After a good run, although against some of the dregs of the major leagues, put them back over .500 and only four games behind the NL Central leading Reds, the Cubs moved from sellers to buyers, making a move this afternoon to re-acquire Jeimer Candelario from the Nationals. Candelario made his debut with the Cubs back in 2016, earning a World Series ring for his five-game effort. With the Cubs looking to repeat as champions, he was traded the following July to the Tigers for the immortal Alex Avila and Justin Wilson.
Six years later, he returns, in exchange for lefty pitcher D.J. Herz and shortstop Kevin Made. Both have a good shot at sticking in the big leagues, but are from the second tier of Cub prospects. I guess if you find yourself just four games back at the trading deadline, you have to go for it, but odds of the Cubs 1) making the playoffs and 2) doing anything even if they happen to sneak in are extremely low. Since it doesn’t appear that they gave up too much for him, I guess you can live with this move. But if a losing streak comes up now that the Cubs are facing upper division teams again, you have to wonder if it was worth it.