The rumor here is as thin as it gets, having taken place in a very quick Twitter Q&A, but I suppose that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not true. And sadly, the substance of it tracks, even if I think a deal like this is highly unlikely.
Here’s the gist from Blue Jays beat writer Scott Mitchell (h/t Cubs Insider):
#BlueJays’ roster priorities are pretty clear over the next month or so leading into spring:
-Two SP that matter.
-3B (Biggio is strictly a backup plan).
-High-leverage reliever.
-More pitching depth everywhere.— Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) January 22, 2021
Yes
— Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) January 22, 2021
Let’s break this down – quickly, as that’s really all it merits at the moment – based on what was said. The Blue Jays want impact starting pitching, and would prefer to add a big bat at third base. Thus, if there’s a team out there in obvious sell mode that has those two pieces together, yeah, you’re probably going to have some kind of conversations.
That means the Cubs, with guys like Kyle Hendricks and Kris Bryant, are obvious targets for the Blue Jays.
Would the Cubs actually part with the two in the same deal? Well, if you could set aside the optics, yeah, we know they’re open to moving Bryant, and the Yu Darvish deal strongly suggests they’d be open to moving Hendricks, too, if the return was right. I honestly don’t know that the Cubs are concerned at this point about obliterating their chances of competing in 2021, despite what they might say. I think long-term is now firmly the higher priority.
But, even still, it’s just hard for me to see the Cubs actually dealing two faces of the franchise in the same trade, the return for which is absolutely would contemplate enough of a financial element that some people would shred it. The prospect/player return to the Cubs would have to be almost unthinkably large, and while the Blue Jays have the pieces to do it, I don’t know that they’re actually going to want to trade any of the types I’m referencing.
I think the Blue Jays make sense for Bryant, specifically, as we’ve discussed before (and as there have been some rumors). But a paired deal with Hendricks? I could see the Blue Jays asking, but I have a hard time seeing them willing to meet the actual price the Cubs would need to receive in order to justify such a combo deal. Also, while Bryant is a free agent after this year and is not likely coming back, Hendricks is under control for up to four more years. If the Cubs are hoping for a quicker turnaround than several years of rebuilding, they’re gonna, uh, need quality starting pitching like Hendricks in 2022+.
We’ll see if anything more comes from this, or if it was just a set of very brief, but reported upon, talks.