Cubs Rumors: Chicago shockingly connected to top offseason trade target

With the Winter Meetings on deck, the hot stove is heating up - and while it seems like pure speculation on the part of national insider Jon Morosi - seeing the Chicago Cubs connected to the biggest starting pitching name on the trade market certainly got everyone's attention.

What do the Cubs and Reds have in common? Both possess a ton of high-quality, young position players - exactly what White Sox GM Chris Getz is reportedly prioritizing in a potential Crochet trade.

Chicago is sitting on an embarrassment of riches with six top-100 prospects at Triple-A Iowa and last year's first-round pick Cam Smith closing out the year with a strong showing at Double-A. The Cubs lead all teams with nine top-100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline - and this winter feels like the tipping point where Jed Hoyer and the front office need to do something with them, given many are roadblocked at the big-league level.

A Garrett Crochet trade would be a game-changer for the Cubs

Acquiring a starting pitcher like Crochet would certainly be the biggest addition Hoyer has made since taking over from Theo Epstein following the 2020 season and would give the Cubs a playoff-caliber starting rotation, featuring Crochet, Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and newcomer Matthew Boyd.

Last season on a historically bad White Sox team, the 25-year-old southpaw racked up the strikeouts in 32 starts, punching out 209 hitters in just 146 innings of work. He turned in a 2.69 FIP on the season and would bring the big-time velocity this Cubs rotation is sorely lacking, despite its solid depth.

He won't come cheap, though. Hoyer would have to come off at least two of his top-100 guys and I wouldn't be shocked to see someone like Jordan Wicks or Javier Assad included in the deal, as well. Acquiring aces means you pay a premium - and given White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf isn't a fan of the idea of trading Crochet to the North Side - you might need to overpay a bit to get a deal across the finish line.

Crochet to the Cubs would be among the biggest blockbusters we've seen from this club in years. For now, it's a speculative report and nothing more. But this is the type of move this fanbase has been desperate for since the 2021 sell-off and could dramatically alter the balance of power in a very winnable NL Central.