Chicago Cubs: 3 Jason Heyward trades that might work

I know a lot of Chicago Cubs fans likely read the headline of this article and laughed. Why in the world would anyone trade for Jason Heyward? We’ve argued on these pages that the Cubs need to cut ties with Heyward, and while the team unloaded seemingly everyone else at this year’s trade deadline, Heyward remains on this team.

Admittedly, the situation is different from that of the big names that were moved, such as Kris Bryant. Heyward still has two years and $44 million left on his contract, and he has badly underperformed for most of his contract that started in 2016. In fact, after a somewhat encouraging 2020, 2021 might have been the worst season of his career. Due to injury, he will sit out the remainder of this season.

Chicago Cubs: Is a Jason Heyward trade possible?

The good news is that, if the Cubs do want to unload Heyward this offseason, at least he doesn’t have a lot of years left on the contract. A lot of fans will argue that they should simply release him and eat the rest of the money, but perhaps there is some hope that they could trade him to another team and get SOMETHING in return, even if it’s another team’s bad contract.

Again, a lot of fans think this is hopeless. However, if the Cubs are willing to take on another player currently signed to a bad deal, maybe they can make something work. Now you might be wondering, why would they do that? It could be to give both Heyward and another player a change of scenery and a fresh start, but more importantly from the Cubs’ perspective, it would send a message that they are fully moving on from the mid-2010s era.

Here we will look at three trade possibilities. While none of these are ideal, perhaps the Cubs and another team could make the most of a bad situation for both clubs.