Chicago Cubs early trade shopping? Mets are sellers, Padres dangling Mason Miller

The Chicago Cubs need pitching. That’s certainly no secret.

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After all, this is a playoff-caliber team currently with four starting pitchers on the shelf and a handful of relievers out of commission, including their closer.

With the August 3 MLB trade deadline approaching—and the pennant race tightening up—there will be a mad dash to find teams operating as sellers, especially when it comes to pitching.

The Cubs will now be able to identify at least one team as a sure-thing seller—the New York Mets.

The Mets are officially sellers

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Per Chelsea Janes, SNY MLB Insider, the Mets front office has declared themselves “open for business:”

“A rival executive said the Mets informed their team that the sale is on, and that everyone but young stars Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Christian Scott, Nolan McLean and the obvious, Juan Soto, is available. That doesn’t mean everyone will go. But it means the Mets will listen on just about everyone, which is in keeping with what people familiar with their thinking have signaled for weeks.

That the Mets are fielding calls already suggests they will be spreading out their sell-off over several weeks, rather than waiting until the week of the deadline when the market has settled and time constraints create a more frenetic process.”

For the Cubs, specifically, that means Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver, and Brooks Raley could make their way to the team’s shopping list.

Converted starter Holmes has been sidelined since mid-May with a fractured fibula, but is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon. Peralta, meanwhile, has had a down season so far. Both would be rentals (Holmes has a $12 million player option that he would most likely not exercise).

In the bullpen, both Weaver and Raley would be valuable additions as closer-capable reinforcement. Weaver is under contract through next season and Raley will be free agency-eligible at the end of this year.

Padres offering up Mason Miller?

All four Mets would be intriguing acquisitions, but arguably not as intriguing as San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller, who is reportedly being dangled as red-meat trade bait by a Padres team in the doldrums.

Per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale:

“The San Diego Padres looked like they could be a formidable threat to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now after the past month are talking about unloading All-Star closer Mason Miller and putting their high-priced stars on the market ….

One year, they’re trading away perhaps the finest prospect in baseball, shortstop Leo De Vries, for Athletics All-Star closer Mason Miller.

The next, they’re talking about trading him away.”

Miller to the Cubs is a real stretch, of course.

The Padres will be asking a fortune for the hard-throwing right-hander and the Cubs, even if they were inclined to trade away a collection of quality prospects for a closer, may not even have the high-end prospects to move the Padres front office.

Still, this certainly makes for some interesting debate. It could also move a trade deadline competitor or two towards the Padres and away from teams like the Mets, who offer more realistic trade options for the Cubs.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-trade-deadline-mets-padres-mason-miller-freddy-peralta-weaver-holmes-raley/