What Would it Take for Baltimore Orioles to Trade Manny Machado to Cubs?
By Vivek Shukla
The Baltimore Orioles should highly consider a trade with the Chicago Cubs for the talents of Manny Machado. The Chicago Cubs in the past two years have shown their aggressive nature in the trade market.
As the Baltimore Orioles continue their plummet to the bottom of Major League Baseball, its only fitting that the team they are playing, the Chicago White Sox, would be competing with them for the rights of the 2019 first overall draft pick. Too early right? Maybe not so.
In that same city of Chicago, the Chicago Cubs look to contend for another World Series. As the media has made clear along with the head office, the Cubs want Manny Machado and the Orioles should be open to hearing what they can offer.
Let’s take a look at what they have offered in the past and what they can offer in 2018?
Chicago Cubs Trade History
The 2016 Chicago Cubs made a tremendous push towards breaking their long World Series drought and got the reinforcements. The Cubs acquired Aroldis Chapman for super elite prospect Gleyber Torres, a major league proved veteran in Adam Warren, Billy Mckinney, a former top 100 prospect and 2013 first rounder, and Rashad Crawford.
The main focus of this deal was obviously getting Gleyber Torres along with some useful pieces on a 40 man roster. While many would consider this an overpay for half a season of Chapman, the move paid off for the Cubs as they would win the 2016 World Series.
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The 2017 Chicago Cubs were sitting at 43-45 at the All-Star break needed a push to get them back into the playoff race. The Cubs went after Jose Quintana who had one of the most consistent track records in all of baseball. Additionally, Quintana would have the 2017 season along with player control all the way to 2020, an additional three years.
Such a caliber player would merit a nice haul. The Cubs got Jose Quintana but gave up two upper echelon prospects in Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease.
Additionally, they would get Matt Rose and Bryant Flete. For three more years of control of a proven major league starter, this quite a deal for both parties.
In a final move to bolster the bullpen, the Cubs gave up Isaac Paredes and the last remaining Top 100 prospect Jeimer Candelario for Justin Wilson.
Wilson would do more damage than good and only has one more year of control. Jeimer Candelario is blossoming with the Detroit Tigers as they rebuild and now have a strong piece at third base.
What could the Baltimore Orioles get in return?
I know what Baltimore Orioles fans are thinking. According to MLB pipeline, the Cubs do not have any top 100 prospects. However, that does not mean we should immediately not entertain an offer from the Cubs nor clench onto Machado in hopes of a deal that realistically could never come from any team.
We know that the Cubs will be hungry to get Manny Machado. Here is a prediction of a potential trade between the Cubs and the Orioles.
- Adbert Alzolay (RHP): a trade would have to include their top prospect who is in Triple-A Iowa and can contribute soon for a major league team. The young 23-year-old possesses a plus fastball and plus curveball according to MLB pipeline. He is a borderline Top 100 prospect for all the fans watching out there.
- Addison Russell (SS): It is unclear as to whether the Cubs would be willing to part with Addison Russell given they would be getting a rental for half a season and the Baltimore Orioles would get would receive three more years of control at a position like shortstop.
- The last component would either be highly signed international prospect Aramis Ademan or one of the first round draft picks from 2017 in Alex Lange or Brendon Little.
If this deal were to be made at the beginning of June, the Cubs would be getting at least 100 more games with MVP candidate Machado, a Triple-A pitcher who is borderline top 100 and can contribute in the majors soon along with a either a 2017 first round draft pick or a $2,000,000 international signing by the Cubs.
Baltimore Orioles-Chicago Cubs Trade Perspective
The New York Yankees realized that it would be hard to compete with the Red Sox, Orioles, and Blue Jays for a playoff spot that was non-existent in 2016.
This decision allowed for the market to open up to see what deals could be made. The dealings of Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman allowed the Yankees to create what may be the beginnings of a dynasty.
In a dream scenario, I would like to re-sign Machado and sacrifice a few years of success in order to build around him.
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Given the Orioles trade rumors and the state of the organization and its ability to let free agents go and re-sign the wrong ones, it’s important to get some value back then just draft pick compensation. What realistic deals do you envision for Manny Machado?