Over the last week or so there have been a number of rumors about various blockbuster deals that would send big name guys to play for new teams after the deadline today at 5pm Eastern.
The Angels are shopping Shohei Ohtani, the Nationals are shopping Juan Soto, and of course the Cubs are shopping everyone on the their team who is healthy.
A few days ago I heard one rumor that had a three team deal between the Cubs, San Diego, and Boston that would have sent Xander Bogaerts to Chicago with Ian Happ and Willson Contrares headed to California to play with their old friend Yu Darvish. In my head this block buster actually made absolutely no sense because if the Cubs are willing to pay Bogaerts then they should be making their lives easy and pay Happ who is actually a couple years younger and not in his prime yet.
On Sunday morning I heard about a more realistic rumor of a blockbuster that was sending Shohei to San Diego for a haul of players that was going to send many major league ready guys to LA. With the window of contention closing for San Diego in the next few years this made the most sense of all the rumors I had heard in the last ten days revolving around Ohtani.
I am of the belief that there will not be a true blockbuster before todays deadline though. Soto, Bogaerts, and Ohtani are likely not going anywhere while Willson and Happ will likely be sent packing to San Diego and the Cubs will get a haul of major league ready players back. While it is all but a done deal that Willson is gone I feel like the Cubs would be better off trading Happ for the best return the can get and paying Willson. Sadly it does not appear that they are ready to spend what it will take to be good in 2023 though which means both guys are likely gone.
The only way this trade season will not end in a tough way for die hard Cubs fans like myself is if Willson stays put and the big announcement is that he has signed an extension. Sadly I do not see that happening though because it is pretty clear to me that Jed Hoyer is not ready to spend the dough yet.
With that… let’s play ball!