Cubs may find their next trade target in the wake of Red Sox signing Jake Bauers

Once on the brink of retirement, Jake Bauers emerged as a serious piece of the Milwaukee Brewers' puzzle this year, breaking out and parlaying that showing into a new four-year, $58 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

The World Series champion and NLCS MVP joins a Red Sox team that rebounded from a slow start to win 87 games before getting swept in the Wild Card Round. The initial plan is for Bauers to be the team's primary designated hitter, giving Willson Contreras blows as he needs them at first. The odd man out in all of this, though, seems to be former first-rounder Triston Casas.

I know, I know. This is a Chicago Cubs blog, so why am I talking about the Red Sox signing a former Brewers player? Because the Cubs still need to replace the offense provided by the likely departing Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ and Casas very quickly appears to be running out of runway in Boston.

Casas, still just 26, missed the entire 2026 season due to injuries and has to realistic path to everyday playing time with the Red Sox at this point. We're several years removed from his 2023 third-place finish in AL Rookie of the Year voting, which is unfortunately the last time he played 100 games. Since the start of the 2024 campaign, he's totaled just 92 games and 355 plate appearances, slashing a disappointing .222/.318/.412.

Red Sox' Triston Casas could be a sneaky buy-low Cubs trade target

It doesn't seem like Craig Breslow is married to the idea of Casas being anything significant for the team moving forward - to the point I don't see a reason why Jed Hoyer shouldn't at least pick up the phone and see what it would take to acquire him.

He's got two years of control remaining, which is valuable in and of itself, but Boston might wait to see how he performs in the Dominican Winter League in case he boosts his trade value with a strong showing. In Chicago, he could be a primary DH and a quality backup option at first on days when Craig Counsell wants to get Michael Busch off his feet.

Given the sheer volume of pitching Hoyer and the Cubs need to bring in, these outside-the-box trade ideas are one avenue the team could accomplish another need that's rarely being talked about: replacing two integral parts of baseball's best offense.

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