CHICAGO (AP) — The Oakland Athletics fortified their bullpen Monday night by acquiring left-hander Andrew Chafin from the Chicago Cubs for two minor leaguers.
Chafin was 0-2 with a 2.06 ERA in 43 relief appearances covering 39 1/3 innings for the Cubs this season. The deal was announced following their 6-5 win over Cincinnati and could signal more moves to come from Chicago.
The Cubs received outfielder Greg Deichmann and right-hander Daniel Palencia.
Also, Chicago is to send Oakland $500,000 to cover the cost of Chafin's contract buyout, conditioned to the pitcher's 2022 option not being declined.
Oakland is in second place in the AL West and holds the league's second wild-card spot by one game over Seattle. The A's are five games behind first-place Houston.
The disappointing Cubs are fourth in the NL Central at 50-51 and could be very busy before Friday's trade deadline, with star players such as Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Báez and Craig Kimbrel all attractive pieces potentially available to other teams.
The 31-year-old Chafin has given up one home run this year. He has 37 strikeouts, 12 walks and a sparkling 0.84 WHIP.
Deichmann, 26, was batting .300 with four home runs and 34 RBIs in 59 games for Triple-A Las Vegas. He has a .432 on-base percentage and an .881 OPS.
The left-handed hitting Deichmann was a second-round draft pick by the A's out of LSU in 2017. He led the Arizona Fall League with eight home runs in 23 games following the 2019 season and was ranked as the club's ninth-best prospect by MLB.com.
The 21-year-old Palencia is in his first professional season after signing with Oakland as an international free agent out of Venezuela in February 2020. He was 0-2 with a 6.91 ERA in six starts for Low-A Stockton, compiling 14 strikeouts and six walks in 14 1/3 innings.
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