The Chicago Cubs will not be a good baseball team this year or likely next year which means that the team is going to be lighting up the trade market to flip some of their best chips for pieces they need for the future.
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One of the areas of need for the Cubs is pitching as the team is rumored to be looking at aces like Max Scherzer, Jon Lester and David Price — assuming he isn’t signed to an extension by the Tigers.
According to MLB scribe Steve Adams, the Chicago Cubs have trade chips that they can move but they’re massive pieces that the Cubs would be gambling on letting go. Starlin Castro, Javier Baez and Addison Russell are three of the best trade chips the Cubs have and one may likely get flipped for pitching help.
"At some point, I think one of the three will go, yeah. They’re so, so stocked with position prospects that at some point they almost have to use one or more to land pitching. I know Jed Hoyer said he thinks he can find ABs for all of them, but that’s just lip service in my opinion, given the presence of other prospects like Bryant and Soler. At some point, they’ll leverage the surplus."
Flipping any of the three players will likely draw groans from Cubs fans assuming the team is rebuilding yet again — which they kind of are — but instead of flipping their chips for prospects Chicago might be going in on big name and Major League ready stars who can help turn things around right now.
Be sure to stay glued to FanSided’s MLB Rumors page to stay up to date with the latest action and rumbling from the baseball hot stove this trade season.