The Red Sox and Nationals may have kicked off the deadline with their Curtis Mead/Connely Early deal four days ago, but this Angels trade feels like the true start of “THE” deadline. And this is a big one both in isolation and in terms of implications for the Chicago Cubs.
According to Jeff Passan, the Los Angeles Angels are trading catcher Logan O’Hoppe and reliever Chase Silseth to the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are currently in first place in the AL West, but by only 1.5 games over the Astros and 2.0 games over the Mariners, so this is a pretty aggressive move on their part.
Logan O’Hoppe
Logan O’Hoppe isn’t having a great season overall, but he’s a former top prospect and has had some solid seasons in the past. Also, still just 26-years-old, which, for a catcher, is very young. Perhaps even ahead of his true offensive prime (catchers always tend to break out later).
More importantly, he was one of the better catchers *who was definitely available* at the deadline, but he went to a team (Texas) that wasn’t necessarily the most desperate for a catcher (that’d be the Yankees). Then again, the Rangers have gotten the fourth-lowest value out of their catching unit this season according to fWAR. So, yeah, they did need him, too. Even so, the Yankees will now have to look elsewhere for their needs behind the plate. Mark Feinsand discusses the catching market at MLB.com if you’re looking for more on who is and is not available at that position. As for the teams looking for catchers, besides the Yankees: Red Sox, Rays, White Sox, and Dodgers.
The Cubs, with Carson Kelly, Miguel Amaya, Owen Ayers, and Moises Ballesteros, are not in the market for a catcher. So there’s no overlap there.
And a final note on the player: O’Hoppe is under team control through 2028 via arbitration.
Chase Silseth
Chase Silseth is a 26-year-old righty under control for four more seasons after this one. And he’s currently enjoying a very good season for the Angels: 2.72 ERA (3.42 FIP) over 39.2 IP.
Silseth does walk way too many guys (12.6% this season, 11.5% for his career), but he strikes a lot of guys out (27.6%) and limits hard contact. He is a great pickup both for this season and the future, and I’m definitely a little jealous, as the Cubs absolutely should be in the market for good relievers.
That said, there are a million relievers available at every trade deadline, so this doesn’t really affect the Cubs’ efforts to land one.
But just because Silseth may not be their target and they don’t need a catcher doesn’t mean this deal doesn’t have downstream impact on the Cubs.
Cubs Impact of Angels Trade
With these two moves, the Angels’ sell-off is a full-go, and that apparently DOES include guys with multiple years of control remaining. And that’s where the Cubs come in.
When I ranked the 10-best (realistic) starting pitcher trade targets for the Cubs, two Angels, Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano, made the cut. But I had wondered, at the time, if the Angels’ interim GM was going to be authorized to move players with multiple years of control remaining. In these circumstances (teams with temporary baseball chiefs), teams don’t love to move controllable pieces when a new guy might come in and want to make his own long-term decisions. Well, no more.
To that end, allow me to remind you of Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano, with my rankings from that article:
5. Jose Soriano, RHP – Angels (Controllable)
Jose Soriano, 27, is a young, cost-controlled (2.5 years remaining), hard-throwing (97-98 MPH) right-hander with a solid strikeout rate (24.8 K%) and a metric ton of groundballs (52.1% this year, 59.3% for his career).
There’s honestly not much more you need to know than that. The Cubs are lacking in controllable starters, especially guys who throw hard, meaning Soriano could fulfill a need both now and in the future. And with their best-in-the-biz defense, the Cubs are an especially good fit for any guy with a solid groundball rate.
The biggest question, however, is if the Angels are actually going to trade him. He’s a valuable asset, but he’s also young enough and controllable enough to build around. And any acquiring team would undoubtedly have to pay for a little bit of the unrealized upside that’s lurking (not unlike the Cubs’ move for Edward Cabrera).
Plus, the Angels have an interim GM at the moment, making significant, long-term moves like this even less likely. In other words, he was a borderline “exclusion” from these rankings, but his consistent presence in most trade rumors across the industry keeps him in play for now.
2. Reid Detmers, LHP – Angels (Controllable)
Another young, cost-controlled Angels starter with better peripherals than results, but boy … I’d love me some Reid Detmers.
The Angels’ 27-year-old lefty won’t be a free agent until after the 2028 season, meaning he can be a key cog for this Cubs window now and in the future.
And while you might be inclined to scoff at me ranking a guy second when he has a 4.16 ERA, let me just point out some of his underlying numbers:
3.27 xERA 3.22 FIP 27.4 K% 7.4 BB% 7.5 Barrel% 37.0 hard%That said, he has had a frustrating recent five-start run, during which he’s got a 5.74 ERA over 26.2 IP. Before that, though, he had a 3.68 ERA (2.82 FIP) with 100 strikeouts in 15 starts and 88.0 IP.
I’d be very excited about the present and the future if the Cubs were able to snag Detmers. But once again, I should remind you that the Angels’ deadline plans, particularly for their controllable guys, are very murky with that interim GM. Often, those types of executives try not to make long-term decisions that someone else will have to live with.
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Since then, Detmers has thrown 10.1 IP against the Cardinals and Astros, surrendering just 3ER on 6 hits, 3 walks, and 15 strikeouts. Soriano has made one start, shutting out the Giants over 5.0 innings on three hits, three walks, and five strikeouts.
I’ll update this post when we know more about the return. Either way, the trade deadline has officially begun, and it starts with a deal that could be good news for the Chicago Cubs.
UPDATE: According to Ken Rosenthal, the Rangers are sending 19-year-old third baseman/shortstop Angel Arredondo back to the Angels.
