Dayton Dragons 2B Ronald Torreyes bats against the Peoria Chiefs, the Class A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, in July 2011.

Today the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds announced completion of a four-player trade that swaps lefty reliever Sean Marshall for lefty starter Travis Wood, outfielder Dave Sappelt and second-base prospect Ronald Torreyes.

When it comes to this blog, this is the type of trade I love to be able to write about. All four players spent time in the Midwest League.

The most notable of the group, to me, is Torreyes, who batted .356 in 67 games for the Dayton Dragons this year. (The now-19-year-old Venezuelan also played in six games for the Dragons in 2010.) The 5-foot-7 Torreyes has been compared to Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia — in other words, he’s a short, scrappy player who hits for average. I saw him play in Dayton in late July, a month in which he batted .386 with 2 HR and 17 RBI.

Oh, and I got to meet him at the Dayton Mall, too.

Sappelt made his major-league debut with the Reds this year. He played for the Dragons in 2009, hitting .269 and stealing 26 bases in 74 games.

Wood was a major-league rookie in 2010. He pitched for Dayton in 2006, compiling a 10-5 record with a 3.66 ERA and 133 strikeouts in 140 innings.

Marshall debuted for the Cubs in 2006 and was one of baseball’s most reliable relievers the past two seasons. He pitched in eight games for the Lansing Lugnuts in 2003 and 2004, compiling a 3-0 record with a 0.97 ERA, a complete-game shutout and 62 strikeouts in 55.2 innings.