Things definitely seem to be picking up on the Northside. After hearing that the Chicago Cubs have traded for Texas Rangers reliever, Spencer Patton, claimed Jack Leathersich and offered Andury Acevedo a Major League contract. Now we hear that the Cubs are said to be exploring potential trades for nearly a dozen young (per Ken Rosenthal), team controlled pitchers, and are in contact with nearly that many free agent pitchers (per Jon Morosi) as well.
Cubs Narrowing Their List
Most surprising is this report from Morosi (tweet via Rosenthal) that suggests that the Cubs and David Price marriage might not make it to the alter after all. Additionally, we have heard the Braves Julio Teheran rumors, but Shelby Miller is a new name that has appeared, and is extremely intriguing.
Adding to this from @jonmorosi – https://t.co/wO1kRTedlh – #Cubs also have talked to #Braves about controllable SPs (Miller, Teheran, etc.)
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 20, 2015
This, although not entirely surprising to some that believed the Cubs would take a route which would add a very good pitcher and additional youngsters, is a complete 180 from the expectation that the Cubs and Price would come together. If you think about it, this is the best route to take… that is if you want cash on hand to fix other areas of the club.
The Cubs have had discussions with numerous free-agent starters, with one source placing the number at 10 pitchers or more. John Lackey — a close friend of Cubs starter Jon Lester — is one of them, as our Ken Rosenthal has reported. Jeff Samardzija is another; he met with Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein this week, according to Phil Rogers of MLB.com.
There has been an underlying group that have believed that the Cubs would take this approach all along. Finding really good, young pitchers that they could control for multiple seasons, and grabbing someone like Jeff Samardzija also allows the team to focus some of their 2016 budget on acquiring a centerfielder as well as rebuilding their bullpen.
Today, which was also suggested by Chicago Style Sports earlier, we heard about a possible match between the Cubs and the New York Yankees which would send Starlin Castro to New York for centerfielder Brett Gardner. This works since there is basically equal money exchanging hands, and the Cubs deal from a position of excess and acquire a position of need. It additionally makes sense because Gardner allows the Cubs to be patient with minor leaguer, Albert Almora.
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