The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline is here and figures to be a franchise-altering week for the Chicago Cubs as they deconstruct the core that won the 2016 World Series in an effort to replenish their farm system and begin the construction of a new core.
Entering the week, the Cubs were essentially the Cinderella of all the sellers at the Major League Baseball trade deadline. Between closer Craig Kimbrel; relief pitchers Andrew Chafin and Ryan Tepera; position players Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Anthony Rizzo; and starting pitcher Kyle Davies, the Cubs have something to offer any contending team.
The Cubs kicked off what is likely to be their trade frenzy on Monday night as they sent Chafin to the Oakland Athletics for prospects Greg Deichmann and Daniel Palencia. Kimbrel and Bryant are likely the next two dominoes to fall but there has been some question as to how sincere Cubs would be in trading Baez.
To that end, Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago reports that industry sources expect the Cubs to hold onto Baez and starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks:
In fact, industry sources expect the Cubs to keep Hendricks and shortstop Javy Baez through Friday’s lone trade deadline of the season, suggesting at least part of what team president Jed Hoyer might have been talking about earlier this month when he pushed back on those who want to call the Cubs’ 2021 transition and upcoming selloff a “rebuild.”
Javier Baez and Kyle Hendricks could be two factors for the next core of the Chicago Cubs.
Baez is a free agent after season but is the most likely of all the Cubs’ current core members to sign a long-term contract extension with the team. There had been reports in recent weeks that the Cubs were going to approach Baez about a possible extension prior to the deadline but nothing has materialized since then.
Hendricks, meanwhile, has been a stranger to the Cubs’ trade rumors this season. Part of the reason why Hendricks’ name has not been mentioned in Cubs’ trade rumors is that he likely does factor into the next contending core of the team. Hendricks is under team control through the 2023 season with a team-friendly salary of $14 million per season.
The goal that the Cubs have at this season’s trade deadline is not necessarily to rebuild but to retool. Retool in the sense of replenishing the team’s farm system while identifying the players on their current Major League roster that are going to be a part of the next contending core. It would appear that Baez at shortstop and Hendricks in the starting rotation do factor into that next core of the Chicago Cubs.
