With the addition of Cole Hamels, the thought was that the Cubs were likely finished adding starters for the rotation and were intensely focused on another reliever as a finishing touch to their bullpen. However, the Athletic's Ken Rosenthal dropped a bombshell of a tidbit Monday morning that would prove the Cubs might still have big plans in mind.
As Rosenthal mentions, the Cubs clearly lack desirable elite prospects and are dealing with a limited pool of available talent to choose from to make one of these deals an obvious match. However, that isn't going to stop the Cubs front office from putting together an almost hail-mary like offer to teams like the Mets and Rays for guys like Jacob deGrom and Chris Archer.
Ian Happ's turned his season around after a rough start, slashing .269/.399/.403 with 4 home runs and 12 RBI since June 1st, and with the Cubs constantly showing off his defensive versatility, the 23-year-old could be a potential headline piece in a deal.
Rosenthal only mentioned Happ by name but another name to consider in a deal for a controllable pitcher would be Addison Russell, who has quietly put together a collectively better season than his disappointing 2017. There will always be off the field baggage that follows Russell, but the defensive stud shortstop has raised his walk rate to over 9% while also lowering his strikeout rate by over 3%.
For what it's worth, there were rumors last week about the Cubs being one of the teams still showing interest in Tampa Bay starter Chris Archer, who has long been rumored to the Cubs. But as Rosenthal alluded too, the Cubs acquiring someone like deGrom or Archer is an absolute longshot, but that's not going to stop Theo Epstein or Jed Hoyer from venturing into those discussions.