5 Chicago Cubs MLB trade deadline chips whose value is skyrocketing

The time is coming for some serious decision making in the Chicago Cubs front office. By now we’ve all heard the rumors, we know the speculation. This team is going to be sellers at the end of the month. It is an unfortunate way to end an unquestionably successful era of Cubs baseball that dates back to 2015.

Seems like yesterday they were hoisting the World Series trophy in 2016. At the same time, it seems like forever ago. Nevertheless, here we are. Less than a week and a half away from the July 30 trade deadline, it’s time to look at who currently has high value in terms of trade, whether or not they should be moved and why.

5 Chicago Cubs whose trade value is skyrocketing: 5 – Dillon Maples.

There’s quite a few things I love about Maples. For one, he is currently under team control until 2027. He is still very cost effective, something teams love. Even better, his career ERA is up there at 5.06 in 48 innings of work. However, in 2021 he owns a 33.7 strikeout rate and 1.89 ERA in 24 frames to go alone with a minuscule .122 batting average against. That is half of his major league career thus far. This clearly means he has found something and is putting it all together.

Cost effective with great numbers is the type of combination any GM can’t resist. However, to simply trade Maples by himself if you’re the Cubs wouldn’t make much sense from a financial standpoint or any standpoint to be honest. However, when you pair Maples with the possibly of trading one of your all stars such as Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel, etc, now all of the sudden you’re putting together a package that could have a mighty nice return from a contending team looking to stay atop of their division.

With Maples quietly putting it all together, the question would simply be, what is a team willing to give up in terms of their higher prospects for a potential package of Kimbrel and Maples, for example? Kimbrel has a club option for 2022 and Maples’ contract is dirt cheap. Is that enough to net you a blue chip talent in return?