The Cubs do not intend to move third baseman Kris Bryant, shortstop Addison Russell or left fielder Kyle Schwarber, but will at least explore the trade interest they are getting in right fielder Jorge Soler and infielder Javier Baez, sources told Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.
The goal remains the same for the Theo Epstein and the Cubs, and that is to acquire a young top of the rotation starter in return. They want someone with at least four years of team control. It’s identical to their stance at this year’s trade deadline and last offseason.
While the Cubs intend to be players for key free agent pitchers like David Price, Rosenthal says they don’t want to rely solely on the free-agent market to bolster their pitching needs because they don’t want to end up with an old rotation.
The infielder the Cubs would ideally love to move is Starlin Castro. A three-time All Star, Castro had a very pedestrian season in 2015, batting .265 with a .296 on-base and .671 OPS. However, the 25-year old Castro finished strong and posted a ,295 average with a .464 slugging and .783 OPS in the second half.
Obviously, the Mets would be better served with Baez who is a better defender and has a lot more offensive upside. The former Cubs No. 1 prospect spent most of the season in Triple-A Iowa where he batted .328/.396/.526 with 15 doubles, 13 homeruns and 62 RBI in just 293 at-bats. After he was promoted to the big-league club, Baez posted a slash of .289/.325/.408 in 28 games. He turns 23 in December.
Castro would most likely cost the Mets Zack Wheeler, but Baez would certainly cost a lot more and any deal would probably begin with Steven Matz and also include another top prospect like Brandon Nimmo or Gavin Cecchini.
The Mets are sending mixed messages so far as to what if anything they’ll do at shortstop. Two weeks ago, they said they were more than satisfied with Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada at shortstop, citing that the combo ranked 10th in WAR among all shortstops, and telling reporters that “we got to the World Series with them as our shortstops.”
However, according to Jon Heyman, Peter Gammons and others, the Mets were scoping out the shortstop market at the GM Meetings and speaking to teams about available options.
I doubt the shortstop conversation will go away anytime soon. Basically I read this the same way I did last offseason. Back then, the Mets were willing to upgrade Wilmer Flores within reason, but they had no qualms if nothing materialized and they went into the new season with him as their primary shortstop.
The Mets have several options they’ll kick the tires on in free agency like Ian Desmond, Alexei Ramirez and Asdrubal Cabrera. But my guess is that they don’t want to commit to more than two years to any free agent with top prospects Gavin Cecchini and Amed Rosario not far away.
There are other trade options besides Baez and Castro, you know the names, Blue Jays shortstops Ryan Goins or Troy Tulowitzki, the Reds’ Zack Cozart, and of course Rangers shortstops Jurickson Profar and Elvis Andrus. I expect we’ll hear those names a lot this Winter, but each of them will require varying ranges of returns from the Mets and the conversation will start with one of our young pitchers. The only name I have any interest in among this group is Profar.
The Cubs have had on-again, off-again interest in trading for Mets left-hander Jon Niese and inquired on him as recently as July. If he could be the foundation to a deal for Castro, I’d be very interested. However Wheeler or Matz would be a deal-breaker for me.
