Trade Links: The 2014 Cubs

With the way that Theo/Jed are building the team, there aren't many trade links with the current Cubs team and the ones that are in place are pretty short.

The team has been built with either players that have come through the Cubs' system or player that have been picked up off of the scrap heap.  In both cases, these players have no trade link.  Those on the current roster with no link include John Baker, Welington Castillo, Starlin Castro, Luis Valbuena, Chris Coghlan, Arismendy Alcantara, Junior Lake, Ryan Sweeney,  Javier Baez, Ryan Kalish, Chris Valaika, Jorge Soler, Matt Szczur, Logan Watkins, Rafael Lopez, Edwin Jackson, Tsuyoshi Wada, Carlos Villanueva, Eric Kokish. Wesley Wright, Kyuji Fujikawa, Blake Parker, and Hector Rondon.

Of the players that are left, only three of them have a three man link, and they were all part of the same trade...

 

Mike Olt, Justin Grimm, and Neil Ramirez (no Cub card available) came to the Cubs for...

...Matt Garza, who came to the Cubs from the Rays with Zac Rosscup for several prospects signed or drafted by the Cubs including...

...Sam Fuld.  The trade links end here

All of the other trade links for any current Cub are just two player links

The oldest would be...

 

Travis Wood, who came in a trade for Sean Marshall, who was drafted by the Cubs in 2003.

Here's the rest, in no particular order:

 

Anthony Rizzo, traded for Andrew Cashner, drafted in 2008

 

Justin Ruggiano came via a trade for Brian Bogusevic, a free agent signing.

 

Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop came from the Orioles for Steve Clevenger (draft choice) and Scott Feldman (free agent).

 

Kyle Hendricks and Christian Villanueva were part of the Ryan Dempster trade, and Dempster was a free agent signing in 2004.

Jacob Turner was traded for two prospects.

Dan Straily became a Cub in exchange for Jeff Samardzija, a Cubs draft pick.

Felix Doubront was traded for the infamous player to be named later

 

Arodys Vizcaino came from the Braves for Reed Johnson and Paul Maholom, both signed as free agents.

There were several players with no card shown---they have yet to show up as a Cub in any set.

I'm curious if other teams have the same situation of very limited trade links.  Is this a reflection of how modern teams are built or is this just a Cubs thing?