Cubs: Tearing it down and trading everyone is the way to go

The initial reading of that headline to this story probably makes you, the reader, think I’m nuts. Maybe I am, but history is not on the Cubs‘ side when it comes to keeping impending free agents.

The most recent example is the 2017 Kansas City Royals. Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Mike Moustakas among others were all impending free agents. That was a pretty good chunk of their offensive production, and in a lot of ways that Royals’ team is similar to the Cubs.

KC won the World Series in 2015, and was unable to re-ignite the magic the remaining years of their window before everybody left. Chicago won the World Series in 2016 and have yet to find its own magic of that year again, in what could potentially the final year of their window.

Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo, along with Craig Kimbrel, are the big free agents after this year. Kansas City didn’t trade their guys, and ended up as big losers the next couple seasons. The Cubs cannot make the same mistake.

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Look at other teams like the Yankees and White Sox, they traded off some assets around the deadline and had a short “rebuild,” most notably Aroldis Chapman for Gleyber Torres in 2016.

There is no rule that says the Cubs can’t re-sign these players this winter. However Jed Hoyer and the Ricketts’ family have given no indication that they really want to re-sign any of these players. Nico Hoerner can slide over to shortstop, and David Bote *gulp* can continue to play every day at third. However the Cubs lose all of Bryant’s versatility and Rizzo’s Gold Glove defense at first. Those aren’t easily replaceable, and they may not be replaceable at all in the long run.

Cubs need to shake things up

The rationale behind “giving it one more good go” at a championship is there, and it might be a very good argument, but the Cubs need to realize that even if they get in to the postseason, they don’t stand a chance against a full strength Padres or Dodgers team over the course of a full series. Heck, Chicago struggles to beat a short-handed Brewers club as it is.

If Bryant keeps hitting, would it really hurt to call the Padres or Dodgers and see if they’ll give you a player like Kody Hoese or Michael Busch, or even see if San Diego will give you some pitchers. Maybe the Red Sox will give you a guy like Blaze Jordan or Noah Song. The answer is likely no, but the Cubs will never know until they ask.

Simply not even exploring the market for these players is complete malpractice. Of course, not re-signing just one of them is also malpractice, and the front office doesn’t exactly have a lot of friends in the fanbase right now, so patience is wearing thin. What Chicago does with their big names is going to be a big story line heading toward the trade deadline, hopefully they make the right decision.