Cubs Blockbuster Trade or Dud?
The Chicago Cubs have already landed the Texas Rangers’ lefty, Cole Hamels. We decided to give you a couple of facts about the new Cubs starter here. Now with just a few short hours before the MLB Trade Deadline, fans are demanding more from this front office.
I mostly get it. The Cubs starting rotation hasn’t exactly been the corral of five aces like Joe Maddon billed it to be in Spring Training. Right now the Cubs starters have accumulated a 4.18 ERA, and that is with Jon Lester’s team-leading 3.08 included. If you subtract Lester, the Cubs 4.49 starter ERA isn’t something you would or should be happy with.
Because of this unexpected regression from the entire staff, well outside of Lester, there are a lot of people speculating that the Cubs are being very aggressive on the phones trying to find another starting pitcher. One such person is The Athletic’s, Ken Rosenthal.
Longshot that cannot be dismissed until after deadline passes: #Cubs getting controllable SP. Could build deal around Happ or another young hitter. Obstacles: Scarcity in market. Many teams want elite prospects over MLB pieces. CHC too thin in young pitching to add to deal.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 30, 2018
The thing is, it is a huge longshot. The first real obstacle is, there aren’t many controllable pitchers that are available. Sure we keep hearing Jacob deGrom, and of recent, we have heard Chris Archer, but neither will come cheap. There’s also Zack Wheeler, who is club controlled until 2020.
It seems that in each of the scenarios it starts with the Cubs trading someone with this stat line: .253/.375/.445 .820 OPS 12 HR 119 wRC+ 1.6 WAR. This youngster is only 23 years old, is under team control until 2024, and is capable of playing six different positions. I am certain you have already pegged this as Ian Happ.
Ian might be the largest trade chip the Cubs have left unless some team out there is looking for quantity rather than quality. The Cubs will still be giving away an actual proven MLB caliber player with years of control and is bound to improve. Then the Cubs are going to sweeten the pot by adding more into the pot!?
If the Cubs were to trade Happ, the only pitcher with any sort of rumors on being available (true or not) that would be worth trading Happ for is deGrom.
Chris Archer is in the middle of a poor season, and since 2015 he has become more and more ineffective. Sure he can strikeout a lot of hitters, and that won’t go away, but he’s hit harder and harder with each passing season and is allowing more hits than he ever has. I just don’t like the Cubs trading away Ian Happ for a guy that seems to of been figured out.
It feels like Zack Wheeler has been in the game for 10 years, or at least he has been talked about that long. He was a guy that was supposed to have it all, be the next great. But it has all derailed, and he is in the middle of a 4.11 ERA season. This is a much better season than he had in 2017, where he had a 5.21 ERA. Still, not a guy I would trade Ian Happ for, not by any stretch.
Then there’s deGrom. He is in the midst of a Cy Young-like campaign. His ERA is under 2.00, his WHIP is under 1.000, he’s striking out 10.7 per nine, and a 2.82 xFIP. He has been nothing short of amazing this season, well, his whole career. He also has three more seasons of control.
But this would certainly require much more than Happ. It very well could take multiple players from the Cubs 25-man roster – and that isn’t a game the team should be playing right now.
I don’t know how the Cubs can really be involved in any real trade talks for a controllable starting pitcher – unless it is an under the radar guy. Maybe a Daniel Duffy? Michael Fulmer? Dylan Bundy?
All of them are under control for several seasons, all of them should probably be in conversations. I am not proposing that there have been talks, but they make sense in an Ian Happ like scenario.
But ultimately, I really think the deadline will come and go, and the Cubs will likely make another move or two, but none of them will be up to the expectations as a lot of fans are wanting. So let’s not get too pumped up for a pennant-chasing deal.
