Multiple baseball writers have already said what has been expected for a while, which is that Matt Garza will be traded this week. The most sought after starting pitcher on the market has many teams looking at him, and the Cubs front office is selling high on him. As the days go by, the price goes up, and it is understandable that the Cubs want to trade him sooner rather than later because they had a deal with the Rangers last season, but an injury put that on hold. Here are the teams looking at a trade for Garza, and some players the Cubs could get in return:
Texas Rangers: Viewed as the frontrunner once again this season, there is no doubt that the Rangers have a ton of good prospects to offer up for Garza. The Rangers have one question mark in their rotation and acquiring a guy like Garza could bolt them ahead of the A’s in the AL West. Single-A pitcher Luke Jackson and MB ready 3B Mike Olt is a nice package. Martin Perez is an MLB ready pitcher, but its doubtful the Rangers will give him up.
Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays have long been in the Garza hunt, and figure to be in it again this year. They are still in contention despite being in last place, but their starting pitching has been rough. They lost some enticing prospects in other trades during the offseason, but still have nice pitching prospects such as Deck McGuire, Marcus Stroman and Daniel Norris. The former two are closer to the majors. Aaron Sanchez is also a great prospect, but is the closest to untouchable of the four.
Cleveland Indians: The surprising Indians are low on pitching and high on hitting. They acquired Trevor Bauer over the offseason and the former #4 overall pick could be a nice piece in a deal. He has struggled in the majors, posting a 5.29 ERA this season, but has a ton of potential and is only 22 years old.
Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox are an interesting case, because they have nice pitching and good depth, but are unsure when Clay Buchholz will be ready, which will determine how hard they go after Garza. Some reports have said that Boston thinks the price may be too high. They do have intriguing pitching prospects, such as Allen Webster and Brandon Workman, and it also helps that Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer are very familiar with a lot of names in their farm system.
St. Louis Cardinals: The hated rival is another intriguing case, in the fact that they have the best farm system in the league, but the two are unlikely to hook up on a deal. The Cardinals don’t want some of their top prospects to play in their division for the next five to ten years. However, the Cardinals have a ton of MLB ready pitchers if the two were to hook up on a deal, such as Kevin Siegrist, Keith Butler, Carlos Martinez, John Gast and Seth Maness, just to name a few.
I predict that the Indians will jump on Garza in order to attempt to get past the Tigers in the AL Central. There is an assortment of different players that have a chance to be dealt, but I figure that Bauer will be apart of a deal.
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