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<\/p>\nTo be clear, Chicago Cubs officials do not expect to execute any major trades at this point in the baseball calendar. Recent history shows the Fourth of July would be considered early for action, given the pace at which most clubs operate and how much can change before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.<\/p>\n
But it is the front office\u2019s job to constantly brainstorm ideas, gather information and anticipate where those markets are moving. That\u2019s especially true when the club looks like a legitimate World Series contender.<\/p>\n
At some point, those forces should create a sense of urgency for Cubs executives Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins, who are currently looking at smaller moves to compensate for a voluminous amount of injuries. They have to be wondering: Who\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
Cade Horton is recovering from season-ending surgery on his right elbow, Justin Steele is dealing with a flexor strain in his left elbow, and Matthew Boyd is hoping to return from a surgical procedure on his left knee within six weeks. If healthy, those three starters might have fronted a playoff rotation.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Cubs are being constantly reminded of this adage: You can never have enough pitching. With that in mind, here is a preliminary list of 10 potential names that could be on the club\u2019s radar:<\/p>\n
Logan Webb (RHP), Robbie Ray (LHP); San Francisco Giants<\/p>\n
The Giants went against the grain with Saturday\u2019s trade of Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey, but a fire sale isn\u2019t underway just yet.<\/p>\n
The typically reliable Webb just landed on the injured list with bursitis in his right knee, and he has a 5.06 ERA. Assuming the knee issue isn\u2019t significant, that shouldn\u2019t scare off the Cubs, whose excellent defense would support Webb and his 58.5 percent ground-ball rate.<\/p>\n
Webb is an innings-eater, and he won\u2019t hit the free-agent market until after the 2028 season. The price to acquire him would be enormous, but he is a legitimate ace.<\/p>\n
Ray is an arm the Cubs have liked for years. His injury history is much spottier than Webb\u2019s, but the results are certainly there this season (2.76 ERA, 1.095 WHIP), and he\u2019s an impending free agent. He makes a lot of sense for the Giants to move.<\/p>\n
Freddy Peralta (RHP), Clay Holmes (RHP); New York Mets<\/p>\n
The Mets are again shaping up to be one of the biggest flops in baseball history. It\u2019s unlikely they will start selling soon. But come July, if they\u2019re still out of it, these are two particular names to monitor.<\/p>\n
Peralta often gave the Cubs fits when he pitched for the Milwaukee Brewers. He has a good relationship with Cubs manager Craig Counsell from their time together in Milwaukee, and he can become a free agent after this season. Cubs fans would just have to alter the cadence of the \u201cFred-dy! Fred-dy!\u201d chants at Wrigley Field, but that wouldn\u2019t be too complicated.<\/p>\n
Holmes is a ground-ball machine, and that would fit in nicely with a rotation that loves to rely on its defense. Holmes holds a $12 million player option for 2027 that will likely be declined, as long as he stays healthy.<\/p>\n
Zac Gallen (RHP), Michael Soroka (RHP); Arizona Diamondbacks<\/p>\n
The Diamondbacks are not an organization that easily concedes, and there is plenty of time to get above .500 and create the kind of momentum that propelled their 2023 World Series run. Keeping pace in the National League West will still be difficult.<\/p>\n
The Cubs did not make an offer to Gallen this past offseason, though they kept a running dialogue with his representative, Scott Boras, and the free agent worked out at Alex Bregman\u2019s facility in Arizona. Gallen returned to the Diamondbacks on a one-year, $22.025 million contract, a deal that did not fit within Chicago\u2019s budget. The draft-pick compensation and short-term commitment were also complicating factors.<\/p>\n
Soroka was mostly a disappointment after the Cubs acquired him at last year\u2019s trade deadline, but that was due to injury. And the Cubs were probably onto something with Soroka, a one-time All-Star starter who has made meaningful mid-career adjustments.<\/p>\n
Sandy Alcantara (RHP); Miami Marlins<\/p>\n
The Marlins have frequently engaged the Cubs in trade conversations during these in-season and offseason transaction periods, from the Jes\u00fas Luzardo deal that Chicago ended to the Edward Cabrera trade that crossed the finish line. The Marlins are becoming a more competitive club, though it\u2019s hard to see them winning multiple playoff rounds. Alcantara, 30, appears to be fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, more closely resembling the pitcher who once won a Cy Young Award.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Two seasons removed from surgery, Sandy Alcantara is beginning to resemble his former Cy Young form. (Sam Navarro \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Joe Ryan (RHP); Minnesota Twins<\/p>\n
The Twins were in contact with the Cubs during their teardown at last year\u2019s trade deadline. Ryan, in the middle of his first All-Star season, did not get traded. He recently underwent an MRI on his right elbow. Though he was cleared to make his next start, that could be seen as a red flag.<\/p>\n
Sonny Gray (RHP); Boston Red Sox<\/p>\n
The Red Sox are off to a terrible start and could use a reset. Gray is an obvious candidate to be moved as a pending free agent. But would Boston\u2019s chief baseball officer, Craig Breslow, make a challenge trade involving a young starter such as Payton Tolle or Connelly Early? This past offseason, the Red Sox were eyeing both Nico Hoerner (who is no longer available) and Matt Shaw. Maybe a top prospect such as Kevin Alc\u00e1ntara would be enticing? The Cubs could improve this year\u2019s club while also building out their rotation for the future.<\/p>\n
Foster Griffin (LHP); Washington Nationals<\/p>\n
The Nationals may have found a viable major-league starter in Griffin, a pitcher the Cubs extensively scouted in Japan. A 2014 first-round pick by the Kansas City Royals, Griffin bounced around before landing with the Yomiuri Giants. In leaving Nippon Professional Baseball after three strong seasons, Griffin wasn\u2019t overwhelmed with interest \u2014 the Nationals signed him to a one-year, $5.5 million contract \u2014 but the early returns (4-1, 2.12 ERA) are promising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To be clear, Chicago Cubs officials do not expect to execute any major trades at this point in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":788625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1271,1266,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-788624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116555692540009585","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}