Chicago Cubs: 3 offseason trades to bolster the starting rotation

Somehow, the Chicago Cubs have been quite enjoyable to watch the last week or so. They are currently riding a six-game winning streak which, ironically ties a season best dating back to when the core was still intact. That sort of puts into perspective two things. One, the core was underperforming and two, certain players on the new iteration of the team aren’t nearly as bad as expected.

One thing that has been atrocious, however, is the starting rotation. Even Kyle Hendricks has struggled mightily as of late. The front office claims this is a re-tool but in order to pull that off, the club can’t be having full months with nearly 7.00 ERA combined amongst starters. There’s just no way you can compete with numbers like that.

With that in mind, they absolutely must fix the rotation if they look to turn the ship around. There is just no way around it. The Cubs are putting up decent enough numbers in the second half and you have to stop and think, if they actually have competent pitching, a lot of these games could be winnable after all.

As we’ve noted, there is a plethora of free agents available in the offseason this year, but Chicago could deploy their recently restocked prospect ranks to attack the trade market as well. Specifically, if you target guys on expiring contracts, you can always re-evaluate – while also avoiding trading away major prospects.

Let’s take a look at three pitchers the Cubs need to target via the trade block.