Cubs Trade Rumors: Bryant’s Early Exit ‘Heightens Interest’ in Sogard, Castellanos
Let me go ahead and open this up by saying that I am not taking these recent reports at face value. As much as I respect Jon Morosi as a legitimate source of information when it comes to trade rumors and reports and whatnot, his latest information feels a little…what’s the right word? Maybe targeted.
Kris Bryant's departure from Wednesday's game due to right knee soreness heightens #Cubs interest in Sogard and Nicholas Castellanos. By metrics, Sogard has been an above-average defender at 3B in limited action. Castellanos likely is open to returning to 3B with a new team. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 25, 2019
Morosi had previously reported that Castellanos would probably be willing to move around the diamond if traded, which he shared while on location in Detroit. So wait, could that mean that perhaps Al Avila or another Tigers exec was planting a little information in Morosi’s ear? Though he’s kind of a butcher in the field, flexibility is never a bad thing.
It’s interesting that Sogard is also mentioned here, and not only because his name has come up frequently as a potential Cubs target. The Blue Jays recently finished a series in Detroit, so Morosi no doubt had had conversations with their brass as well.
The part that really makes this seem a little fishy and like teams and/or Morosi are being prisoners of the moment is the notion that the status of Bryant’s balky knee would suddenly get the Cubs to bite on either of these players. If Bryant was indeed lost for any significant period of time, the Cubs would be hosed regardless. And there’s a reason Castellanos hasn’t played the hot corner since 2017, so they’re not bringing him to be in heavy rotation there.
Because both of the players Morosi mentioned have been pretty heavily connected to the Cubs over the last couple weeks, he’s not conjuring anything out of thin air. He even provided more context for the Sogard interest in a subsequent tweet. But I’m not buying that a slight fear that Bryant might need to be rested more frequently would push the Cubs to action.
#Cubs must improve in the leadoff spot, as @DTrainMLB said on @FS1 #MLBWhipAround last night. Their .296 OBP among leadoff hitters is 4th worst in @MLB. This explains their interest in Eric Sogard, whose .858 OPS batting leadoff is 7th best in MLB (min. 270 AB). @MLBONFOX
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 25, 2019
One other factor in this, and it broke while I was writing this, is that the Cubs will be promoting Ian Happ back to the big club. Though he’s only logged 130 innings at third base over the previous two seasons, he’s at least as viable an option there as Castellanos and doesn’t cost the Cubs anything.
That’s not to say Happ’s call-up is an indication that the Cubs aren’t going to make any trades, though it does perhaps signal a series of smaller moves to contour the bottom of the roster rather than going with a full remodel. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
