Four Popular Cubs Trade Targets, According To Fans

[Brock Beauchamp]

Image courtesy of IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

We recently asked our forum community about which trade targets they'd like the Cubs to pursue at the deadline. After many users chimed in with their opinions, here are the players who received the most mentions.

Luke Weaver, RHP - New York Mets

A well-established high-leverage reliever having his best year on a massively disappointing team, Weaver is just about perfectly situated to be traded for a haul and to be a main character come October. He’s always had good swing-and-miss stuff, and is filling up the strike zone better than ever, working with a simple three-pitch mix and excellent command. The Mets are slated to pay him $12.5 million in 2027, and for them, that’s a drop in the bucket, so they might even pay down some of his salary to maximize the return in a trade. Neither on this year’s moribund club nor on next year’s is he likely to have a greater impact on the organization’s fortunes than he can have as a trade chip on a market starved for top-flight right-handed relievers.

Adrian Morejon, LHP - San Diego Padres

Few pitchers in the game can throw 100-MPH sinkers. Even fewer can do it left-handed. Fewer still fill up the strike zone, though, and that’s what makes Morejón special. He’s a rental arm, headed for free agency this fall, but before that happens, he can be a transformative arm in October. The Padres benefited from his emergence as that kind of difference-maker last fall; they’re likely to cash him in for a high-value return and let another team realize those benefits this time.

Casey Mize, RHP - Detroit Tigers

The first overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft came into pro ball throwing strikes, and hasn’t stopped. However, injuries and the mysteries of pitching development have held him back in all bids to be the frontline starter the Tigers hoped they were getting with that selection. This year, he’s figured out the latter. He’s now missing bats like a high-end starter, with a pitch mix that has become exceptionally varied. Injuries haven’t stopped nagging and nipping at him, but he’s showing the feel and command that were supposed to make him an elite starter. That it’s happening amid a season in which the Tigers just can’t get untracked is deeply unfortunate, but that it’s happening at all gives the team a chance to cash him in for some real long-term value, rather than watching him leave for modest draft-pick compensation this winter.

Mason Miller, RHP - San Diego Padres

It’s extremely rare for a one-inning reliever to be the top name on the trade market, but if he’s made available, that’s exactly what Miller will be. No one else with a realistic chance to be dealt (however slim) has a blend of potential playoff impact and affordable team control that can match his. His fastball’s ability to touch 104 MPH grabs the headlines, but his slider is his best pitch. Hitters have realized their only hope is not to swing, so his walk rate is rising, but he misses so many bats that (95% of the time) it just doesn’t matter. The Padres are close enough to playoff position to keep him, but if they get a chance to cash him in for both present and future help in a large enough quantity, they have to at least listen.

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