Seattle Mariners: An “out of the box” blockbuster trade idea.
Marco Gonzales, Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Udeez, via Wikicommons)
The main event(s)
Understand that Bryant is very upset with Cubs management. The odds of him re-signing in Chicago are extremely poor. In addition, his base salary was $18.6M this year and he’s eligible for arbitration next year. Bryant will easily exceed $20M and could come close to $25M for 2021. This is when his trade value is the highest.
Seager and Bryant would probably be a fairly even swap, this year. They both have their pros and cons that would balance each other out in the short-term.
Chicago is also in need of quality starting pitcher and have been on the hunt for some time. Gonzales fits in nicely behind Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish. John Lester and either Jose Quintana or Tyler Chatwood round out a deep rotation. Gonzales signed a team friendly four-year, $30M extension which kicks in next season. That makes him a cost-effective long-term solution, especially since Lester is 35-years-old.
Undercard
Dee would be a nice late-inning base running threat and versatile defender that could play either middle infield position or the outfield. Haniger wouldn’t help them this year, but next year he’d be a great bat in a line up featuring Rizzo, Baez, Seager, Schwarber, and Contreras.
The Cubs are a big market team with plenty of money, so they can take on Gordon’s inflated contract. If Schwarber isn’t brought back, then Dee could be in the mix to play left field next season in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field.
Trammell, who the M’s just picked up from San Diego in the Austin Nola trade, is part of the future Cubs GM Jed Hoyer sells to his fanbase.