The Cubs and White Sox’ three-player trade at the 2021 trade deadline seemed like a defining moment as crosstown rivals drifted past each other, headed in opposite directions.
Merely two years later, both teams are under .500. Any sliver of hope of adding at the deadline belongs to the Cubs. And it appears unlikely that any of the players involved in that 2021 trade will appear in the Classic at Guaranteed Rate Field Tuesday and Wednesday.
Infielder Nick Madrigal, whose recent hot streak at the plate was cut short by a strained hamstring, came the closest. He and the Cubs were targeting this two-game set for him to return from the injured list. But, on a Triple-A rehab assignment over the weekend, he was scratched from Iowa’s lineup on Sunday with what the Cubs called “general lower body fatigue,” throwing that timeline into question.
A little over a month ago, it looked like reliever Codi Heuer would be off the 60-day IL and giving the Cubs a midseason boost by now. But when he was on the verge of activation, over 15 months removed from Tommy John surgery, he sustained a fracture in his throwing elbow.
Closer Craig Kimbrel is putting together an All-Star season ... for the Phillies.
He was set to hit free agency before this year anyways. But he was expected to be on the South Side through his 2022 club option. Instead, the White Sox’s plans to use him as a one-two punch with closer Liam Hendriks failed so spectacularly — Kimbrel’s 0.049 ERA with the Cubs ballooned into 5.09 with the White Sox — that they cut their losses and traded him for outfielder AJ Pollock before the next season.
Even Pollock has exited the rivalry, signing with Mariners this winter.
The other crosstown trade in 2021, which received much less fanfare, proved to be more mutually beneficial. Reliever Ryan Tepera posted a 2.50 ERA for the White Sox and was a bright spot in their short-lived playoff run. Left-handed prospect Bailey Horn has climbed through the Cubs’ system to Triple-A.
Any debate over who “won” the Kimbrel/Madrigal/Heuer trade, however, is beside the point.
The day provided wildly different snapshots of the organizations. Kimbrel’s departure was inevitable as the Cubs dismantled their championship core. The image of Kris Bryant sharing a teary embrace with hitting coach Anthony Iapoce in the visiting dugout at Nationals Park captured the emotions of the day.
“We could either hold these players for two months and have them compete for a fourth-place team,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said after the deadline, “or do everything we could do in our power to reset our farm system and reset our organization.”
On the South Side, general manager Rick Hahn and executive vice president Ken Williams shared a celebratory hug.
Hahn recounted in his trade deadline press conference that a few weeks earlier he and Williams had asked each other, “Of all the players expected to be moved, let’s assume we could only acquire one, who would it be?”
Their answer was Kimbrel.
Now, as the Cubs and White Sox prepare to face off this year, their trajectories have been muddied by first-half underperformance. Trade rumors surround both teams, proof of the White Sox’s collapse over the past two seasons. But the Cubs — 61⁄2 games back of the NL Central-leading Brewers entering Monday and three games below .500 — are still grasping at the hope that a strong performance over the next week could mark them as second-half competitors.
Nothing’s certain until the Cubs make their first move of the deadline. Compared to 2021, they’ve at least delayed the decision.
