We’re about three weeks away from the MLB trade deadline and the Chicago Cubs desperately need to make a move or two, especially to the starting rotation. ESPN’s Buster Olney is reporting that the Cubs, among other teams, are interested in Toronto Blue Jays starter Marcus Stroman. Shocker.
The Cubs are interested in literally every single starting pitcher that’s under team control for several seasons right now. I still don’t know why they’d want to take on Justin Verlander’s huge contract, but the Cubs have also been connected to him in a possible trade with the Detroit Tigers. Anyway, back to the Cubs and Stroman, I fucking hope they’re interested in him because as bad as the offense has been the rotation has been terrible too.
Mike Montgomery got rocked by the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday, but he’s still probably the third most reliable starter on the roster right now. The Cubs need all the help they can get and it’s not only about 2017 either, because as we know Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are out the door after this season.
So, back to Stroman. The Blue Jays are in last place in the American League East, sitting at 39-45, 9.5 games back of first. Olney said Toronto is ready to strip things down at any moment.
Our @Buster_ESPN tells @NaylorLandsberg that Shapiro/Atkins are prepared to make a "hard right-hand turn into retooling or rebuilding"
— David William Naylor (@TSNDaveNaylor) July 4, 2017
Stroman is obviously one guy that can bring the Blue Jays several top prospects in a deal. So, really all these trade talks, rumors and reports that you’ll see in the next few weeks will all revolve around whether or not the Cubs want to deal their No. 1 prospect Eloy Jimenez. That and a few more prospects is what it’s going to take to get a guy like Stroman, who’s a free agent until 2021. He’s 26-years-old and in 17 starts this year the righty has a 3.42 ERA and 1.26 WHIP.
For his career, the former first-round pick has a 3.80 ERA in 467 innings.
Again, getting a guy like Stroman is important for the Cubs because not only does he immediately help this season’s rotation, but also adds some stability in the rotation for next four years. And who knows, maybe Theo Epstein pulls off some magic and somehow gets a top-level starter without having to package Jimenez, but that’ll be extremely difficult.
Also, Cubs fans shouldn’t worry about the front office unloading guys for rentals. That’s not happening. If anything, look for more of a Mike Montgomery type of trade than the blockbuster deal to get Aroldis Chapman last year.
That is, if the Cubs make any big deals at all.
Epstein talked with the media before Thursday’s game against the Brewers and kind of down played making any major moves.
Via Jesse Rogers:
“Our biggest fixes are inside the clubhouse,” Epstein said before Thursday’s makeup game against Milwaukee. “This is largely the same club that won 200 games, averaged 100 wins over the last two years. There’s not a player that we can realistically bring in from the outside that can spur us to play at that level.
“We’re going to get to that point of playing to that level because of the guys that are here.”
“Some years it’s relatively easy to make small upgrades or big upgrades and some years it’s virtually impossible,” Epstein said. “You can get in trouble when you tell yourself you have to force something. You can’t force anything.”
“You can’t put too much stock in rumors,” Epstein said. “Every player out there on a team that isn’t in first place will come up in rumors. Sometimes there is something to it, sometimes there’s not.”
“The talent rests inside our clubhouse, inside players who are wearing Cubs uniforms right now,” Epstein said. “We’ll do what we can to look to augment that, but there’s not going to be a fundamental shift in the player personnel that we have.
Well, this current roster, although not at all healthy in the first half, is 4.5 games back of first place in the division.
Everyone is still waiting for this team to turn it on and given their second-half surges in 2015 and 2016, that should still be the expectation.
Also, stop with the dumbass talk about the Cubs being sellers. Fuck, some fans are stupid.
