MLB Trade Deadline: Chicago Cubs Slugger No. 1 On New York Yankees Wish List

The Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline is only two weeks away, and rumors are running rampant regarding New York Yankees relievers Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. With New York sitting below.500 at 45-46 after dropping two of three to the rival Boston Red Sox over the weekend, the Yankees find themselves in fourth place in the American League East, 8.5 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles, with whom they start a huge four-game set at Yankee Stadium this evening. If they can’t find a way to somehow close that gap this week, expect the rumors of a fire sale (at least what the Yankees would consider a fire sale) to heat up even more.

Carlos Beltran is a name that’s been thrown around quite a bit, and he may be the best bat available as August 1 approaches, but it’s the Yankees’ relievers that have gotten the bulk of the attention in the last month and there’s a first-place team out there whose weakest link in 2016 has been their bullpen: the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs hit a little rough patch as the All-Star break neared, but played very well coming out of the break, taking two of three from the AL West-leading Texas Rangers, and currently hold an eight-game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central.

But what exactly would it take for Miller and/or Chapman to head to the North Side of Chicago for a possible World Series run? Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan says that injured Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber sits atop Yankees GM Brian Cashman’s wish list.

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Schwarber has been sidelined since the Chicago Cubs’ third game of the season after tearing his ACL and LCL in his left knee following a collision with All-Star teammate Dexter Fowler back on April 7 in Arizona. The injury will keep him out of the remainder of 2016, regardless of how far the Cubs manage to make it this fall, but is expected to come back at full strength before training camp opens in the spring and a source close to Cashman says that the Yankees GM thinks the left-handed Schwarber could be a monster at lefty-friendly Yankee Stadium.

“Cash thinks he can hit 50 home runs there.”

Schwarber’s name has come up in many a conversation since the day he was taken fourth overall by the Chicago Cubs in the 2014 MLB Draft and with the Cubs having so many good young players, including catcher Willson Contreras (who’s adjusting to the Majors very well), the possibility of moving Schwarber almost has to be on the table these days for Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, especially if it would fill a void on a team that’s looking for its first World Series title since the first Roosevelt was in office.

The 23-year-old Schwarber has shown the power that the Cubs drafted him for, including five home runs in last year’s postseason run, but he really doesn’t have a large sample size to know what kind of player he’s going to be. To this point, he’s only played 71 Major League games, hitting.242 with 16 home runs and 43 runs batted in with 37 walks and 79 strikeouts. On the flip side, Andrew Miller boasts a decade of big-league experience and was already an All-Star this season. He has a 1.34 ERA over 40 1/3 innings and owns a 1o to 1 K/BB ratio (70 strikeouts, seven walks) to go along with 15 holds and five wins. He’s also under team control through the 2017 season.

Now, it’s highly unlikely that the Cubs would be willing to part with a bat like Schwarber’s for just one left-handed reliever, but throw in flame-throwing Aroldis Chapman, who owns a 2.30 ERA and 18 saves in 28 appearances on the season, and the deal starts to make more sense. Chicago saw plenty of Chapman when he was with the Reds and the Yankees will most certainly be dealing the 28-year-old southpaw. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end and would certainly be looked at as just a rental before hitting the open market at season’s end. Kyle Schwarber, on the other hand, wouldn’t hit free agency until after the 2021 season.

What do you think? If you were the Cubs, would you trade Kyle Schwarber to the Yankees if you could get both Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman in return? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below.

[Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images]