Cubs Trade Rumors Galore: What We're Hearing as Trade Season Dawns

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Although trade season tends not to get going until after the MLB Draft (pushed back, for the last several years, to the middle of July), the Chicago Cubs have kept in touch with several teams about starting pitchers who could bolster Chicago's push toward their first true postseason berth since 2017, sources with multiple teams said this week. Among the clubs with whom Jed Hoyer's front office has had direct contact are the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Texas Rangers, in addition to more obvious sellers like the Colorado Rockies and the division-rival Pittsburgh Pirates.

Miami Marlins starter Sandy Alcántara was expected to be the belle of the trade deadline ball this summer, but his difficult start to this season has slowed down the process of shopping him from the seller's side. Alcántara's stuff is only minimally down, relative to his Cy Young-caliber peak, but so far, his command (especially of secondary offerings) has not been as good as it was before he suffered a torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery. Location+ is a system that uses advanced modeling to grade the locations of pitchers' offerings, on a scale whereby 100 is average and higher is better. The difference from pre- to post-injury for Alcántara's slider and changeup is stark.

Season	Fastball Loc+	Sinker Loc+	Slider Loc+	Changeup Loc+
2022	107	101	106	101
2023	115	102	101	104
2025	100	101	77	93

Teams can look past even a 7.89 ERA (in a 12-start sample, for a lousy team) when developing a trade target in the modern game, but Miami will try to wait until Alcántara's level of performance (and therefore, the price they can command) rises before seriously engaging in trade discussions.

Nonetheless, the Cubs have repeatedly checked in on Alcántara, who's under contract through 2027 (including a team option for that year) on the extension he signed with Miami in late 2021.

Chicago has plenty of space beneath the competitive-balance tax threshold for midseason acquisitions, and sources said the RIcketts family has given Hoyer the green light to use that cushion if relatively expensive players who can improve the team's chances at a deep playoff run are available. That would, for instance, ensure that the Cubs wouldn't have to give up extra prospect value in a deal for Alcántara; they wouldn't ask Miami to absorb any of the approximately $29 million still owed on that deal.

The same freedom to volunteer their spending power contributed to the team's interest in Ryan McMahon, of the moribund Rockies, this spring. Colorado owes McMahon about $39 million over the two-plus seasons remaining on the extension to which they signed him in 2022. The slugging third baseman does have ugly topline numbers this year and is a superficially strange fit for a team now enjoying the resurgence of rookie Matt Shaw. However, sources said the Cubs have been open with teams about their willingness to be creative and the possibility that they'll make multiple moves in conjunction with one another between now and the end of July.

In other words, McMahon (a lockdown defensive third baseman who would add another power bat to the lineup and is under contract through 2027) would come in as the team sent Nico Hoerner (whose contract runs only through next season) out in a separate deal to upgrade their pitching staff, or to replace Shaw if the team finds an unexpected high-end starter available and the deal can't get done without including Shaw. That possibility is remote, but it's interesting to note that the team has explicitly considered it. As he has across the last 18 months, Hoyer is still trying to strike a balance, both acting aggressively to make the team better in the short term and preserving some of the young talent that has brightened the longer-term outlook for the team over the last few years.

The Cubs have talked to the Pirates about their available starting pitchers, and even inquired about buying low on Pittsburgh fixture and closer David Bednar, sources also said. Paul Skenes is off-limits—to everyone, right now, but especially to any team within the division. However, the Bucs are more open to moving starter Mitch Keller, to whom they have a long-term commitment, too. (They signed him to a five-year extension last spring.) It's unclear whether the Cubs are actively interested in Keller, or whether they would only pounce if his price is constrained by the money owed to him. Either way, one source with another team in the division indicated, it's much more likely that Chicago ultimately acquires veteran lefty Andrew Heaney.

Pittsburgh, Colorado and Miami are all clear about their status as sellers. So are the Washington Nationals, despite their reasonably competitive start to this season. However, two league sources said Washington president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo will not entertain trade offers for MacKenzie Gore, the frontrunner for this year's NL Cy Young Award. Although the Juan Soto trade offers precedent for Rizzo trading away a team-controlled superstar two and a half years before they reached free agency, the sense both within and outside the Nationals sphere is that they can be highly competitive as soon as next year, with Gore atop their rotation. That wasn't as true when Rizzo dealt away Soto, and acquired Gore in the process. The Cubs have a better chance of engaging the Nationals about reliever Kyle Finnegan, but that kind of deal would take place much closer to the end of July.

As interesting as the natural sellers are those teams currently plunged into a possible seller's space by their dreadful starts to this season, although not all of them are yet willing to think of themselves in those terms. The Cubs have been in contact with the Rangers, who have multiple veteran starting pitchers they might trade if they continue to flounder. Jacob deGrom is not going to be dealt, and Nathan Eovaldi both has a full no-trade clause and is currently on the injured list. Impending free agent Tyler Mahle, however, has only limited no-trade language in his deal. He'd be a similar acquisition to Heaney, from the Cubs' perspective: helpful, but uninspiring. If they go that route, it will be because they can acquire the hurler in question at a highly appealing price.

