NEWSLETTER
I had a world of difficulty coming up with the right headline for this post, because, while it includes quite a bit of new/additive information worth discussing, the bottom line is something we’ve discussed many times before this trade season: the Cubs do and should want Yankees reliever Andrew Miller, but the Cubs do not want to and should not want to deal Kyle Schwarber to make that happen. And maybe Dan Vogelbach could be involved in a reliever deal. So I pretty much just threw it all in there. Editor problems.
The latest on the Miller front comes from a George A. King III rumor article out of the New York Post, a thoughtful, wide-ranging Jeff Passan column at Yahoo, and a couple Andrew Marchand tweets.
King, among other bits, notes that the Cubs have scouted Yankees lefty Aroldis Chapman, but it’s fellow lefty Andrew Miller who has been “designated [the Cubs’] No. 1 trade priority.”[adinserter block=”1”]
It should be no surprise at this point that, in a perfect world, Miller – with his sublimely dominant performance and two and a half years of reasonably-priced team control – would join the Cubs in short order. Being that the baseball world is imperfect, at least to Cubs fans, the Yankees may not trade Miller, who could be just as valuable to them in 2017 and 2018 as he could be to the Cubs. Of course, his value in 2016 to the Yankees is probably nil at this point, and he would be dramatically valuable to a Cubs team that has playoff aspirations. Dominant one-inning relievers become all the more valuable down the stretch and in the playoffs when individual innings are as high-leverage as it gets.
But Miller probably wouldn’t be valuable enough to the Cubs for them to part with Kyle Schwarber, which you already knew. Jeff Passan tries his hand at discussing Schwarber-Yankees in a reasonable, thoughtful way. It’s an interesting read, to be sure, including just how much the Yankees like Schwarber. And Passan even goes into the “what if it was for Miller AND Chapman” range of fan service, but it’s not going to sway you in one direction or the other. I think most Cubs fans – and the Cubs, themselves – are pretty solidly in favor of Schwarber remaining just about no matter what. Yes, he’s rehabbing a serious knee injury, no, he might not ever be a great defender at any position, and, yes, there are still questions about the bat against lefties. But the bat is otherwise so special, and Schwarber is so young, that he’s not a player you give up in a deal to pick up a bullpen arm, even one like Miller.[adinserter block=”2″]
To that end, Andrew Marchand offers the New York take on whether the Yankees can get Schwarber for Miller:
Cubs are not trading Schwarber for a reliever, a source said. At least, not yet. https://t.co/1qvoJNX955
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 18, 2016
Instead, Marchand points out a fit we’ve discussed before:
Yankees could target Cubs' Triple-A first baseman Dan Vogelbach in a deal for either Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller.
— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) July 18, 2016
Let’s be quite clear that Vogelbach, alone, is not going to net the Cubs Miller (or even, necessarily, Chapman). But as part of a package? It does seem like Vogelbach, whose bat is big league ready, and who does not have a spot on the Cubs, would be very attractive to the Yankees.
The Cubs are loaded with prospect talent, so it still seems like there could be a trade fit here, even without Schwarber included. I think it mostly just depends on how willing the Yankees are to move Miller, and how aggressive other suitors are.
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