5 Trades the Chicago Cubs should make as buyers at the MLB Trade Deadline

Trade 5: The Chicago Cubs receive RHP Alex Lange and LHP Chasen Shreve from the Detroit Tigers in return for OF Brennen Davis and OF Yonathan Perlaza

This trade would cause me physical pain. Yonathan Perlaza has been one of my favorite Cubs’ prospects this season and Brennen Davis has been one of my favorite prospects over the past several seasons. That being said, when you have the ability to get a left-handed reliever and a high-leverage reliever with team control through 2027 you’ve got to give it a shot.

Alex Lange would be the crown jewel of this deal and he’s going to be tough to get, potentially even tougher than Eduardo Rodriguez given his extensive cheap team control. Chasen Shreve is a solid additional piece as well though. He’s the kind of player that good playoff teams have if he can get hot at the right time. 

When the Tigers traded for Alex Lange from the Cubs they dealt a half-season of Nick Castellanos. In order to get Alex Lange back as well as an additional half-season from a lefty like Shreve, the Cubs have to come up with a package of players that will pique the Tigers' interest.

Yonathan Perlaza is a major league-caliber player right now. He’s batting .295/.397/.537 with 29 extra-base hits and eight stolen bases. The question the Tigers will have to ask themselves in order to determine if this is the right deal for them is: can they fix Brennen Davis? 

There’s always a player that gets dealt at the deadline that is marketed as a “change of scenery” player. That doesn’t feel right in Davis’s case. He’s not a player that the organization has soured on. He’s not a player like Chris Davis with the Rangers where he’d mash in AAA but struggle in Arlington before getting dealt to the Orioles and going on a tear. He’s just dealt with some career-altering injuries.

If the Tigers look at the current production of Perlaza and the potential production of a former top-50 prospect in all of baseball as a fair return for two relievers then the Cubs have the ability to improve their team significantly in the immediate and near-term future with this deal. 

I don’t see a world where the Cubs complete all five of these deals (or even just two of them if I’m being honest with myself). That being said, these deals have the ability to improve the team immediately and in the near-term while not completely mortgaging the future. The turnaround from last month to this month was spectacular but hopefully, we won’t be writing an article next month about the Cubs selling at the deadline.

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