Cubs keep dealing, acquire lefty Doubront from Boston
It seemed nobody could quite get their bearings Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Maybe it was the 16-inning game from the previous night and early morning. But more likely, the eerie feeling around the clubhouse before their 6-4, 10-inning loss to the Colorado Rockies stemmed from the impending trade deadline.
That happens at 3 p.m. CDT Thursday, when the Cubs will be in the middle of an afternoon contest against the Rockies.
But the Cubs didn't wait to keep dealing and threatening to deal.
Early Wednesday, they completed the trade with the Dodgers that sent second baseman Darwin Barney to Los Angeles. The Cubs received Class A pitcher Jonathan Martinez from the Dodgers, who optioned Barney to Class AAA Albuquerque.
The Cubs also returned to familiar hunting grounds and made a trade with the Boston Red Sox, acquiring left-handed pitcher Felix Doubront for a player to be named. Cubs president Theo Epstein came from Boston, and general manager Jed Hoyer worked for Epstein with the Red Sox, who in the last two years sent the Cubs pitchers Daniel Bard and Michael Bowden.
The curiosity factor only heightened when the Cubs held infielder-outfielder Emilio Bonifacio out of Wednesday's starting lineup. Bonifacio has drawn interest from several teams, including the Kansas City Royals, who let Bonifacio go last winter.
"He's here; he is available," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of Bonifacio. "With all the stuff that's going on, we found it prudent just to kind of hold off."
Bonifacio did not play, and he said after the game he didn't know what the situation was.
"It's not in my hands," he said. "There's not anything I can do about it, just wait. You want to be a part of (a pennant race), but right now you're still a part of the Cubs."
In Doubront, the Cubs are getting a pitcher who has had trouble putting it all together. When the Cubs were in Boston earlier this month, they hit Doubront around pretty good, scoring 3 runs on 4 hits against him in 1⅓ innings.
The 26-year-old Doubront was 2-4 with a 6.07 ERA and a WHIP of 1.60 with the Red Sox this year in 17 games, 10 starts. For his career, he is 26-22 with a 4.82 ERA and a WHIP of 1.48.
The Cubs said they will determine in the next day or two how and where they use Doubront.
In Wednesday's game, the Cubs fell behind 3-0 for the second straight night. For all the fuss about how bad Edwin Jackson has been, left-hander Travis Wood has not been much better. Wood did manage to go 6 innings Wednesday, but he gave up 4 runs and 8 hits as his ERA went from 5.06 to 5.10.
The Rockies' 10th-inning runs came off left-handed reliever Wesley Wright, who followed overworked bullpen mates Justin Grimm, Brian Schlitter and Hector Rondon into the game.
bmiles@dailyherald.com