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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
The Cubs and Rays are swapping third basemen, as Christopher Morel will head to Tampa Bay while All-Star Isaac Paredes goes back to Chicago, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday.
The Cubs are also sending two prospects — pitchers Ty Johnson and Hunter Bigge — to the Rays in the deal, sources told ESPN.
Paredes immediately will step in as the Cubs’ starting third baseman, as the team has been searching for an answer at that position since moving on from Kris Bryant in 2021. Morel has played there this season with varying degrees of improvement on defense, but his offensive output stalled somewhat after a promising first two years of his career.
After hitting .247 with 26 homers last season, Morel is hitting .199 with a team leading 18 home runs this season.
Paredes, who is hitting .247 with 16 home runs and 19 doubles this season, was originally signed by the Cubs but never played for them as he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in a 2017 deadline deal.
Both players are under team control for several more seasons before reaching free agency.
Bigge just made his MLB debut this month after being drafted in the 12th round in 2019. Johnson was taken in the 15th round of the 2023 draft and has been pitching at the Class-A level this season.
Both teams are in transition mode. The Rays have made several deals ahead of the trade deadline, shipping out reliever Jason Adam on Sunday as well as Randy Arozarena and Zack Eflin earlier in the week. The Cubs, who began Sunday in last place in the NL Central, acquired reliever Nate Pearson on Saturday, vowing to rework their roster with future years in mind.