Cubs acquire closer Davis from Royals for Soler

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Cubs’ goal this offseason was to restock the bullpen and on Wednesday, they acquired a new closer in Wade Davis by trading Jorge Soler to the Royals.

“This was a big move for us this offseason, in an offseason where we don’t feel we have to make a ton of big moves,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said.

• Hot Stove Tracker

Davis, Greg Holland and Kelvin Herrera combined to form a monster bullpen and help the Royals win the World Series in 2015. The Cubs recognized the importance of relievers in ’16, adding Aroldis Chapman in late July to help them in the postseason. Chapman is a free agent, and the Cubs did consider bringing the lefty back but decided to make what Hoyer called a good baseball deal.

“There’s a number of excellent closers on the market,” Hoyer said. “We loved our time with Chapman. We weighed everything and decided this was the right avenue to take.”

During the past three seasons, Davis has posted a 1.18 ERA with 47 saves over 185 appearances. Cubs manager Joe Maddon knows the right-hander well from their time together in Tampa Bay (2009-12), and that helped sell the Cubs on signing Davis.

Davis, 31, was on the disabled list twice this season because of right forearm strains. When he came off the DL in September, he finished with a 3.12 ERA in nine outings, going 6-for-7 in save opportunities. He has given up three total home runs over 182 2/3 innings in the last three years. Davis will be a free agent after the 2017 season.

The Royals encouraged the Cubs to check out Davis personally, so head athletic trainer PJ Mainville flew to New York on Wednesday to do a physical exam.

“[Davis] had a terrific September, and we watched every outing and he looked really good,” Hoyer said. “We felt really comfortable with the [medical] file …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com