How Cubs' trade for Rays All-Star Isaac Paredes came together at the deadline

CINCINNATI – Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander began “circling around” a deal involving third baseman Isaac Paredes at least three or four weeks ago, Hoyer said.

As the Cubs and others inquired about Paredes, he heard the rumors and felt the stress of the uncertainty.

“Once I got the news that I was back to the Cubs, my old organization, it feels a little better,” he said through team interpreter Fredy Quevedo Jr., before making his Cubs debut Tuesday.

Paredes began his professional career with the Cubs, signing with the organization as an international amateur free agent in 2015. He was in the same international free agent class as right-hander Javier Assad and catcher Miguel Amaya – whom he now joins on the major-league team — and Christopher Morel — who was the highlight in the Rays’ trade return.

“Now that we're all up in the the big-leagues, it feels really good,” Paredes said.

Hoyer laid out three reasons Paredes, who isn’t set to hit free agency until after the 2027 season, was a target for the Cubs: “The age and the control we have of him as a player, the position was really critical, and the profile offensively.”

The team looked into how Paredes’ pull-heaving approach would play away from Tropicana Field, which is a mere 315 feet down the left-field line, and specifically at Wrigley Field, where wind plays a larger factor than most parks.

“We felt good about it,” Hoyer said. “I do think he's a little bit more adjustable [of a] hitter; that's the profile that he's adopted. … He sees the ball really well. You look at his walk to strike out numbers: they're really impressive in a league that you don't see many guys with those walk and strikeout numbers.”

Supporting the Cubs’ conclusion, Paredes’ spray charts in his first two major-league seasons, with the Tigers, weren’t as extreme. And entering Wednesday, his .076 walk to strikeout ratio ranked No. 5 among qualified hitters.

“We were not alone in pursuing Paredes with them,” Hoyer said. “There were a lot of teams that were involved, as you might imagine. … “It made sense, from the way they do business, that this was the deadline they would move him.”

As evident in the small-market Rays' activity this trade deadline, they are proactive about trading players before their salaries spike. Paredes reached arbitration this year as a “super two” and is making $3.4 million.

Morel doesn’t hit his first year of arbitration until 2026. And the Cubs believe, and could make the case to the Rays, that the gap between his expected stats and actual production is bound to shrink over the course of the season.

“I just want to thank Chris,” Hoyer said. “He's as wonderful a human as I've been around. Just a great kid. Everyone loves him. He treats everyone so well. And he had a lot of great moments in this organization. And I will also say that someone like Chris, who you sign as a 16-year-old, and you watch him develop, is really special. So it's hard to make that kind of deal.”

Though Morel has made great strides defensively in his first year playing third base consistently, Paredes gives the team more stability at the position. The Cubs also sent rookie reliever Hunter Bigge and minor-league right-hander Ty Johnson to the Rays to complete the deal.

Morel homered in each of his first two games with the Rays.

“He's a very, very joyful guy,” Paredes said. “The fans love him, and I think it's going to be really good for him. They're really going to allow him to go down there and just play comfortably. He has a lot of talents, so they're just going to let him play his game.”