We’re still early in the 2016 MLB season, but teams are already thinking about some big trades they might be able to pull off. It makes sense when you’re the disappointing Los Angeles Angels, and even if you’re the highly successful Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox.
The Angels are just 13-17, and although their farm system doesn’t have a whole lot of pitching talent to give up for the kind of players they want: Ryan Braun, Jay Bruce, Brett Gardner, Carlos Gonzalez, Josh Reddick, Nick Markakis and Seth Smith. Smith is the cheapest player of this group (making $6.75 million this season, has a $7 million team option in 2017) but he’s playing for the Mariners, who contrary to early projections, are leading the AL West.
The other guys? They’re all up for grabs, but aren’t very easy to move: Not with the salaries they command, and not with the kind of talent their teams are going to be looking for in return. The White Sox do have that $13 million to spend after Adam LaRoche retired, but like the Angels, they might not have enough prospects to get involved in a deal like this. That, and maybe the fact that they’re doing quite well so far leading the AL Central by five games, going 21-10, could prevent them from doing any trades.
The Cubs have the best record in Baseball, 23-6, and yet they’re constantly mentioned in regards to some trade. The injury to Kyle Schwarber as the season kicked off hasn’t derailed their ambitions of finally breaking the curse this season. Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler and Matt Szczur have been sharing the left field position. It hasn’t stopped the Cubs from going on a historic tear to start the season, but depth issues usually come up later in the season, so it’s not going to be too much of a surprise to see them on the lookout for an opportunity to make a deal that will further impact their lineup, hopefully in a positive way.