Mason Miller really isn’t having a bad year. His ERA is significantly higher than expected and his average fastball velo is 100.8 (!!!). The Cubs have Daniel Palencia in their closer role right now, and he’s been very good, but they need someone with truly insane stuff like Miller has. The trade offers three of the Cubs’ top 10 prospects with Caissie (#2), Triantos (#6), and Brandon Birdsell (#7). With a stacked farm system, these rankings mean a lot. Caissie has some of the best raw power in all of the minors, and is ready for the majors in a spot where the A’s need a lot of help in. Triantos slots into 3B for the A’s, their weakest position right now. He hits for contact really well and is a really solid defender. He should also be major league ready in an A’s system. Birdsell is a great pitcher, but he’s a little old and injury prone. I wouldn’t call him a lottery ticket since he would be able to impact the major league club this year, but we don’t know how effective he would be there. He’s an add-on to the trade. I think the Cubs would trade Birdsell because they would prefer Jaxon Wiggins over him.

Down vote for the A's. Triantos is struggling in AAA and is back on the IL for an unknown amount of time with a leg injury. Caissie has huge power but his 33% K-rate is untenable. With Kurtz expected back next week there will be no place for Caissie on the A's roster; Soderstrom will move back to LF and Butler is raking in RF.