Arredondo, 19, is currently slashing an impressive .243/.37`/.392 (113 wRC+) at A-ball with a 14.3% walk rate and just an 18.2% strikeout rate. He’s not a top-30 prospect for the Rangers as of today, but based on his age, position, and production … that feels wrong. Maybe just overlooked. I’m not sure. But even still, if that is the entire return, it feels light to me. Which, hey, maybe that’s a good thing for the Cubs’ eventual efforts to land a good reliever.
UPDATE II: Oh man, and I almost forgot!
Just a few days ago, Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal reported that the Angels were interested in acquiring a catcher, perhaps specifically for Reid Detmers or Jose Soriano. And, indeed, one Cubs prospect, Owen Ayers, was name-dropped in the piece.
Per The Athletic:
But the Cubs, canvassing the entire market for starters, potentially could line up with the Los Angeles Angels for righty José Soriano or lefty Reid Detmers as well.The Angels, according to a person briefed on their pursuits, are interested in acquiring a young catcher. Owen Ayers, the Cubs’ No. 10 prospect according to The Athletic’s Keith Law, might qualify. Ayers, 25, started the season in High A and is now at Triple A.
Both Jose Soriano and Reid Detmers are under control for two additional seasons. Neither is certain to be traded under interim GM John Mozeliak. And neither comes without questions.
Now that they’ve traded a young catcher of their own, might their interest in a catcher like Owen Ayers have just increased? It certainly seems plausible, if not likely. That doesn’t mean the Cubs are definitely going to do something here, but boy … that sure fits.
I guess this is a good time to remind you about Owen Ayers, then, specifically with respect to potentially trading him to the Angels for Detmers/Soriano.
Here are my thoughts from our previous conversation:
If you haven’t heard about Cubs catching prospect Owen Ayers by this point, you’ve been missing out on one of the biggest and most exciting breakouts across baseball this season.
Ayers, 25, began the year out at High-A, where he made a mockery of the competition. I’m not going to even share his numbers, because they were bonkers-silly-stupid good. Just take my word for it. Indeed, that’s why the Cubs quickly moved him up to Double-A after just a couple of weeks. At that level, Ayers made a name for himself across the industry by slashing .304/.417/.591 (167 wRC+) with 16 home runs in just 65 games, plus a 15.1% walk rate and 24.8% strikeout rate.
You may argue, understandably, that he was old even for that level. But that’s only partly true, and is also missing a ton of context.
– Ayers was only drafted back in 2024. So last season was his first full professional year. In other words, he’s not some lifetime minor leaguer beating up on guys he’s seen before.
– Not only was last year his first full year, but it was also interrupted by a broken hand in July. So he’s extremely young on the experience track.
– For another, he’s a catcher, and catcher trajectories are ALWAYS much longer and slower than other position players. They also break out offensively later than other position players because of where their initial focus often lies (learning to catch like a big leaguer).
– And then finally, there’s the fact that he was a catching convert. He used to play some outfield and first base. So that explains his age/level balance even MORE.
But even if none of that convinces you to look past his age at Double-A … the Cubs have already promoted him to Triple-A, where he’s already recorded six hits and four walks in his first five games.Needless to say, yes, he’s a legitimate top prospect, and his age is quickly becoming a non-factor.
Now back to the question(s) at hand: Would the Cubs actually consider moving him in a deal for Reid Detmers or Jose Soriano? And should they?
To the first part, I think it’s pretty fair to say that yes, they would consider moving him in such a deal. If you want a young, controllable, high-quality starting pitcher (arguably the highest category of trade value), you simply have to be prepared to move that caliber of prospect.
To the second, it’s a little more debatable, but there are a couple of reasons that I think it does make some sense. And then one that makes it a lot tougher.
(1) For as much as I love Owen Ayers as a prospect, there is zero doubt that he is at his current peak value (which isn’t to say it can’t go higher, but it has never been anywhere close to this level before). Perhaps he always had this in him, but he’s a 2024 19th-round draft pick who exploded onto the scene after a hot half-season of play, mostly at lower levels. Capturing the value of prospects on their way up the ladder via trade is one of the best uses of prospect capital. That applies generally to all, but so acutely to where Ayers is at the moment.
(2) The Cubs have some overlap in his DH/C category at Triple-A with Moises Ballesteros. They’re both big-time hitting prospects who can catch and also play some DH. Ayers is more athletic and could conceivably play some other positions around the diamond, but it’s not totally unfair to say that they’re a little duplicative.
But on the other hand, Carson Kelly is a free agent at the end of the year and probably leaving via free agency, where he’ll score a pretty big deal after breaking out with the bat and becoming the best ABS catcher in baseball. Sure, the Cubs might want to keep him around, but my guess is that someone else is going to go over the top to get him. And that leaves the Cubs with Miguel Amaya as the starting catcher in 2027. Are they going to be comfortable with Moises Ballesteros as his back-up/part time player? Or even if they sign a back-up, are they comfortable making Amaya the 1A starter? I don’t know! Those are the questions/variables to consider when pushing back on the wisdom of trading Ayers, who is a legitimate option to start at catcher next year.
But the more important takeaway here, I think, is how huge it is to learn that the Cubs have specifically what the Angels are seeking.
Detmers and Soriano would be really great gets for the Cubs, but I had been concerned that (1) the Angels, with their interim GM, weren’t all that interested in dealing long-term pieces at this deadline. And even if they were, (2) whether the Cubs would be able to beat out the competition for two very attractive options. But from the looks of it, they have exactly the sort of guy the Angels want.
I know this is a gigantic tangent, but I gotta say … I think the stars could be starting to align on this one. We’ll see. The deadline is just five days away. Tick tock.
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