With the New York Mets in dire need of a shortstop and the Chicago Cubs' surplus of players at the position in the majors and minors, it's possible the two could work out a trade before next season. The Cubs could target young Mets pitchers.
The Cubs have a number of talented shortstops and middle infielders that they can get some value for. Starlin Castro is the team's starting shortstop, and Javier Baez was recently called up from Triple-A Iowa to take over at second base (even though he primarily plays shortstop). They also have Arismendy Alcantara who they called up earlier this year to play center field along with shortstop Addison Russell in the minors who they acquired from the A's in a trade back in July.
The Mets have Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard to represent the future of the team's pitching. The Cubs' most experienced starter right now is Edwin Jackson, who has over a 5.00 ERA, while they continue to work Kyle Hendricks and Jake Arrieta into the future of their rotation. If Chicago fails to land a free agent pitcher such as Jon Lester, they're going to need to acquire someone in a trade to have a more formidable staff. Both sides might be hesitant to send away young promising players, but it's possible they can work out a fair deal that helps both sides. At this time, the willingness of Jed Hoyer (CHC GM) and Sandy Alderson (NYM GM) to trade their young stars isn't well known.
Speaking of young stars, the Chicago Cubs conveniently have Kris Bryant, the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball, sitting in Triple-A and crushing the competition. However, the team has yet to call him up and it has been said they weren't expecting to promote him to the majors in September. The team called up 20-year-old Starlin Castro in 2010, 21-year-old Javier Baez this year, and 22-year-old Anthony Rizzo in 2012. The 22-year-old Bryant is seemingly more than ready as he's batting .306/.417/.648 with 18 home runs and 45 RBIs in 56 games at Triple-A Iowa.
But Bryant suffered a left big toe injury in the minors and underwent an MRI yesterday after X-rays proved inconclusive. It was announced yesterday that the injury was just a toe bruise and Bryant will remain day-to-day with two weeks left in the minor league season. If the rest of his year in Iowa is drastically cut short because of the toe injury, the Cubs could be willing to call him up and give him major league experience before the 2015 season.
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