The Chicago Cubs currently sit atop the NL Central Division, hoping to extend a stellar start of the season right through the dog days of summer and into the postseason.
Although way too early for such discussions, World Series talk has begun to spring up. The team appears to be THAT special.
And with that special vibe comes the pressure to strike while the iron appears to be hot.
That’s why it’s believed that the Cubs front office will be aggressive in pursuing assets before the coming July 31 trade deadline.
Chicago Cubs to be aggressive in trade market
The prevailing thought is that Chicago will pursue starting pitching, primarily.
They lost ace Justin Steele for the year due to elbow surgery and then lost co-ace Shota Imanaga for a good chunk of time after a hamstring injury. Projected fifth starter Javier Assad has also yet to pitch a competitive inning this season while nursing an oblique injury.
So, it would only stand to reason that the Cubs would go after a high-end starter to fill out the rotation for their playoff push.
And they probably WILL move to make such a trade.
But, apparently, they were also potentially in on a huge blockbuster involving one of the best offensive players in the game.
The Cubs were in on Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers
According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, the Boston Red Sox had talks with the Cubs, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays, and Atlanta Braves before signing off on a deal this past Sunday to trade Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants.
In the deal, the Red Sox acquired Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, Jose Bello and 2024 first round draft pick James Tibbs III for the disgruntled third baseman/DH. Boston also disposed of $270 million on the remainder of an 11-year contract that runs through 2033.
A surprising turn of events?
The news that the Cubs were in on acquiring Devers comes as a pretty big surprise.
First, there’s that huge contract running through 2033, especially with Kyle Tucker headed into free agency.
Second, Devers doesn’t really profile as a Cubs-type under the vision of president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer. Defensively, he has always been a bottom-tier third baseman, with a career -62 score in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) metrics. Plus, there’s been all that clubhouse drama with Devers pushing back against the entire Red Sox organization over being moved from third base to make way for Alex Bregman.
But the 28-year-old DOES have an elite bat and it’s not every day when a player at Devers’ level becomes available in what appears to be a just-get-him-away-from-here trade, more than a month before the trade deadline.
“Probably a one-off deal,” Hoyer recently said of the Devers trade, during an interview with 670 The Score’s “Spiegel and Holmes” show. “I don’t think it jump-starts the market. But as you start to get into this time of year, there’s more conversations that happen. It just keeps ramping up and ramping up.”
The next question coming to mind is what the Cubs were willing to offer the Red Sox for Devers.
Matt Shaw would seem to be expendable if they made Devers their third baseman, but Boston has Alex Bregman at third for at least two more years after this season. The Red Sox organization is also full of young outfield talent, so top Cubs outfield prospects Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara may not have been on the table. The offensively adept Moises Ballesteros, on the other hand, would be an attractive DH pickup for Fenway Park.
Whatever the case, this report seems to affirm the belief that the Cubs are “all in” when it comes to adding postseason impact players and will, indeed, be aggressive in pursuing trades.
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