MLB Trades: Chicago Cubs Trade Sean Marshall for Travis Wood and Prospects

The Chicago Cubs continued with their rebuilding process today as president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer dealt left-handed pitcher Sean Marshall for another southpaw in the Cincinnati Reds' Travis Wood.

According to ESPN Chicago's Bruce Levine, the Cubs will be receiving Wood and two minor-league players that have yet to be named. 

The Cubs will be losing one of their best pitchers from last year, as Marshall had 79 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.26 through 75.2 innings. While they will be losing a strong pitcher from their bullpen, they will be at least adding a new left-handed arm to their starting rotation.

Wood is only 24-years-old and is coming off of an all-right season. In 18 starts, Wood had a record of 6-6 with an ERA of 4.84. He only pitched 106 innings in 2011, but he was able to strike out 76 batters over the year.

Wood has only spent two seasons in the MLB and has a career record of 11-10 with a 4.18 ERA. In three seasons at the AAA level, Wood had a record of 11-11 with an ERA of 3.67. His best year was in 2010 with the Louisville bats when he went 5-6 with a 3.06 ERA in 100 innings. He also struck out 99 batters over those 100 innings.

With Wood, the Cubs will now be able to add a left-handed pitcher to their starting rotation. It isn't known yet who else will be taking a spot in the Cubs' starting five, but for now, people can assume that it will at least be made up of Matt Garza, Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Andrew Cashner and now Wood.

The Cubs should now be able to either move pitcher Randy Wells to the bullpen or, more likely, try to find a suitor for the 29-year-old. The Cubs may want to see how things are with Cashner's arm before making any quick decisions, but if healthy, Wells will likely be the odd-man out.

This likely isn't the last of the Cubs' roster dumping, as there quite possibly can be many more moves to come before opening day.

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State Football.