ESPN’s Jeff Passan recently named Nico Hoerner and Cody Bellinger as potential trade candidates this offseason, so it’s no surprise that people around the game are trying to come up with trade ideas. Well, while I applaud the effort and I’ll say that coming up with trade ideas can be extremely difficult, this trade proposal that surfaced out of New York is unbelievably bad.
Emmanuel Berbari is part of the New York Yankees broadcast team for WFAN and the radio voice came up with what he labeled a blockbuster trade between the Cubs and Yankees. The premise of the segment was how could the Yankees improve in the offseason if they lose out on the Juan Soto sweepstakes.
Let’s just say there’s one side who would obviously say yes to this trade and the other would immediately hang up.
Hoerner, 27, is recovering from forearm surgery, but is expected to make a full recovery and not miss much if any time at the start of the 2025 season. The middle infielder has been a steady presence for the Cubs since making his MLB debut at the end of the 2018 season and since the beginning of 2022 Hoerner has posted a 12.8 fWAR.
A top-25 player during the past three years, Hoerner will begin the 2025 season with two years remaining on his contract extension. He’s shown the ability to play good defense at shortstop, won the Gold Glove at second base in 2023, and while Hoerner isn’t considered an elite hitter, he’s posted an overall 105 wRC+ since 2021. Oh and Hoerner has 74 stolen bases in the past two seasons.
Meanwhile, Cody Bellinger regressed in 2024, opted back into his deal for the 2025 season with the Cubs and the expectation is that he’ll want to test free agency after. If not, the left-handed hitter will return in 2026 for $25 million. Bellinger slashed .266/.325/.426, with 18 home runs. Still, despite the down season, Bellinger recorded a 2.2 fWAR, showing defensive versatility at first base and in the outfield. He’d do great with that short porch at Yankee Stadium.
Anyway, the disgust is mostly from the proposed return the Cubs would get. Why would the Cubs want Marcus Stroman at $18.5 million, when they could simply sign a free agent with a better track record, for more years and probably at a lower AAV? Why would the Cubs want outfield prospect Spencer Jones, when the organization already has young outfielders in Pete Crow-Armstrong, Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara?
Will Warren as the extra add on? Oof.
Terrible. No good. Obviously the Yankees would do this deal in a second. While they’re at it, why not include Justin Steele too for another middling pitching prospect.
