Random Trade Ideas

The offseason has kind of been slow going for the Cubs on the player side...they're in hot pursuit of Jon Lester, but every team with big wallets is gonna make an offer before it's over, and many of them are in better positions to win next year than the Cubs. Thus my doubts that Lester will actually sign if the claims that it won't just be about the money are true. Yeah, the Cubs might be better set-up for a long run of playoff appearances, but I think they're 2-3 years away from that run myself. It's close, but not quite there yet. That being said, it's pretty hard to acquire all the crucial pieces for said playoff run in one offseason, so I'm all for the Cubs making a run at some pieces this offseason like Lester or Max Scherzer, although I think going all in is a bit premature.

On the other hand, every baseball fan likes a good trade...so here's a few that I wondered about.

A few rules here...

- Fans and organizations overvalue their own players....

- You have to give up something good to get something good.

- I'm not necessarily advocating these trades, just some ideas to get the discussion going.

- The basic premise here is what I think the Cubs need to give up to actually get these players, not some fanciful penny on the dollars type trades that will never happen.

COLE HAMELS

Once the big 3 free agents land, the Hamels trade sweepstakes will heat up and if the Dodgers (Joc Pederson as the main center piece) or Red Sox (Bogaerts or Betts) are involved, I don't know know if the Cubs will be offering Baez or Bryant. Phillies seem pretty content with keeping Jimmy Rollins (shrug) unless they get something really good for him (not happening), so I don't know if they have an interest in Starlin Castro. But ultimately it's gonna probably take one top end prospect, another top 10 prospect and another interesting piece to get Hamels.

So maybe Baez, P. Johnson and Vogelbach? Maybe Phillies have some interest in Welington?  If Castro is the center piece instead of Baez, I think Castro's attractive contract would make any other players going from the Cubs of far less quality.

YASMANI GRANDAL

He'd be a good left-handed bat in the lineup and make a good platoon with Welington or make him expendable. He's not the vet leadership the Cubs are looking for and his receiving skills are in question. I think any interest here is more fan-based, but I could be wrong. Hoyer was gone from the Padres by the time they made that trade for Grandal so I don't think there is any connection or necessarily interest...but if there is...

Personally I think Luis Valbuena (highly underrated by Cubs fans imo) and a middle of the road pitching prospect (Jen-Ho Tseng quality) should be enough, I'm guessing the Padres are looking for something sexier. Word on the rumor mill is they are looking for bats to compete immediately, so I'm thinking more in the line of something involving Starlin Castro.

I know, I know, Cubs will only trade Castro for your two finest young hurlers and a golden egg and that's probably the case. But let's say a deal of Castro and his very attractive age and contract for Grandal and maybe Andrew Cashner (throw in some prospect fodder from Cubs like P. Johnson or D. Underwood) would be pretty interesting...to me at least. I know I cheated with throwing Cashner in there and once again, Padres would probably be looking for a bigger and more headline worthy haul if they moved him. But Cashner's lack of health has to be a major concern for any team trading for him, regardless of the upside when he does pitch.

DEXTER FOWLER

Here's the story on Fowler, the Astros have plenty of outfielders and plenty that can play center field. Fowler has one year of club control left and it's certainly plausible he could be moved...the Blue Jays were seemingly interested. His defensive numbers are less than great, but he's played in some pretty big outfields, so I think he'd be more than passable there for the Cubs. As for why the Cubs might need him, they don't, but he could provide a decent leadoff option and make Alcantara available in a trade or as the guy playing second base if Baez is traded or still missing every time he swings. Fowler doesn't bring the contact skills you like, but he does bring the speed and on-base abilities (.375 OBP last year, projected for .345).

As for what the Astros are looking for, I'm not quite sure, relievers seem to be an area of interest and I'm sure any longer club controllable players. Maybe Armando Rivera and Justin Grimm? Maybe Alcantara in a trade, but the Cubs would need to get a decent prospect back from Astros for that to happen.

MIGUEL MONTERO

This is the vet leadership play that we've heard so much about. Rumor was the D'Backs wanted pitching in return and the Cubs don't have much of that to offer. It would probably take a 3-team deal and those are too hard to predict. I certainly could see them parting with a P. Johnson or D. Underwood in a deal for Montero, but guessing D'Backs want someone in the majors already. If they liked Travis Wood, I think two guys off down years could make some sense, but I'm guessing DBacks could do better than that as there are usually plenty of teams in search of veteran catchers with good leadership reputations. D'Backs sure could use a 3bmen it appears, so maybe Luis Valbuena?

STARLIN CASTRO

A lot of buzz earlier that the Cubs were destined to move him this offseason and after coming off a strong rebound season, it makes sense for the Cubs to sell high. As for the return, it would have to be something like Matt Harvey for Castro or maybe deGrom and Wheeler for Castro or the aforementioned Castro for Hamels with other pieces. I floated a Castro to Nationals rumor when that Jordan Zimmerman news popped. I could see the Nats having some interest there if they know Ian Desmond isn't returning next season. Ultimately Castro has been a good player so far at a very young age (2-3 WAR). He could become a real good player in his prime years (3-4 WAR or maybe 5 on a real breakout season) and the contract is quite nice. The downside is that his defense is merely adequate and likely to get worse as he gets older and I'm sure most teams are aware of this. But if the Cubs do move him, they are gonna want impact talent, no question marks in a deal, so you have to be looking at either expensive talent where a team wants to shed some payroll or someone a year or two from free agency. I could see high end pitching prospects near the majors as a possibility too, but teams are reluctant to move those.

How about Sonny Gray for Castro? A's seem to have a SS need and have plenty of pitching. I'm sure they'd rather deal Samardzija for Castro, but don't see the Cubs taking that back on since they know Samardzija is gonna test the market.

EDWIN JACKSON, TRAVIS WOOD OR TSUYOSHI WADA

The Cubs have too many back-end rotation options and I'm sure would be just fine in moving any of these contracts. Jackson is only gonna go for another bad contract (M. Bourn, BJ Upton, etc). I honestly don't know if there is much of a market for Wood or Wada, but I'm sure they'll be brought up plenty of times in talks at the Winter Meetings and beyond.

Alright, mock me in the comments! But before you do, what are some of your ideas and what do you think would be fair value?