Cubs acquire Ronald Torreyes from Yankees

The Chicago Cubs made a small, but interesting move today acquiring recently DFA'd infield Ronald Torreyes from the Yankees in exchange for a player to be named later.

Torreyes, just 26, hit only .280/.294/.370 in 102 plate appearances for the 100-win Yankees. The move made sense on the Yankees part as they had already had a glut of infielders and are rumored to be interested in star infielder Manny Machado.

The move is interesting from the Cubs perspective as they already have players like Javier Baez, David Bote, Addison Russell, and Tommy La Stella as options on the left side of the infield. However, with Russell potentially being a non-tenure candidate due to both his domestic violence suspension and poor offensive performance the move makes sense from a depth perspective as he can play short if Baez, for example, gets injured.

Torreyes value comes in his defensive versatility as he has garnered a solid amount of innings at second, third, and short throughout his major league career. His best play has come at third where he has a 1.8 Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR). He could easily slot in for the Cubs at any of those three positions as a backup/injury replacement.

His offense is a bit of a concern as he is a high contact/no walk or power type of player, but he hasn't had the results that shows he can stick in the major leagues. His career OPS+ of 82 is significantly below average, and he has just 40 extra base hits in 615 career plate appearances. He seems to be more of a guy that is willing to put the ball in play and hope the ball will find a whole. He doesn't particularly hit the ball very had with an average exit velocity of 81.7 MPH in 2018, and has a high ground ball rate at 53.4%.

It's a smart move for the Cubs as they try to shore up their infield with some additional depth as they brace for either an Addison Russell non-tender or a 40-game suspension to start the 2019 campaign. Torreyes is still young, with team control and an option, and the positional versatility that the Cubs seem to love.