That said, the team is not as focused on acquiring a truly top-end starter as many fans are, sources with direct knowledge of their mindset said. While they'd love to land a pitcher like Alcántara or Atlanta's Chris Sale (another member of a team not yet sure they're willing to act as sellers), the Cubs have also put out feelers about many lower-wattage, controllable arms. Before he had to undergo Tommy John surgery himself, Atlanta hurler AJ Smith-Shawver was very much on their radar. They've also monitored the availability of Rockies righty Ryan Feltner.

Finally, both the Rays (33-29, but playing before tiny crowds and in a sweltering home park for the balance of the season, and always open to shifting resources, anyway) and Diamondbacks (31-31, in fourth place in the NL West and staring down the barrel of possible elbow surgery for Corbin Burnes) have multiple arms to whom the Cubs will be correctly connected in the coming weeks. Zac Gallen's regression this year has dented his market, and Arizona might ultimately prefer to hold onto him unless he gets back on track under their watch. They can extend him a qualifying offer this fall, as he hits free agency, and recuperate draft picks if he signs elsewhere. To acquire him now, a team still has to top the value of that compensation, and then some. However, Merrill Kelly is also due to become a free agent this autumn, and his literal price tag (just $4 million or so, for the balance of this year) will help Arizona move him for good value. Kelly would slot into the middle or back of the Cubs' rotation, but his style suits theirs, and he's a good bet to stay healthy and soak up innings, without making you nervous once the playoffs roll around (the way, for instance, Colin Rea does).

Tampa's rotation includes multiple players who might be available, too. Zack Littell is the most obvious, a rental starter who has taken the ball consistently and maintained a sub-4.00 ERA across more than 300 innings since the Rays moved him to the rotation in July 2023. The Cubs are slightly wary of Tampa starters, who lean heavily on their secondary pitches. (No team in the league is more fastball-forward than the Cubs.) However, Littell has been a topic of conversation between the teams. So, according to one source, has been Drew Rasmussen, who can be controlled all the way through 2027 on an affordable extension he signed in January.

Rasmussen, who has a fascinating history of betting on himself and of returning from a litany of injuries, is a phenomenal strike-thrower. At 29, he has a career ERA of 2.82. Because of myriad health issues, though, he's still shy of 375 career innings. Already, the 63 innings he's pitched this year are more than he's thrown in any campaign since 2022. The Cubs like his stuff profile, which includes five average or better pitches, but they might not be willing to match Tampa's asking price for a pitcher so fraught with breakdown risk.

Hoyer has been forthcoming about the fact that the team will add to its pitching staff this summer. That much is not up for debate. What shape that acquisition takes, however, is still anyone's guess. There have been more active conversations between the Cubs and other teams than is typical for this time of year, but that might not translate into actual action for another month or more. When it does, it might not take the splashy form many fans are hoping for, but those options do still exist.

View full article

[Connor McConnor]

FFS don't move Shaw.  

[Bertz]

This is great, really great.  A couple things catch my eye in particular:

- The team "not necessarily being as focused on a top-end starter as the fans."  I'm aligned if they're not going out hunting for a Cy Young contender, but I assume the plan is to net a legitimate playoff starter?  Like you don't need Chris Sale but I do think you *need* someone else at least Matt Boyd caliber?

- The Ryan McMahon stuff is interesting, but if you bring him in for Nico that feels ideally like an offseason move.  Nico's a big part of the clubhouse, and moving Shaw or McMahon back over to second feels like it would temporarily hobble the defense while either guy got back used to the position and in sync with Dansby.  That said Nico is part of the post '26 roster cliff while McMahon is signed for an additional year.  Plus McMahon as a lefty infielder is a good fit, and I assume there's some low hanging player development fruit to get more out of him than the Rockies have been lately

- I also really like Drew Rasmussen.  Passan flagged him in his column earlier this week, and I think Rasmussen and Fairbanks is pretty much ideal one stop shopping for Jed.  And then tying back to the last point

[JBears79]

Good article. Couple thoughts

I aint moving Shaw for anything short of Skenes. 

Moving Nico for a starter and bringing in McMahon seems like a pretty dumb move imo. Nico is a big part of this team and we have seen how important his contributions at the bottom of the order have been to the offense.

Im very interested in Drew Rassmussen

Edited June 6, 2025 by JBears79

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Rassmussen Is interesting, but wouldn’t he come with similar innings management considerations as Brown, Horton, and Boyd?

[G.Krisch]

If Toronto drops back a bit, I can see a trade for Bassitt or Gausman. Innings eaters as a floor, with the potential to be more.