Cubs acquire Felix Doubront from Red Sox

By Aaron GleemanJul 30, 2014, 3:32 PM EST
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Felix Doubront made it clear that he wanted the Red Sox to either put him back into the starting rotation or trade him, and then he went out and had a terrible relief appearance that many took to mean he was trying to push a trade.

He got his wish, as Jon Morosi of FOXSports.com reports that the Red Sox have traded the left-hander to the Cubs for a player to be named later. Chicago’s brain trust of Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were in Boston when the Red Sox signed Doubront out of the Dominican Republic as a teenager.

He’s been a mess this season, but Doubront has generally been a decent third or fourth starter with a good strikeout rate and bad control. Combined during the previous two seasons he started 56 games with a 4.59 ERA and 306 strikeouts in 323 innings. He’s also under team control, so the Cubs may have filled a rotation spot for more than the second half.

Diamondbacks, T.J. McFarland avoid arbitration

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By Bill BaerJan 23, 2019, 9:11 PM EST
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Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports reports that the Diamondbacks and reliever T.J. McFarland have avoided arbitration, agreeing on a $1.45 million salary for the 2019 season. McFarland, in his third of four years of arbitration eligibility, filed for $1.675 million while the Diamondbacks countered at $1.275 million. McFarland ended up settling for just under the midpoint of those two figures.

McFarland, 29, was terrific out of the bullpen for the D-Backs last season, finishing with a 2.00 ERA and a 42/22 K/BB ratio in 72 innings. While the lefty may not miss a lot of bats, he does induce quite a few grounders. His 67.9 percent ground ball rate last season was the third highest among relievers with at least 50 innings, trailing only Brad Ziegler (71.1%) and Scott Alexander (70.6%).

McFarland was dominant against left-handed hitters, limiting them to a .388 OPS last season, but the D-Backs deployed him nearly twice as often against right-handed hitters, who posted an aggregate .764 OPS against him. It will be interesting to see if the club decides to use him more as a platoon reliever in 2019.