7 prospects the Chicago Cubs should target in a trade at the deadline

Jordan Westburg 3B Baltimore Orioles

This is a similar player to Encarnacion-Strand in that he’s already made his major league debut, thus potentially making him cost-prohibitive. That being said, he’s a player that has significant pop while playing third base, and the Orioles are a team in a divisional and wildcard race that has a need for the positions that the Cubs have available to deal. 

This season at AAA Westburg hit .295/.372/.567 with 18 homers and 15 doubles prior to getting the call to the major leagues. Finding a guy that can hit for average, hit for power, and play a solid third base with a 55-grade arm and 55 fielding grade from MLB.com is rare and it’s even more rare to find that guy that can help impact a major league squad immediately.

The Orioles are in a position that isn’t that dissimilar from the Reds in that they have more infielders than they have spots for. They certainly wouldn’t want to deal Westburg, but the nature of the MLB trade deadline is that you have to give in order to get, and whether they’d be getting an ace on the mound to anchor their rotation or a gold-glove, five-tool centerfielder they’d likely be getting the better end of this deal anyway (especially if it led to a deep playoff run). 

The other thing that the Orioles have is the ability to fill out the remainder of a trade package and the fact that they don’t play in the NL Central. While inter-division trades happen, they’re rare and I think I can speak for every Cubs fan when I say that trading Stroman would hurt, but watching him shutout the Cubs in September on his way to the playoffs for a division rival while Chicago inches closer to a 90-loss season would hurt much more.