5 colossal trade chips in the impending Chicago Cubs fire sale

Mired in the midst of a losing streak of apocalyptic proportions that just hit 10 consecutive games, it’s hard to imagine that just a couple weeks ago, nearly every Chicago Cubs fan was calling for a Max Scherzer or comparable starting pitcher to bolster the North Siders’ starting rotation.

Alas, things have irrevocably changed and it was probably just the thing the naysayers, pessimists and Tom Ricketts wanted. Ick. Sitting at 42-43 and 8 1/2 games behind first-place Milwaukee, the Cubs have almost certainly expedited that sell-off that many felt was coming in the offseason, even if they did create a lot of excitement and turn around the idea of what many thought the Cubs would be in the first three months.

There have just been too many of the old issues and persistent problems from the last three disappointing seasons to think this year could possibly be an outlier or coincidence.

Chicago Cubs as sellers means some serious trades are coming soon

That brings us to the inevitable and somewhat uncomfortable task of figuring out where the Cubs are going to be shipping off their biggest trade chips and assets and how much they’re going to be getting in return. While Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras and Craig Kimbrel may have seemed like integral parts to a possible division winner and march to the postseason just weeks ago, but now they’re going to be assets used to set the Cubs up in the near and far future.