Chicago Cubs: Five potential trades with the American League West

Chicago Cubs: A bag of balls might get this deal done

Barring a monetary miracle in the new year, the Cubs aren’t going to be able to pay Mike Minor or Corey Kluber, even if they could pry either away from Texas in a trade. Thus, we’re left with a bit of a reach in my prospective trade with the Rangers- for a guy who isn’t even on their major league roster right now.

Theo Epstein once drafted Blake Swihart in the first round way back in 2011 before departing Boston for bluer pastures in Chicago. After tearing up the minor leagues and hitting the ground running in Beantown in 2015, Swihart has produced negative fWAR ever since. I’m not sure things are ever going to work back out for the once top prospect, but if anyone is going to give it a shot, it might be the guy who originally drafted him.

Swihart signed a minor league deal (with invite to spring training) with the Rangers earlier this month, so there’s not a ton of incentive to make a trade with the Cubs at this point, but a bag of balls or some bubble gum might be enough to let the Cubs give him a go in Spring Training. I admit this trade isn’t glamorous, likely, or likely to succeed, however the connection to Epstein and his pedigree make this an eyebrow raiser for at least two and a half seconds.

If the deal doesn’t work out, it didn’t cost the Cubs very much, and if by some miracle it would work out and Swihart would rekindle some of his once golden sheen, it still wouldn’t cost the Cubs very much at all. Swihart, while mostly a catcher with the Red Sox, was a converted shortstop who has played every position except shortstop and centerfield in the majors. Not that he plays any position well, but he is passable and usable at different spots and could represent exactly the kind of guy the 26th man will become for most clubs.