Chicago Cubs Rumors: Team pivoting away from Zach Britton?

Chicago Cubs Rumors: Adding much needed backup to the mix

Remember when Dylan Bundy represented one of the premier pitching prospects in the game? Yeah, those days are gone. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing – especially if you’re the Cubs.

Bundy enters Tuesday with an unsightly 4.86 FIP, 1.9 HR/9 and 1.302 WHIP. He’s allowed nearly a hit per inning this season (106 hits in 108 innings of work spanning 19 starts) but is putting up the best strikeout-to-walk ratio of his career (3.31).

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Primarily, he’s a fastball-slider guy. He throws one of those two pitches roughly 80 percent of the time. In my mind, at least, that makes him ideal to become an all-out reliever as opposed to a starter. His opponents’ highest OPS come in their second and third times through the order. Meanwhile, first time through, he has limited batters to a .235 clip.

With Mike Montgomery in the rotation filling in for an injured Yu Darvish, the Cubs desperately need a guy out in the pen who can eat innings. The O’s right-hander could slot in perfectly with this group, giving Chicago a workhorse capable of giving the short-relief arms a much-needed blow.

His fastball velocity has declined in each of the last three years. Now, there is hardly any differentiation between his heater and slide-piece (92.1 MPH on his fastball, 92.0 MPH on his slider this season).

Could all-out efforts in bursts out of the pen make him more productive? It wouldn’t be the first time such a solution has panned out and helped reshape a guy’s career.

Chicago Cubs Rumors: More unrealized potential in Gausman

If nothing else, Kevin Gausman has been a horse in his career. 2018 seems likely to be his third consecutive season making at least 30 starts. The arbitration-eligible right-hander, another former first-round pick of the O’s, represents a very interesting trade target for the Cubs.

In 20 outings this year, Gausman owns a 4.59 ERA, 1.368 WHIP and, for the second straight year, he’s allowing 10 hits per nine. This guy isn’t missing many bats – but only walks 2.3 batters per nine. I think after dealing with Tyler Chatwood‘s maddening inconsistencies, we’d all be happy with a pitch-to-contact guy.

Not to mention, the righty has some postseason experience under his belt – which has obvious value to a team like Chicago. He could slot into the bullpen and bridge the gap from Jon Lester, Jose Quintana and Kyle Hendricks to guys like Pedro Strop and Brandon Morrow in the late innings.

We’re talking about a guy who led the American League in starts last season. You could do far worse than adding someone with affordable team control to the mix – giving you an asset not just for the second half of 2018, but for years to come.

Chicago Cubs Rumors: Can they get a deal done with the O’s?

It seems to be a foregone conclusion. The Cubs will get a deal done before the July 31 non-waiver deadline Now, whether or not they do so with Baltimore remains another story entirely.

I have to think that, given the teams’ back-and-forth on Britton, the Cubs’ odds are pretty solid here. There’s clear familiarity with trade chips, prospects – so on and so forth. The Orioles desperately need a full-blown rebuild and the Cubs have some low-level guys that could be the start of that process.

Next: Cubs aren't banking on Darvish ahead of deadline

Either of these guys represent a buy-low move. While they certainly have their respective upsides, neither are stepping into a rotation and winning Cy Young Awards. At least, not yet. But it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen an Orioles-Cubs trade work out that way, right?