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.
