Toronto Wanted Big League Player from Cubs for Stroman
Just before pulling the trigger on the deal to bring Jose Quintana to the Northside, the Chicago Cubs and Toronto Blue Jays were deep in talks. Those talks centered around another young, cost-controlled pitcher – Marcus Stroman.
Per reports by baseball insider, Peter Gammons, the Blue Jays were asking for a player off of the Cubs 25-man big league roster.
According to the same article, the Cubs did their due diligence when shopping. Gammons explains that the Cubs called the A’s for Sonny Gray (which I wrote about here), the Detroit Tigers about Michael Fulmer, the Tampa Bay Rays about Chris Archer, and the Pittsburgh Pirates about Garrit Cole. The only pitcher that made sense, and was within their reach, was Jose Quintana.
There are still rumors out there that the Cubs are trying to acquire another starting pitcher. This would most likely need to involve someone from their major league roster, so that Stroman deal might not be dead. I would assume the Blue Jays would be able to find a package of prospects that would entice them, but I would take Ian Happ and Jeimer Candelario over a package of unproven prospects.
Even if Happ doesn’t suit the Jays fancy, the team is loaded with middle infielders and could even part ways with Albert Almora Jr if need be. I don’t think a deal gets done here, but I do think there very well could still be a conversation between the two teams in the weeks ahead.
with all this talk about another pitcher why schwarber or almora jr or guys that are good why not BAEZ? with grimm or strop included???????and maybe montgomery????
Baez is the best middle infielder the team has, and has out hit most players in the team over the past 200 games. Grimm or Strop would not bring back anything noteworthy, and why in the world would a team that’s competing trade one of their best pitchers?
The Cubs need to forget abt Stroman and focus on who really is a possibility. In the mean time, assemble a package that would be hard to refuse.
The Cubs would have to be crazy to consider Happ, or Almora as trade bait and trading Baez would be a disaster. Don’t create another problem to solve a need for another starter. They have excellent prospective high value starters on their roster right now. If Arrieta walks, as he might, then it’s time to consider more drastic measures…and to paraphrase an above comment, “Why in the world would a team that’s competing for a post season spot, trade any of their best hitters”? The lineup is a strong one, regardless of how the first half played out. Let’s see what happens with the world champion team we’ve got. Disconnect the panic button!