Shortly after the Washington Nationals traded Matt Adams to his former team, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Nationals continued the parade of deals by trading star second baseman Daniel Murphy to the Chicago Cubs. Chicago will send prospect Andruw Monasterio and a player to be named later to Washington in the exchange.

Murphy said he was “surprised” to learn he was traded and called the move “bittersweet.”

“It’s really fun to watch him hit,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. “He always throws out a good at-bat. I don’t care if the pitcher is left- or right-handed. I don’t care if he’s throwing hard or soft. The guy knows what he’s doing at the plate.”

Daniel Murphy got off to a slow start in 2018, coming off of major surgery on his knee, but is currently hitting .300/.341/.442 on the season and has been particularly hot as of late. Murphy was even better in 2017, hitting .322 with 43 doubles and 23 home runs.

“I was surprised. I think everyone was, to get that great of an offensive player at this point in the season,” the Cubs’ Ben Zobrist said. “We’ll find a way to make him fit in the lineup. It will be fun playing alongside of him.”

“If we were killing it offensively, maybe we wouldn’t be doing it, but we haven’t been. We could use a little boost. Hopefully, he can provide it for us.”

Andruw Monasterio is currently hitting .263 with 3 home runs, 31 RBIs and 10 stolen bases for the Cubs affiliate in Myrtle Beach this season.

The Chicago Cubs are looking to win their second World Series of the decade after topping the Cleveland Indians in 2016, and Daniel Murphy is the perfect player to bolster their star-studded lineup. Murphy almost single-handedly beat the Cubs in the NLCS in 2015 and if he has that kind of a run in the 2018 Postseason, the Cubs will be just fine.

The Washington Nationals have officially thrown in the towel.