Chicago Cubs: 3 Jason Heyward trades that might work

Chicago Cubs: Trade Jason Heyward to the Washington Nationals for Patrick Corbin

The Cubs could go another route and try to get some pitching for Heyward. The Washington Nationals currently have at least two starting pitchers with bad contracts. Stephen Strasburg is a great pitcher when he’s healthy, but he’s had trouble staying on the mound and is still owed a ton of money.

Perhaps there’s a trade to be had for the southpaw Patrick Corbin instead. Corbin, 32, has two All-Star selections and two Cy Young Award places on his resume, but he was a major disappointment this year. In 31 starts, Corbin has posted a bloated 5.82 ERA. Four of his five starts in September have been good, so perhaps there’s hope he can turn things around in 2022. And on a roster full of question marks heading into next season, starting pitching is among the Cubs’ biggest needs.

The problem here, from the Cubs’ perspective, is that Corbin is still owed much more than Heyward is: $83.2 million over the next three years. So, a straight up swap would cost the Cubs close to $40 million. Perhaps the Nationals would be willing to pay a portion of Corbin’s salary to make the deal happen. Or, they could throw in a prospect or two.

Another thing to think about: Maybe the Nationals would throw in the disappointing Victor Robles for a change of scenery as well?

As far as trading for a starting pitcher, I thought about including a trade for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Madison Bumgarner; however, the Nationals are more likely to try to be contenders in the near future than the Diamondbacks are, and therefore, a veteran addition like Heyward would make more sense for them than it would for Arizona.

As I stated earlier, none of these trades are ideal. However, maybe a swap of bad contracts could be good for both the Cubs and another team involved. We’ll see if the Cubs try to take this route this offseason.