Following tonight’s loss, the 2023 Chicago Cubs have accepted they will not be playing significant games in late September. The third rebuild of the Jabs Era begins today as the team has reportedly put every single major league player on the trading block.
Interested parties can view a full list of player names and Stats+ links here: TRADE BLOCK
The list of available players includes big-gun rentals such as ace Ryan Copeland and stopper Orlando Garcia. It includes franchise players such as fan-favorite Ed Harris and certified closer Alex Ramirez. It also includes young mid-twenties studs such as future MVP Yordan Alvarez and ace-in-the-making Julio Urias, plus a sleuth of others.
Ownership has signaled that salary retention is not an issue for the club, and they are willing/able to make the payroll work for just about any team that inquires. They’ll still need about $1 million in budget room for each player dealt to cover the salary of their replacement on the major league roster, but everyone – with the exception of Madison Bumgarner – can be retained in exchange for a desirable package.
In return, the front office is primarily seeking prospects age 22 and younger, regardless of position. This rebuild will go deeper than this current regime has ever gone before. They’ll attempt to retool the entire franchise and try new philosophies as they seek to eventually play in their second playoff game ever.
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Why is this news breaking now? Since late last season, GM Jabs has been mentally preparing to blow it up as soon as the 2023 team proved they would not be joining the playoff conversation. Although the Cubs have actually won a game since manager John Farrell was given full autonomy over the lineup, the hole they dug themselves into the first three weeks of the season felt far too deep. They have yet to win two games in a row, for cripes’ sake. And now that the Tampa Bay Rays have kicked off trade season, the Cubs didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to help jump ahead of the market, give themselves plenty of time to evaluate potential prospects coming back, and provide extra value to buying teams by giving them reinforcements in May instead of July.
Cubs fans have waited 115 years for another World Series title. What’s another ten?
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