Cubs trade former top prospect, first-round pick Brett Jackson to Diamondbacks - MLB

While the Cubs wait for their current array of stud prospects to reach the majors together they traded away a former top prospect, dealing 2009 first-round draft pick Brett Jackson to the Diamondbacks for Triple-A reliever Blake Cooper.

Jackson cracked Baseball America’s top-100 prospects list in 2010, 2011, and 2012–ranking 35th overall in the final year–and made his MLB debut as a 23-year-old in 2012. However, the outfielder hit just .175 with 59 strikeouts in 44 games and hasn’t been back to the majors.

This season at Triple-A he hit .210 with a .646 OPS in 81 games and he wasn’t much better last year, batting .223 with a .667 OPS in 61 games. Jackson is now 25 and the Cubs are so convinced he no longer has any upside that they were willing to deal him for a 26-year-old non-prospect with a 6.00 ERA as a Triple-A reliever.

Prospects, man. They’ll break your heart.

Follow @AaronGleeman

The Yankees placed Nestor Cortes on the 15-day injured list with a left rotator cuff strain that will sideline the left-hander for at least two starts.

The move is retroactive to Monday and Cortes will be shut down for at least 15 days.

After Tuesday’s game, Cortes said the shoulder has been bothering him between starts and more so after he pitched five innings May 30 in Seattle.

“I took two days off and when I got to LA and threw that first day, I didn’t feel right,” Cortes said Tuesday. “But it was first day coming back from pitching so I knew it was going to be nagging a little bit. So I waited a little bit.

“That second day in LA was when I said something because it felt like I had pitched yesterday. So I wasn’t recovering in time.”

Cortes is 5-2 with a 5.16 ERA in 11 starts and has particularly struggled later in outings. Opponents are hitting .447 when facing him for the third time in a game.

Last year, Cortes was an All-Star and went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts.

Randy Vásquez was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre to take Cortes’ spot in the rotation and will make his second career start in Thursday’s doubleheader. Vásquez made his major league debut May 26 against San Diego when the Yankees needed a starter because Domingo Germán was serving a 10-game suspension for using sticky substances.