A nice rumor that originated from MASN’s Roch Kubatko and big kudos to MLB Daily Dish for tweeting out the story and having a write up so soon indicates the Cubs are involved in a 3 team trade. The rumor trade would involve the Tigers Rick Porcello and the Orioles JJ Hardy. Here is what I know so far according to reports and my sources.
- The Cubs have been linked to Rick Porcello for some time now especially when the Tigers were able to lock up Anibal Sanchez. So the interest is there.
- The Tigers have been linked to many players on the Cubs but most recently Carlos Marmol and Alfonso Soriano.
- The Tigers feel like they can get a deal done with just the Cubs involving Porcello but DET would really like to land SS J.J. Hardy in that deal.
- The Orioles have two needs the Cubs could provide which is a middle of the lineup hitter and pitching. Both of which the Cubs have been shopping in Soriano and the Cubs currently have a 7 man rotation so they could include pitching in the deal.
- The gist of the deal according to Kubatko is the Cubs getting Porcello, the Tigers getting Hardy, and the Orioles getting pitching (unknown what kind of pitching).
- It should be also noted that the Tigers were in on Darwin Barney earlier this offseason but maybe the Cubs are less incline of dealing Barney than we previously thought which would lead to involving another team like the Orioles and their SS JJ Hardy.
- One of my sources have indicated talks have been taking place between all three teams involving the Cubs netting Rick Porcello. He goes onto to say that Travis Wood and Junior Lake could be a part of the deal.
- Another source chimed in shortly after saying talks have also taken place but are in the very early stages so nothing is close. Soriano, Marmol, and others could still be in play as well as a traditional two team deal involving the Cubs and Tigers.
- The first source goes onto say the Cubs are looking to trade for Porcello so they can make one of their other starters (Garza or Samardzija I am guessing) available for trade during Spring Training for a package of young players that can help them now and in the future.
After all that is said and done I believe the Cubs are working hard to trade for Porcello in order to trade Garza or Shark to a team that has a young impact player like Stanton in Miami, Upton in Arizona, or Carlos Gonzalez in Colorado. They also could end up trading Garza to the Rangers for Mike Olt, Martin Perez, and more; which seems very likely as well. If the Cubs are able to obtain Rick Porcello without killing the current team and then trade Garza or Samardzija for one of the players (or a package from Texas) listed it would be a huge win for the Cubs and the front office.
Until Next Time….
