{"id":105177,"date":"2025-07-30T23:09:41","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T03:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=105177"},"modified":"2025-07-30T23:09:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T03:09:41","slug":"cubs-acquire-michael-soroka-trade-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/07\/30\/cubs-acquire-michael-soroka-trade-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Cubs Acquire Veteran Starter from Nationals for Two Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Chicago Cubs have finally made their first move before this year&#8217;s deadline. They have acquired RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sorokmi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Soroka<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/12\/19\/nationals-sign-michael-soroka-to-contract\/\" target=\"_self\">Washington Nationals<\/a>, first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. In return, they are sending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=cruz--001ron&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronny Cruz<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/register\/player.fcgi?id=frankl002chr&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-07-30_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christian Franklin<\/a> to the Nationals.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_91012\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91012\" style=\"width: 512px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-91012\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"512\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2024\/11\/USATSI_23293099_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-91012\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">May 7, 2024; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Michael Soroka (40) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Report: Nationals Trade Michael Soroka to Cubs<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Cubs reportedly acquire RHP Michael Soroka from Nationals, per multiple reports including <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLBNetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MLBNetwork<\/a> insider <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonHeyman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@JonHeyman<\/a>. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/T9DQlIgq2Z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/T9DQlIgq2Z<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1950738318695526811?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 31, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cruz, a shortstop, is the Cubs&#8217; #13 prospect playing in Rookie ball this year. He is only 18 and has hit .270 this year with two home runs. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Franklin is an outfielder and the Cubs&#8217; #14 prospect. He has been solid at Triple-A this year, hitting .265 with eight home runs. While they aren&#8217;t losing too much, they will need Soroka to pitch well to make it worth it. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> is most likely not the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">biggest<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> move they will make when it comes to pitching. A trade for Soroka comes as a surprise in a way, as there were no reports of interest until today. Although he isn&#8217;t a top-end guy, he has solid stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Soroka&#8217;s Year So Far<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This year, Soroka has pitched to a 4.87 ERA in 81 1\/3 IP with 87 strikeouts. While this doesn&#8217;t look good on the surface, the advanced metrics are much better. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">First of all, he has an xERA of 3.32, which falls <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">into<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> the 75th percentile <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">while<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> also <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">having<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> an xBA of .218.<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Both of these suggest he has <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">gotten<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> quite <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">unlucky<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> this year and is pitching better than a 4.87 ERA. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">With all that considered, Chicago is <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">a great<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> place for him to go, as he will have one of the best defenses in the league behind him. They have multiple Gold Glove winners and at least solid defense at every position. Additionally, Soroka has good-looking strikeout numbers with a 25.4 K%. He also has a great walk rate and stays away from barrels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">For the Cubs, this <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">looks like<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a solid trade if they can <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">get<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> what <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">they&#8217;re<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">expecting<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> from Soroka.<\/span> <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">pretty<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> low-risk, and they could <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">get<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> a capable arm at the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">back end<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> of their rotation.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> All in all, this won&#8217;t be their <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">biggest<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> move if things go to plan, but it is a good start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chicago Cubs have finally made their first move before this year&#8217;s deadline. They have acquired RHP Michael Soroka from the Washington Nationals, first reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. In return, they are sending Ronny Cruz and Christian Franklin to the Nationals. Report: Nationals Trade Michael Soroka to Cubs Cubs reportedly acquire RHP [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5567,"featured_media":105183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1071,35,19],"tags":[5010,28382],"class_list":["post-105177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","category-mlb","category-news","category-nationals","tag-christian-franklin","tag-michael-soroka"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5567"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105177"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105184,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105177\/revisions\/105184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}