Apparently, the Chicago Cubs like New York Yankee pitchers. Last winter, the Yanks sent Adam Warren to Chicago in a package for second basemen Starlin Castro and now, reportedly, the Cubbies are interested in Nate Eovaldi.
As the guys over at Pinstripe Alley wrote today, it doesn’t make a ton of sense for the Yankees to trade Eovaldi as he’s young, under team control for a while, and quite possibly the best long term starting pitching option in the organization, especially now that Luis Severino has lost much of his 2015 shine.
However, the Yankees have a number of other pitchers the Cubs might want to go after, and Chicago matches up really well with New York in terms of the young position player talent that New York needs. The Cubs have a few of the best prospects in baseball and if they were willing to part with a few of them, Eovaldi, Aroldis Chapman, and even Andrew Miller, could all be on the table.
The way I see it the Cubs should be looking to bolster their pitching staff now. They are the best team in baseball and riding a 108 year old World Series drought. They should be loading up for the stretch run. As of today, the Cubs staff can be called anything but weak. They have a rock solid top two starters in Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester and two of the three starters rounding out their rotation have sub 3 ERAs. On top of that, Hector Rondon has given up only 2 runs all season as the closer and has a .63 WHIP.
Given their interest in Eovaldi, though, Theo Epstein and the Cubs front office seem to think, correctly in all likelihood, that Jason Hammel and Kyle Hendricks won’t pitch like right handed Clayton Kershaws all season. As such, the team will need some starting help at some point. Similarly, Rondon seems to have settled in as a top quality closer, but bullpens are notoriously volatile and the Royals have recently proven that you can never have too many arms for the late innings.
One of the reasons the Cubs are so good this season is that they are loaded with young, controlled, talented position players. Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo will be fixtures at Wrigley for the better part of the next decade. So will Addison Russell. So will Kyle Schwarber, though he’s hurt right now. There isn’t a lot of room for prospects to break in, which could make some of the ones closest to big league ready expendable. And the Cubs happen to have some of the best high minors prospects in the game.
There are, of course, a few guys that the Cubs would be loathe to part with, but three that could become trade bait, and would also be really, really interesting for the Yankees, are third baseman Jeimer Candelario, first basemen Dan Vogelbach, and especially outfielder Albert Almora.
The Yankees have 4 guys that could realistically help Chicago out a lot. Two would be pretty tough for the Yankees to part with without getting a top notch prospect in return, and two the Cubs could get at a more reasonable price.
First, the cheap guys:
Aroldis Chapman is one of baseball’s best closers. He’s the hardest thrower in the game and has been great in just a few games with New York since coming off his 30 game domestic violence suspension. He’s also a free agent at season’s end and is an obvious candidate to go if the Yankees decide to become sellers before July 31. He’s your classic rent-a-closer.
The Cubs could pencil Chapman in the backend with Rondon and Pedro Strop or whatever other middle reliever they can find to make their own Big Three playoff bullpen. Since he’s a free agent, he shouldn’t be all that expensive to get and the Yankees would likely be happy with a couple of mid-tier prospects with realistic potential. Trading Chapman would be a clear signal that the Yankees are punting on 2016 and that the Cubs are going all in.
Ivan Nova is a very different type of pitcher. He’s been a starter most of his career but has spent some time in the bullpen in 2016. For Chicago, he could be a swing guy, teaming up with Travis Wood in that long relief role and coming in in the 7th and 8th from time to time, while also waiting in the wings to supplant one of the backend starters should that be necessary. Nova wouldn’t be a massive upgrade for the Cubs in any way but he could help stabilize things in a bunch of key areas. With their potent offense, Chicago would be wise to ensure that their bullpen and overall pitching depth keep the club within shouting distance of every game throughout the summer.
For New York, trading Nova for the right package makes sense. Given the longer team control, I guess he would cost about the same as Chapman. For the Yankees, a trade would help them turn Nova, a backend guy who likely won’t play a part on the next great Yankee team, into a couple of minor leaguers that might help on that next great Yankees team.
Now, the costlier guys:
We already discussed Nate Eovaldi. Eovaldi is a young hard thrower who has been very good this season but has a penchant for walking a pretty fine line. He’s definitely not untouchable via trade; the Yankees would be remiss to hold on to him at the expense of a potential starting position player. But he’s useful for the Yankees now, and has potential both on the club in the future and as a future trade piece should he finally find stable production somewhere.
Andrew Miller is the other guy the Cubs might want to go after. He’s been spectacular for the Yankees in the last year and a half and has one more season left on his deal. In practice, he’d serve the same function as Chapman. He’s nearly as good, and the Cubs could have him for a full season in 2017. Miller plus Nova might net the Yankees a top tier prospect, too.
The Cubs want a pitcher, the Yankees actually have a few. The Yankees need a position player prospect to pair with Aaron Judge as the franchise moves on from the Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez, Carlos Beltran era. There’s a match here.
-Max Frankel
Make sure to follow Max on Twitter at @otbb_max and follow Off the Bench at @OTB_Baseball
