The Ryan Dempster saga finally has an ending, and it's an unexpected one. Dempster didn't land with the Braves, the Dodgers, or the Yankees, but Buster Olney is reporting that Dempster has been acquired by the Texas Rangers, who were in on every starting pitcher on the market but fell short of their prime targets.
For a Rangers team that has seen Roy Oswalt struggle with injury and ineffectiveness since signing in May, Colby Lewis get knocked out for the year, and Neftali Feliz get his career thrown up in the air with elbow problems, Texas desperately needed a starter. Dempster is their man, and he's been stellar for the Cubs this year, posting a 2.25 ERA in 104 innings with the Cubs, and also posting a career-best 3.07 strikeout to walk ratio. Those stats might not translate very well to the American League, though.
The return for Dempster is a pair of players from A-ball, one pitcher and one position player. So Cubs fans, quell your dreams of Mike Olt, Martin Perez, and Jurickson Profar. The return will be much less substantial than that. We'll have the names when we learn more.
UPDATE: The two prospects heading to Chicago are 21-year old third baseman Christian Villanueva, and 22-year old starter Kyle Hendricks. Villanueva was ranked as the team's eighth best prospect coming into the year, and Hendricks was unranked. Neither player has the ceiling of Randall Delgado, but both are solid looking prospects. Hendricks has thrown 130 2/3 innings for Myrtle Beach, striking out 112 and only walking 15. Villanueva has a .777 OPS with Myrtle Beach and homered ten times. He's only 160 pounds, so could probably bulk up his frame a little more and turn into a monster at the plate.
