way to develop—say a starting pitcher—is to have more than one or two in your pipeline.
Effross is a good reliever and if he stays healthy will pitch the next five years for the Yankees before he’s eligible for free agency. But that’s why he was worth enough to get their fourth rated prospect. This was the Cubs trading from their strength to help sore up a weaker spot.
I have to admit, I’m impressed. I have no idea if Hayden Wesneski will be any damned good, but it’s a move that makes complete sense, and that’s been in rare supply around here for a while.
I’ll post after all of the Cubs trades between now and the deadline and let’s rank this one on a scale that goes on the high end from E-Ramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton (10 points) to the very bad end of Matt Karchner and Felix Heredia (1 point).


Scott Effross to the Yankees for Hayden Wesneski.
Trade grade: 7.4
Comp - 1988 Mike Curtis to Pissburgh for Mike Bielecki
Underwhelmed? Bielecki won 18 games for the ‘89 Cubs. Let’s see Hayden Whathisface equal that some time.
You can celebrate the trade deadline (such that there is to celebrate) with a special offer.
And, there are plenty of cool t-shirts in the Pointless Exercise store, including this new one:
Unfortunately, you'll be able to wear this shirt to pretty much any Chicago sporting event for the foreseeable future. desipio.com/?page_id=8384#…
— Desipio.com (@desipiodotcom) 6:49 PM ∙ Aug 1, 2022