Locked to The Athletic subscribers so here’s some notes of what they gathered. Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney do great work, so make sure you give them a follow or subscribe to their podcast, North Side Territory.
•Eugenio Suarez is being looked at by the Cubs as a third base upgrade IF the Diamondbacks sell. The DBacks are waiting until the last minute it seems. The club still has confidence in Matt Shaw, but that won’t stop them from getting a 3B.
•Charlie Morton (41yr SP) is “emerging as a trade option”.
•The team is closely monitoring Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan to bulk up their bullpen. Wouldn’t replace Palencia, but would just be another option.
•Cubs have a list of prospects they won’t include in trades for rentals. Includes Owen Caissie and Jefferson Rojas. The team will not trade Caissie unless they get “impact talent” back immediately, with Tucker becoming a free agent after this season, and Happ leaving after 2026.
36 comments
Its really starting to feel like Matt Shaw is gone.
Finnegan is news to me, but Caissie is as expected. They’ll trade him for Ryan, Gore, Bubic etc
Which prospect(s) do you guys think are the most likely to get traded this deadline?
Morton is absolutely not the guy.
Um…Charlie Morton?
None of the current trade rumors really excite me that much. Maybe Suarez at 3B but non of the SP wow me.
I would like to see them load up the bullpen. Playoff games tend to have shorter leashes for starters anyways so stacking the bullpen would be a great idea
3B they can live with if need be since the offense is great as is, but they need to get some quality arms in the rotation / pen if they want to make some noise in the playoffs this year.
Morton???? MORTON?!?!?!
Say sike right the fuck now, dawg, no fucking way.
Just go trade for Mitch Keller, man.
Love seeing the Suarez rumors in writing. You know some team is going to look dangerous adding him. Might as well make that team the Cubs. Shaw still has work to do at the plate this year and could use some time in the minors to end the year anyway.
I do not what Charlie Morton at all.
Please trade for Suarez so the Yankees don’t get him
| and Happ leaving after 2026
No. 🙁
This article doesn’t really sound like they have heard much of anything.
Suarez and a starting pitcher, please.
I like the idea of Suarez if we don’t give up Caissie. If we get Suarez and another solid bullpen arm, it would be OK if we don’t make a move for a SP as we would immediately reinforce our hitting, which has been a strength (and remove the 3rd base black hole in the lineup) and reinforce the bullpen which has been a strength as well. So we will look to outslug opposing teams and shut them down at the end of games.
Happ is leaving after 2026? Does he know about this?
If they can get him cheap, Ohtani would be a great bat AND a great arm. Double threat guy. Has anyone thought about this?
Happy to see Caissie on the “only if they blow us away with the return” list. With PCA being the only current outfielder that will be out there in a couple of years, the runway is pretty clear for him to get a shot
Charlie Morton would be the John Lackey of 2016 without being John Lackey’s ability.
Morton and Finnegan are early-mentioned backup options and I’m 100% guessing.
Morton would cost nothing and I hope would only be a 2nd sp they acquire so just as a cheap vet..hes been better recently numbers wise but does anyone know how his stuff has been past 30 days verses before?
This team has only 2 good starters and none as depth. Morton and another starter would be nice, Morton alone is horrible.
They need to push the trade deadline back 2 weeks. There are like 19 teams thinking playoffs as a possibility so I think this year will be largely dead.
I anticipate the Cubs to maybe pick up some innings eaters/reclamation projects at a low cost. I’d be floored if they traded any top prospects. I just don’t think any one player is going to push them over the top in the NL since I think come playoff time any of the 6 teams could make it to the world series.
Really? Charlie Morton? Are we sure there are no other SPs out there?
Dreaming of this lineup
Busch
Tucker
Suzuki
Suarez
PCA
Hoerner
Happ
Swanson
Kelly
If they think their 3 for the playoffs would be Imanaga, Boyd, and Horton. Then… Morton would just be a cheap ass arm they could bring in to eat up innings in the regular season and pitch a few innings in a bullpen game if they need it in the playoffs.
I imagine this is if they are thinking IF they can’t get an actual top of the rotation arm, why would they want to give up a decent prospect for someone that’ll just be there to eat up innings. And if they can’t get a decent guy, i understand the thinking.
If Morton comes here…I will burn my 2016 WS jersey (just kidding, I love it)
I didn’t really take much away besides “everyone wants pitching and Arizona is gonna wait/might not sell”
Just go get Keller and maybe Bautista price pending. If Suarez doesn’t get moved, there isn’t many 3B options (Castro from Minnesota?)
Don’t pay too much attention to this
What a depressing update that is. Kyle Finnegan, six blown saves, 9.90 ERA in his last ten innings. Blew a two run-lead in ten pitches against the Brewers including a four-pitch walk. And we’re supposed to believe the Cubs are “going for it”…
Classic Jed shopping in the dustbin for a bargain. He’ll have no one to blame but himself if it costs him his job…
What would a Suarez cost? I didn’t realize he has 35 Hrs this year.
Morton has to be a Plan F option. assuming Sandy, Gallen, Keller too expensive —
would much rather shoot for Tyler Anderson, Sevy/Springs, Houser.
Them not wanting to deal cassie tells us everything we need to know about them potentially going after tucker. Pathetic
To me the deadline is extending Tucker. I don’t want us going all in and selling future assets if we lose an mvp caliber guy and then need assets to replace him in the winter.
Extend him. Then we can talk about what else we can do based on his contract
I want 2 SP as much as the next guy. The market doesn’t seem great for teams needing SP. If we add multiple high impact relievers instead of a TOR SP I will understand it
> Cubs have a list of prospects they won’t include in trades for rentals. Includes Owen Caissie and Jefferson Rojas. The team will not trade Caissie unless they get “impact talent” back immediately, with Tucker becoming a free agent after this season, and Happ leaving after 2026.
They gotta stop fucking around. This team is good enough to make major noise in the postseason.