It’s Wednesday night at BCB After Dark: the coolest spot for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and join us. We’re all talking trades. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited
to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
The Cubs beat the Brewers this afternoon, 10-3. I think we can all admit that losing two out of three to the Brewers in Milwaukee is not an ideal outcome, but it’s also not an awful outcome, which is what getting swept in Milwaukee would have been. The Cubs needed to win today and they did. They’re only a game back of Milwaukee and not three games back of the Brewers. The division title is still a toss-up.
Hey, I also loved to see that double by Moisés Ballesteros. I have seen him do that so many times in the minors, it was good to see him do it in the majors. And on three hours sleep!
Last night, I asked you which top reliever you’d like to see the Cubs acquire in the next 18 hours or so. In first place with 29 percent of the vote was “None of them,” which I think is harsh. Another 23 percent of you think the Cubs should pay the price for Pirates closer David Bednar.
I have an announcement to make. There will be no After Dark this upcoming Monday. As we’ve mentioned over the past few days, SB Nation is moving to a new platform. That changeover will happen Monday night, so I won’t be able to post anything. Assuming that I am able to figure out how the new platform works, we should resume After Dark on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.
I’m not going to do a movie essay tonight because I’m doubling After Dark with breaking news. And so I don’t want to waste a lot of time writing something up and it getting ignored for the breaking Cubs news. So the plan is to start writing about movies again a week from tonight. Things should get calm enough to talk about Rififi by then.
But I always have time for jazz. So let’s take a break for that now. You can skip it if you want.
Tonight we’re featuring Dexter Gordon in the Netherlands in 1964 playing “What’s New.” Gordon is on tenor saxophone, George Gruntz plays the piano, Guy Pedersen is on bass and the drummer is Daniel Humair.
The Cubs made a trade tonight, acquiring Nationals pitcher Michael Soroka for two minor leaguers, outfielder Christian Franklin and shortstop Ronny Cruz.
Cubs acquiring RHP Michael Soroka from Nationals, sources tell @TheAthletic.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 31, 2025
Nats get Christian Franklin, OF, and Ronny Cruz, SS, for Soroka
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 31, 2025
Soroka is an interesting pitcher. He came up with the Braves and he looked like he was going to be an All-Star. In fact, he was an All-Star in 2019. He finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting that year to Pete Alonso.
Soroka was the Braves Opening Day starter in 2020, but he tore his right Achilles tendon just three games into the season. He missed the rest of the that season and when he tried to come back in 2021, he re-tore the tendon and missed all of 2021 and 2022 as well.
His Achilles healed for 2023, but forearm issues limited him to just 32 1⁄3 innings that year. He was traded to the White Sox for 2024 and pitched out of the bullpen. He signed a one-year deal with the Nats for $9 million this past offseason.
Over 16 starts with Washington this year, Soroka has gone 3-8 with a 4.87 ERA. Not great. But his underlying peripherals are a lot better than that. Over 81 1⁄3 innings, he’s struck out 87 and walked just 24. (Although the 14 hit batsmen is concerning.) His Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) is 4.12.
You should all be familiar with this chart by now.
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So that xERA and xBA are pretty darn good. Seems like something that is promising with a better Cubs defense behind him. The breaking ball values are also quite good and the fastball value isn’t. I don’t know if the Cubs plan on having him throw his slurve and sinker more and his four-seamer less, but I certainly believe that they are considering it.
Soroka can start and relieve, so that is some nice flexibility. On the downside, he’s only signed through this year. He’s also not the “top of the rotation pitcher with multiple years of control” that the Cubs are rumored to want, so this is clearly that secondary pitcher the Cubs wanted and not the lead piece.
Going to Washington are two prospects that I would rank between 15th and 25th in the Cubs system at the moment. Christian Franklin is a guy who has been in the Cubs system for a while and he’s been a solid minor leaguer. He was a fourth-round pick out of Arkansa in 2021 and has slowly worked his way up the system. He missed all of 2022 with an injury.
Franklin’s biggest asset is his defense and his ability to play all three outfield positions. He’s a solid defensive center fielder with a good arm for center and an adequate arm for right field.
At the plate, he’s more of a mixed bag. Franklin has good command of the strike zone and can draw a walk, but his power potential is quite limited. He’s also has a career .261 batting average which isn’t very good for someone with limited power. This year with Triple-A Iowa, Franklin is hitting .265/.393/.427 with eight home runs and 11 steals.
The other issue with Franklin is that he’s 25 already (will turn 26 in the offseason) and will have to be added to the 40-man or risk losing him to Rule 5. As things stand right now (and of course that can change), it seems unlikely that Franklin would have been added this winter.
Cruz is more of a lottery ticket for the Nationals. Cruz was the Cubs’ third-round pick last year out of high school in Miami. He made his professional debut in the Arizona Complex League this summer and it was a mixed bag. On the plus side, he looked to be a pretty good glove at shortstop with some real potential to stick there. On the negative side, he was really raw at the plate. His final batting line of .270/.314/.431 in 48 games wasn’t bad, but the scouting reports weren’t as rosy. They reported some mechanical flaws with his swing and some real swing-and-miss issues. Those are things that can be fixed and if they are, Cruz has the potential to be a good defensive shortstop with above-average power. But more times than not, prospects don’t overcome those issues. Cruz doesn’t turn 19 until later next month, so he has time to fix things. But he’s a long-term prospect who likely won’t see the majors for 4 or 5 years, if ever.
So instead of the normal yay/nay/meh vote we normally do, I’m going to ask you to grade this trade for the Cubs.
Thank you for stopping by. Please get home safely. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And remember, we won’t be back until next Tuesday at BCB After Dark.
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