Chicago Cubs could look to family ties in a Kris Bryant blockbuster

All eyes are on Chicago Cubs and Kris Bryant. With recent reports of KB garnering interest from the New York Mets, it begs the question: How soon will Jed Hoyer pull the trigger?

Bryant seems like the odd man out in terms of being traded, as new reports suggest the Cubs are still working to extend Rizzo and Baez - although the likelihood of pulling something together with those guys seems low, to say the least.

Who will be the next team to swoop in and snatch up members of the Cubs’ current roster? The Washington Nationals? San Diego Padres? How about the Boston Red Sox?

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With Joc Pederson being traded to Atlanta, Hoyer has now proven he is serious about trading his guys to get the best value he can moving forward. We are waiting with eyes wide open awareness to see what he does next. If one thing is for sure, everybody is available for the right price.

The idea of Anthony Rizzo to the Boston Red Sox has already been discussed.  It also makes a lot of sense for Boston to target Rizzo and I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened.  It is important to note as well that it had also been said back in March that the Cubs front office were very confident they would still reach an agreement with Rizzo.

My best guess would simply be that if anyone in the core were staying, It’s Rizzo. If that is the case, there still happens to be another star player on the Cubs bound for free agency that can play first base… as well as third and all three outfield positions. See where I’m going with this?

Kris Bryant’s versatility is unmatched by anybody on the Cubs right now. Aside from maybe Craig Kimbrel due to an extra year of team control, he’s easily the most valuable as a trade chip, too. His recent power outage notwithstanding, he is still having a solid comeback year at the plate.

First base on Boston is currently occupied by Bobby Dalbec who is slashing .219/.264/.409 with 53 hits in 242 at-bats and an insufficient -1.1 WAR on the season. The other majority of at-bats at first base have gone to Marwin Gonzalez, who’s slashing .205/.286/.297 with 45 hits in 202 ABs and a 0.2 WAR. Needless to say, there isn’t much going on at first base for Boston right now.

Chicago Cubs: Kris Bryant could give the Red Sox a big boost at first

Bringing in the former Rookie of the Year and National League MVP would help any team out significantly due to his ability to play five positions. Adding his bat to the lineup in front of JD Martinez and Xander Bogaerts certainly can’t hurt either.

With the added bonus of the DH, it would give the Sox a chance to rest their players more and opens up more possibilities according to analytics and match ups for any given day.

The Boston Red Sox currently sit atop of the AL East with a record of 56-36 but only 1 1/2 games up on the Tampa Bay Rays. That means one thing. They are buying. Adding the human Swiss army knife in Bryant could not only help Boston come out on top, It adds invaluable playoff experience to go along with Martinez, Bogaerts and Rafael Devers.

Another reason you can just sense Boston will be all in at the deadline is the swirling reports that Chris Sale is nearly back after Tommy John Surgery and missing the 2020 season. Currently touching 97 MPH on his fast ball, Sale is a strikeout machine that eats innings like the best of them. When fully healthy and on his game he is nearly unhittable.

With Sale coming back at full strength, not playing the entire season this year, it almost acts as if the left-hander was just brought in again for the first time. The Boston Red Sox currently have a 57.8 percent chance to win the division. With additions of Kris Bryant in the line up and Chris Sale in the rotation, that number can drastically increase in the coming weeks.