Two teams that seem to be aggressive buyers towards the approaching trade deadline are the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. One of them is looking for relievers, the other for outfielders and power hitting in general. Both of them aren’t quite sure they want to pull the trigger on a deal.
The Cubs have been struggling for a while now after a tornado-like start, losing the top spot in major league baseball with what used to be the best record since the season began. There are problems in more than one spot, but the area they’ve been most interested in improving is the bullpen, but the price teams are asking for players the Cubs are interested seems to be too high for Theo Epstein, who isn’t happy letting go of the talent he’s been able to amass over the last three or four years, finally proving its worth in the last two years, while the Cubs make more and more showing of their spending power.
Maybe the best relief pitcher being mentioned as a trade option is Andrew Miller of the New York Yankees. He has a 1.47 ERA, he’s striking out 16.2 batters per nine innings and his k-per-walk ratio is an insane 13.2, which has helped him earn his first All-Stat selection at the age of 31, following being selected 10th in the Cy Young voting last season. But the Yankees probably want a lot for Miller, maybe too much. He also has two more seasons on his deal, worth $18 million overall. The Cubs and Yankees made a trade in the offseason, with Starlin Castro going to New York.
The Dodgers are in trouble, trailing the San Francisco Giants in the NL West, and struggling to generate offense, while their starting pitching isn’t as good as it was in the years before. Clayton Kershaw is injured, and without him, their record isn’t that far from the bottom feeders in the division, the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. The Dodgers are mostly looking at outfield help to bring up their production, but perhaps waiting for Andre Ethier, who had a very good 2015 season, but hasn’t played a single game in 2016 due to a broken leg.