Chicago Cubs Rumors: Kris Bryant to the Rays? Anthony Rizzo to Boston?

After the Chicago Cubs sent lefty reliever Andrew Chafin to the Oakland Athletics on Monday night, the floodgates broke wide open on the Cubs rumors front.

We’ve known for some time that Chicago prefers to hold onto guys like Kyle Hendricks and Javier Baez. Most recently, we heard reports that Baez was seeking a deal in excess of $200 million – and the latest from Gordon Wittenmyer suggests there are no talks currently ongoing with the Cubs shortstop.

Hendricks is cost-controlled and remains one of the most consistent starting pitchers in baseball. So, knowing the front office isn’t envisioning this turnover being a lengthy, drawn-out process, it makes sense Jed Hoyer wants to keep the former Cy Young finalist in the mix unless he’s completely overwhelmed by an offer ahead of Friday’s deadline.

So let’s dive right in. Here is a collection of the latest rumblings from around the league and what it could mean for the team.

Chicago Cubs Rumors: The low-budget Tampa Bay Rays are eyeing Kris Bryant?

Wait, what? Seriously when I saw this report earlier today, I had to read it twice. Doesn’t Kris Bryant make roughly a third of the Rays’ entire payroll? Well, not quite. He’s due just $6.8 million through the end of the year, with Tampa Bay’s payroll coming in just under $75 million.

The Rays made a splash when they traded for slugger Nelson Cruz, then dumped Rich Hill to save three-quarters of a million bucks and help off-set at least some of the move. To see them connected not only to Bryant, but another free agent-to-be in Nationals ace Max Scherzer is pretty wild.

The former National League MVP has re-established himself in a big way this year, despite a slump that’s gone on for some time at the dish. He brings tremendous defensive versatility and it’s not hard to see why Tampa Bay would like to add him to the mix for the stretch run.

This feels a lot like one of those scenarios where Chicago pays a good chunk of Bryant’s remaining salary in order to get a stronger return from the Rays prospect-wise. Tampa Bay has one of the best young talent pipelines in the game and if the Cubs are ready to eat some money, Hoyer might just pry away a big name.

Chicago Cubs Rumors: At least 7 teams interested in Craig Kimbrel

Craig Kimbrel might be the single most sought-after arm on the trade market this year. The future Hall of Famer picked up right where he left off late in 2020 and has re-established himself as a premier ninth-inning arm this year.

Boasting a 0.49 ERA in 39 appearances, the bearded right-hander is drawing interest from at least seven teams – including the Red Sox and White Sox – according to Bruce Levine. The South Siders previously scouted both Ryan Tepera and Andrew Chafin, as well, although the latter is obviously now a member of the Oakland Athletics.

This is the one move Hoyer has to hit on. Kimbrel has an insane amount of value – not only for his dominance this year, but also the fact he can be retained for 2022 via an option in his contract. That means, if you’re a contender set up to be in the hunt not only this year, but next, you can pencil the flamethrower in for more than a couple months.

The San Diego Padres have also been connected to Kimbrel, although it looks like they’re trying to package one of their top five prospects with Eric Hosmer’s albatross contract to get back under the luxury tax threshold. It’ll be interesting to see if Chicago gets in on that action, taking on a bad contract in order to get their hands on one of baseball’s top young talents.