The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Zach Bryant from the Cubs to finish the Josh Osich trade, per Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe (via Twitter). The Red Sox sent Osich to the Cubs at the August 31st trade deadline last year for a player to be named later.
Bryant now heads to Boston to complete that deal. The Cubs didn’t ultimately get much out of this transaction. They designated Osich for assignment at the end of September when he struggled to a 10.13 ERA in four appearances. The southpaw signed a minor league deal with the Reds in December. For his career, he owns a 5.02 ERA, 4.37 xFIP, and 125 FIP- across 234 appearances totaling 206 1/3 innings with the Giants, White Sox, Red Sox, and Cubs. Osich is better as a lefty specialist, holding a 3.75 xFIP against lefties and a 4.99 xFIP against right-handed hitters.
The 22-year-old Bryant made his professional debut in 2019. The Cubs signed him for $125K as a 15th round draft choice out of Jacksonville University. He made it to Low-A posting a 1.27 ERA across 12 appearances at two levels, striking out 24 versus to eight walks over 21 1/3 innings.
No way Bryant got traded finally
Lol
Hahahah
Please folks….. lets grow up
@Curly Was The Smart Stooge Please folks… learn to take a joke
Just because you’re old enough to remember and give a crap about the Three Stooges doesn’t mean we need to grow up.
Almost had me for a second there
Gave me a heart attack for a second
Wrong Bryant on the move. Send them Kris please.
Not yet.
I hole heartedly agree. Call me crazy but I think Zach Bryant has a better outlook than Kris Bryant for the next few years. I base me analysis on three guiding principles.
1. Performance. Zach Bryant has been completely dominant in the minor leagues. He has a career ERA of 1.27. This is considered ace level pitching, Kershaw – esque. How Bryant has not cracked the MLB pipeline top 100 list, let alone the Cubs top thirty prospect list is …… mind numbing. He will move fast through the minors and could make major league debut as soon as July. The Cubs just traded the pitching version of Mike Trout if Mike Trout was a 15th round pick. Compared to the aging Kris Bryant who may be close to retirement after batting .204 last year and is on an expiring contract, Zach Bryant is the Nostradamus sabermetric prospectus.
2. Cost: Kris Bryant will be making $18 million next year, Zach Bryant when he comes up will be on a rookie contract paying less than $1 million.
3. Pitching: Time and time again we have heard how the Cubs do not have many good developed home grown pitchers. Well, here we traded one for someone not even on the team anymore.
If I was the GM, yes I am an armchair GM, my fanstasy baseball does very well. I would have traded Cash Considerations for Osich. Cash has not appeared in a game for a while, so the Cubs could afford to part with this player.
That is my analysis. Let me know what you think
Just stop
Zach Bryant has 21 innings of pro ball. 8 in Rookie ball and 13 in A-. Judging ERA off of this small of sample size is a bad idea. His xFIP is 3.50 which is solid for a guy’s first experience in pro ball, but far from outstanding. His walk rate is over league average (which is not good in lower levels as strike zones are far more forgiving especially in rookie ball). His K rate in A- was less than 1 per inning which is pretty mediocre for a reliever. He has also managed to not give up a single HR which will drastically impact his ERA. Calling him the “pitching version of Mike Trout” is, to quote you, “mind numbing.” He has never started a game in pro ball and seems to be is a future reliever with a low-mid 90s fastball and a decent curve. If he turns into a solid late inning guy he will have surpassed all expectation. I hope you drastically change whatever principles or metrics you use to access prospects, otherwise you will lose all credibility as an “armchair GM.”
Also, Kris Bryant had a bad 33 games so you are going to say he is close to retirement. He is 29, dude, with a career 137 wRC+. I feel like I have fed a massive troll. If so, that’s on me, but good god this is beyond dumb.
Kris Bryant is 29 years-old …… However, all the injuries that this dude has had gives him the body of a 34 year-old. Can you imagine what kind of pressure is gonna be on this guy when he doesn’t hit in April? Knowing a few years back you could have gotten $200+ million from the Cubs. This guy has no protection in the lineup. Javy Baez is now also a .200 hitter. One of the all-time contract blunders in baseball history. I don’t even know if the Cubs offer Bryant an extension. Bryant’s “extension money” is now paying for the bars, hotels and real estate deals gobbling up more property around Wrigley Field that the Ricketts family has acquired. It’s sad watching Bryant have to now plead his case to the fans through the media. This guy is trying anything to put pressure on the Cubs to offer an extension. 2021 will be a cold winter for Bryant if the Cubbies don’t come through.
Bryant has almost always hit in front of Rizzo, so no protection? Yeah right. Go back to your White Sox fandom. Oh that’s right, there is virtually none beyond the south side and southwest suburbs.
Exactly what kind of protection has Anthony Rizzo provided over the past 2 seasons? That’s right. None!! Rizzo is such a non-factor now he is not even worth mentioning. Lol! Rizzo? I don’t even think the Cubs are taking calls from his agent. They know he has no other options. He has to take whatever the Cubs give him. Mr. Cub!
Hole Heartedly
Jorge Solar Power1 hour ago
1. Performance. Zach Bryant has been completely dominant in the minor leagues. He has a career ERA of 1.27.
================================================================
As a RS fan, I hope you are right. As a BB fan, I doubt it.
Don’t get me wrong. Osich was pretty low-end. To get anything is a good accomplishment. But Bryant was a 15th rounder, and his 13/4 K/W in A- is almost meaningless.
