Why does every third topic on the cubs board turn into a sox topic? The sox aren't trading Sale to begin with. That's never been Kenny/Sox FO's MO. The only "top tier" starter(using that loosely) I ever remember then trading was Esteban Loaiza and they got Jose Contreras back in that trade. I don't see why they'd trade Quintana either. Both are 25 and if you pair them with hopefully Rodon being a good that's a very solid staff. It leaves them a bunch of room to find 4/5 starters.
I've made this comment before but I think the nationals might be a team that makes sense for the cubs to trade with. First of all they have basically said they aren't going to re-sign Desmond at SS because he wants too much money. Jordan Zimmermann is a 2016 FA. Gio Gonzalez has I believe 2 option years in 2017/18. Doug Fister is arb 3 next year and a 2016 FA. Stephen Strasburg is a 2017 FA. Lucas Giolito is a 65 grade by mlb.com and A.J. Cole is a 55 which should make them roughly 2/3 starters maybe more if they live up to the hype. Zimmerman was arguably a better pitcher than Strasburg this year. 2016 in particular is going to be tough for them as LaRoche, Zimmerman, Soriano, Desmond, Span(if they pick up his 2015 option), Fister, Thorton, and Clippard are all FAs. To have to pay all those players in 2016 and then find the money for Strasburg in 2017 seems difficult at their current payroll levels. Giolito finished in A ball so he's 2-3 years away. Cole however finished in AAA and could theoretically be ready for the majors to start next season.
What I would do is try to work a trade around Strasburg/Baez. It almost certainly would require more than just Baez but in theory he would give them a replacement option for Desmond. Asdrubal Cabrera who they traded for to play 2B is a 2015 FA. Baez gives them some leverage against Desmond. If Desmond doesn't play ball, you can deal him for something else, play Baez at SS/2B and re-sign Cabrera at SS/2B. And while losing Strasburg would hurt them, you're still talking about a rotation featuring Zimmerman, Fister and Gonzalez as your top 3 pitchers. That's by no means "bad." Cole could come up and be a solid 4/5. Tanner Roark who's 27 but still pre-arb pitched really well for them with a 2.85 ERA over roughly 200 IP. Additionally, Giolito gives you some top end in 2-3 years.
From the cubs perspective, I've voiced my displeasure on Baez but even if you just look at 2015, you can argue Valbuena is the better option at 2B with presumably Olt filling 3B until May or whenever they decide to move up Bryant. Strasburg would obviously be a huge upgrade in the rotation and at 25 he fits well within that Castro and Rizzo core. And since he's still in arbitration he's relatively cheapish for the next 2 years. You're probably talking about around $7 mil in 2015 and $12-15 mil in 2016. That buys you some time until both tv contracts come up in 2019 I believe. Strasburg, Arrieta and Shields/Lester/Scherzer to go with Hendricks and Wood/Turner/Doubront/<whomever> would be a very solid rotation. From there you have Russell and Castro as SS/2B however they want to figure that out.
I'm not sure exactly what else it would take but if we use the 2011/12 trade of Mat Latos as a guide he went for Yonder Alonso, Brad Boxberger, Yasmani Grandal and Edinson Volquez. Volquez wasn't viewed highly at that point as he finished the 2011 season with a 5.29 ERA following a 2010 season with a 4 ERA. So, I'd call him organizational filler similar to what Justin Grimm was in the Garza deal. Boxberger was a decently well thought of reliever from what I can find from the time. He rated #9 on their prospect list coming into that season. Given that he's probably a similar value to someone like Corey Black or Paul Blackburn. Grandal and Alonso were the two big fish of the trade. Alonso ranked #33 going into 2012 on baseball americas top 100 and Grandal was #53. You could argue that Baez who was #5 going into 2014 is worth a similar value to those 2. So, it conceivably could cost as little as Baez plus one of their back of the rotation types in Doubront/Turner/Wood/Beeler...etc and someone like say Paul Blackburn. Even if you add someone like Vogelbach or Candelario to that deal it still seems very good from the cubs perspective. I don't think realistically you'd see the cubs add one of their top 8 or so guys to that given the feeling that Baez is a potential star and is basically on the cusp of the majors full time.
Whether or not the Nats feel high on Baez we obviously don't know but that's how I'd like to see them approach the logjam of players in the middle infield. I'm obviously down on Baez but even if he becomes what people expect is him for Strasburg really that bad of a deal? You're talking about a 26 year old with a career 3.02/2.84 ERA/FIP to go with a 10.34/2.30 k/9 and bb/9. Imagine giving Bosio that to work with rather than the cast off's we've seen thus far.That's basically as close as you're going to get for trading for a Clayton Kershaw who's 1 year older and has a career 2.48/2.73 ERA/FIP with 9.44/2.77 k/9 and bb/9 though his walk rate has dramatically dropped the past couple of years which in turn has allowed his ERA to drop around a run. And obviously we don't know that Strasburg is available. But, we do know that there is some potential issues for the Nats at SS assuming they don't change their mind on Desmond's re-signing. And we do know that 2016 is going to hit them pretty hard salary wise while they have a number of good pitchers currently. As such, it makes sense on paper.
