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.