Ok….
You’re crazy.
I tend to enjoy analysis from @jorge solar power lol. I genuinely think he was just joking this time though. At least I hope so. There is no way he can believe he is the pitching Mike Trout after 21 relief innings in rookie and low A ball.
Mr Bloom strikes again
I read Kris
Both teams are going to regret this one for YEARS to come!
I think they’re already over it…yep, no regrets anymore!
Good gravy I saw Bryant and had a heart attack
Yall givin peeps heart attacks with Bryant to Sox lol
For real
I wish you guys had the huevos rancheros to post the headline as “Red Sox Acquire Bryant From Cubs.”
me too
Rest In Peace Chris Duncan
Let’s trade a young rising successful pitcher for a failing veteran! Same ok’ Cubs
I am thinking those rookie ball and low A numbers must be misleading. No matter what one thinks of the Cubs FO, they are not trading a prospect for Osich, especially as a ptbnl.
Good one, randy …
Bloom said he was determined to land Bryant.
Had to do a double take
I thought Bryant would get the cubs a top 100 at least but he a player to be named later.
C’mon Sox fans, where would Kris Bryant play? 3B? Over Rafe? DH? over JD? C’mon, he’d be a bench bat in Boston.
And he’d have a fight in LF over what’s-his-name…..
Ya, I guess they could make SOME kinda room for him…….
LF
Bob,
You made me laugh. Devers has yet to show he can play third long term and as currently constructed, there is plenty of room in the outfield. Adding Bryant to the lineup would lengthen it so it would be worthwhile. Assuming a Bryant can’t play the OF, putting JDM back out there is not any worse than playing Devers at third.
I’m glad you laughed. That was the idea.
My bad. While I thought it was 80% troll, the other 20% had me scratching. Aporeciate you looking out for my itch.
*Appreciate
Both you guys are worth the price of admission!!
KB would be our best 3B, LF, RF, CF, 1B, Manager, GM and OWNER!!!
Sorry, left off Closer, SP 1=5 until Sale gets back.
You know who he’s not better than……. MOOKIE!!!!
Wow what a fleecing by ChaimFlex!
Had us in the 2nd half
BREAKING NEWS !!
RED SOX acquire BRYANT from the CUBS !!!
LoL Boston doesn’t have the pieces to get the other Bryant. Don’t think they give up Jeter Downs.
If push came to shove we could probably get it done but it’s not in Bloom’s plan.
Of course the Sox have the talent to get the trade done today. It shouldn’t be as costly as one would think unless the Cubs are to pay most of his 21 salary. They likely won’t trade within the division, teams who might still spend for this year are who outside of the Mets?
Didn’t mean to hit POST. Sorry.
Given the solid rebuilding Bloom has done, using the farm now should only be done to get a number 1 starter like the Sale trade.
I seriously doubt it takes a top 100 prospect to land KB ad his 18 million dollar salary.
Downs, the guy who did his Devers impression yesterday? We can’t throw him into a trade fast enough. His stock is plummeting as it should. But his swing is awesome, he generates enough torque to cool the stands behind home plate each time he swings at a pitch. Making contact is really over-rated, just ask him!!
When a guy is making 19 million and might not produce it would be a gamble to give away a lot for him. It looks like they’ve decided to see what he can do this year and maybe give him a new contract. He has the worst agent though. The man has an arthritic shoulder
The Cubs are cutting down on Bryants and the Sox are buiding Zachs depth (incl. Zacks, Zacs), name-tanking and -stacking, resp.
Hey. Just got here. Anybody got dibs on the whole ‘I thought it was Kris’ line yet?That’d be totally hilarious for a half second
Scroll up
The “I thought it said” line is not quite as hacky as the excessive punning on this site, but it’s close.
sox trying to be like yankees.top prospect is jeter Downs and first round draft pick name : N Yorke,just saying
Nice move by Red Sox GM. Might turn into nobody. But they gave up nothing for him. Not bad.
Got me!
Actually a pretty good move for Bloom. Absolute garbage for a kid with some potential.
This can turn out to be a steal, if Bryant turns out to be just ok and make it too the MLB and pitch. Boston didn’t really give up anything as it turns out
Not sure Bryant can make the stellar bullpen in Boston. His sister Anita could though…..
Yet another quality depth move by Bloom. He turned Workman, Hembree, Moreland & Pillar into legitimate big league assets. He turned DFA players (Mazza & Springs) into a future plus catcher with the Rays and now obtains a lottey ticket for a guy in Osich who was just plain awful. While he hasn’t added any Top 100 prospects in these deals, he has quietly added real talent to the minor league roster: Pivetta, Seabold, Potts, Rosario and Wallace all have legimate shots of making an impact at the big league level. No one thought this was going to be an easy rebuild in Boston by Chaim has quietly improved the Sox building blocks without having to give up any long term talent. Hopefully this deal turns out to be yet another steal for Boston. 2023 is going to be a coming out party for the Red Sox…AL beware!
Stop drinking the Kool=Aid. Ineffective is the adjective for Bloom. Not ONE impact player in a year and a half. Houck came up from the horrible farm system Bloom was supposed to fix. What guy has he added that is better than Houck? Or Duran? The list can go on and on. Bloom gets credit for adding a guy with no experience against good hitters, coming from a below average college program and being drafted in the 15th round. Yippee. WS is inevitable now..