The Cubs Are Not Going to Trade for deGrom
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 02: Jacob deGrom #48 of the New York Mets walks back to the dugout after he made the out at first to end the second inning against the Atlanta Braves on May 2, 2018 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 775135701 ORIG FILE ID: 953968422
Every trade deadline there is that guy that the Chicago Cubs are rumored to have interest in, but they have zero chance of acquiring. The real joy was that there have been two players this trade deadline that had no chance of becoming a Cub, the first was Manny Machado and the second is New York Mets ace, Jacob deGrom.
The first was never really an option. Machado would have been like ordering your Cold Stone ice cream, putting sprinkles, gummy bears, chocolate and caramel on top – and then adding cookie crumbles too. The way the Chicago Cubs front office looked at Machado was always as the cookie crumbles on top of their perfectly fine ice cream treat. Sure, it would be nice to add them, but they would fall off soon and be gone before you even got to the best part of your dessert.
This isn’t the same way the Cubs look at someone like deGrom. Pitching, especially with some of the 2018 failures of current pitchers, is becoming a necessity. However, deGrom poses two issues for the Cubs – he’s going to cost a hell of a lot and he’s not even available.
In fact, deGrom is more interested in searching out a long-term extension with the Mets than getting fitted for a new uniform. Now, sure, this ultimately isn’t up to Jacob, who has two years of team control and hasn’t earned no-trade rights. With the pitching market unimpressive, the Mets very well could look to the deadline as a way to jumpstart a rebuild on the fly, which would help them compete in the National League East as early as 2019.
So if the Mets plan on really shopping deGrom, and not just back-channeling interest throughout the league, they are going to want a major haul of players in return. What works in the Cubs favor is, they would likely be looking for MLB-ready or MLB players with years of control in return. The Cubs have a surplus of these types of guys – but would it be at the expense of the organization’s championship window?
Tony Andracki of NBC Sports made a great point in a recent article, where he mentioned the moment the Cubs interest in deGrom ended in the eighth inning on the second game of this past weekend’s doubleheader. Earlier, Javier Baez had been ejected for throwing his helmet and whispering something under his breath. Later, Cardinals second baseman Yairo Munoz hit a ball just past the outstretched glove of Ben Zobrist.
This is important to note as many have suggested trading Addison Russell to the Mets (or really in any deal involving a starter). This would, in turn, move Baez to short and would place both Zobrist and Tommy La Stella at second base. A move like that would severely impact the Cubs defense and would impact the current pitching staff.
“The dynamic of our defense was lessened,” Joe Maddon said when speaking about Baez’s ejection. “…Listen, I’m not gonna denigrate Zo at all – it’s just a play that Javy might’ve been able to make.”
We would see a lot more of these scenarios if the Cubs didn’t have Addison Russell at shortstop and Javy Baez at second base. With Jon Lester, who has been the most successful Cubs pitcher this season, showing signs of relying more and more on the Cubs defense and their large range, impacting that middle-infield would spell doom for the rest of the staff.
Then the Mets would likely need more!!!
I cannot imagine a deal for deGrom that didn’t also include Ian Happ. Then you would likely toss Mike Montgomery in the pot, with the likes of David Bote and maybe an Adbert Alzolay or Brendan Little or Alex Lange or all three.
This isn’t a deal that the Cubs are in a position to make – even if it does address a concern.
No, I think Cubs fans have to be more prepared for some more smaller deals, like the Jesse Chavez deal, or maybe getting as aggressive as adding Nathan Eovaldi.
“We’re in a more difficult position to [make a big-name trade],” Theo Epstein said. “I don’t think it’s impossible. But certain years lend themselves to being able to participate in more hands.
“Other years, because of the way your prospects are performing or because of your desire to keep growing the farm system or just the nature of what’s available and how much you need, you have to be more selective. We’re hopefully pursuing lots of different things, but I think in terms of what’s realistic for us, we have to be a little more targeted, more selective and a little more opportunistic.
“And that’s fine. Sometimes those end up being the best deals. The [Jesse] Chavez deal is an example of that. He’s probably not a name anyone had mentioned at all. We think he’s a really good fit for us. So that’s [an example of] the kind of stuff we’re looking to do.”
It really seems like Theo is reserved to the thought that they do not have the minor league assets to get a large deal done, and he has no interest in trading away major league assets either. I think, and perhaps I am wrong, but I really think the Cubs slow play the market, if a bigger name comes back down to them they could pounce, but they are not going to be the organization leading the charge for the biggest trade deadline splash of 2018.
