Cubs Willing to Part With Top Prospect for Mitch Keller

29 comments

1. Meh. Thats not enough for a division rival trade. Caissie, Long and Christian Franklin

   Red Sox- Garcia and Arias

   Mets- Jett Williams and Carson Benge

2. Do it in a heartbeat.

   If this trade doesn’t happen, next year when Keller has a 4.2 ERA this whole bloody sub will be talking about it like it’s the 2023 Bednar trade saga all over again.

   Pull the fucking trigger and get an outfield bat for christ sake

3. One prospect for a #3 starter with 3 more full years of control going to a division rival? Not enough

4. There’s lower ranked prospects that wouldn’t send him to a division rival that I feel better about making the transition to the MLB.

   He strikes out as much as Jack Suwinski in AAA and has a pretty stark L/R split.

   Give me Password Garcia over Caissie.

5. BC needs to win now to save his job. No chance he pulls the trigger on a Keller trade. The only trade that makes sense is Griffen+Chandler for Chris Archer

6. Like that guy said to the Eagles GM on the phone. “Division Tax” Give more

7. I would probably ask for another guy or 2 to balance out the in division trade cost. I think Cassie would be a great get, virtually 2023 Jack Suwinski, but hitting for higher avg.

   I dont know what other prospects I’d ask for, but I don’t know if they’d also be willing to part with Kevin Alcantara or Moises Ballestros without us adding in Santana or Bednar. Id also maybe think about their most recent 1st round guy Ethan Conrad.

   I’d think I’d do Kellar for Cassie, Christian Hernandez INF (#11), and Will Sanders RHP (#21)

8. I would go for this with a couple minor pieces too ideally. wasn’t expecting a prospect of this caliber especially since we usually go quantity over quality.

   Mitch could easily be at his peak value now, he’s having his best year and if he regresses we’ll all be saying we should’ve cashed in. I get the aversion to helping out a division rival, but it’s not like we’re gonna be competing with the cubs and brewers for the title the next couple years.

9. Imagine if we get a potentially great pitcher on a cheap, long contract? You can’t pass up a potential great pitcher on a cheap, long contract just because you gotta give up a great pitcher on a cheap, long contract.

10. Taking bets on how quickly the pirates can screw up a good prospect. I say three months.

11. It isn’t enough. The history of these types of trades says two top prospects (like 2 in the top 6 or 7) is the return.

    Just Cassie (even if he is the Cubs top prospect ) isn’t enough when you factor in the “division tax “ and the fact that Keller is under contract for multiple years

12. Ehhhhhhh I think I’d have to do that. Obviously there’d be more than just him.

13. I hate to break this to yinz, but we aren’t going to do much better than this in a trade.  That’s just how it goes.

    Of course, keeping him and building around our rotation would be the best course of action.  That’s not the Pirate way though.

14. .278/. 377/ .563???

    No thanks

15. Keller is a #5 starter. He’s really not that good. He’s mid and prone to blowing up. I’d do this in a heartbeat, we have no outfield prospects to be excited about. Nowhere in the article does it say it’d be a 1 for 1 trade by the way

16. Going to take more than that IMO to deal Keller.  If we are trading Keller it better be for a MLB bat not a prospect.  

17. How about we just keep our one semi-strength intact and spend some money in the offseason?

18. I would only do the trade for cash considerations…. Nutting’s inner monologue

19. If Caissie is included in a package with two additional mid-level prospects, I say take it. By midlevel, maybe 45 FV. And make one of those other prospects a pitcher.

    EDIT: making this edit because I keep seeing people trash Keller in the comments. He is a solid number 3 starter and he still has a bit of upside to a number 2. He consistently delivers 160-190 innings a year with era below 4.00. Nearly every contending team with a need for a starting pitcher would love to have him on their staff. And even teams like Seattle and Philly, who don’t have obvious SP gaps, would find a place for Keller in their rotation.

    His talent and years of controls make him is worth a return of one Top 100 prospect plus additional prospects.

20. Caissie is a good prospect, but I figure he wouldn’t be the only piece coming back to the Pirates.

    To the people who make the Suwinski comparisons, I think that comparison is very valid. Caissie is a bit better at making contact and is better against lefties, but Suwinski was more patient at the plate. That said, I think the big differences between the two are:

    1. Caissie has a longer track record of hitting in the minors than Suwinski and is much higher regarded than Suwinski was. Suwinski only had 1 good minor league season, he looked like a nothing prospect that wasn’t even hitting at a .750 OPS from ages 17-20 and then blew up at age 22 out of nowhere. Caissie has an OPS above .900 in 3 of 5 minor league seasons from ages 18-23.
    2. Suwinski fell off pretty aggressively in the MLB for what seems like no reason, which I don’t think is super common or hitting style dependent. Suwinski’s contact skills stayed generally the same, in fact his xBA in 2024 was better than it was in 2022 or 2023. His bat speed, plate discipline and contact didn’t really change, he just completely lose the ability to hit for power for what seems like no reason. I don’t think that’s a common thing to happen to players and doesn’t seem hitter style (i.e. 3 true outcomes type of guy) dependent.

    If you bring in Caissie, he should be solving your RF spot long-term with a power hitting lefty that should be able to farm HRs at PNC Park. He can’t be the only piece coming back in the deal, but as a headliner he does fill a huge need.

21. Caissie has some flaws, but I don’t know we’ll do better than him as the lead prospect on a trade. I say do it.

22. This guy like Madoo who we gave up for IkF

23. We don’t need another Suwinski….

24. Nope.

25. Can we send them Aramis Ramirez?

26. Kevin alcantara >> caissie

    Plus the Tigers, Red Sox, dodgers, Mets could all create better packages.

27. This is the easiest mash accept there is. It’s an overpay for Keller lol. I can’t believe the amount of thinking that a Keller could get us a prospect like Caissie

28. GOD DAMN IT, just stop.

29. My problem is the guy mentioned strikes out a lot. If he strikes out 30 plus percent of time in minors it’s probably going to be worse in majors. Yeah he has some power that we need and am not really worried about replacing Keller since Oviedo is coming back and ashcraft has been pretty decent if needing another starter. We have pitching in the pipeline we do not have hitters other than griffin. If this is the trade we need another one of their higher prospects.