The Chicago Cubs could ship off of a couple of star players this offseason and will need to get solid returns if they want to keep their World Series hopes alive.
They could actually move both Cody Bellinger and Nico Hoerner if they follow a wild trade idea recently presented by ESPN's David Schoenfield.
In his proposed deal, the Cubs would work with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Seattle Mariners for a three-team trade.
Chicago would end up with All-Star pitcher Luis Castillo and top catching prospect Harry Ford from the Mariners. Seattle would end up with Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm and Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner. Lastly, Philadelphia would end up with outfielder Cody Bellinger from Chicago.
If the Cubs do want to move on from Bellinger and Hoerner, this would almost be a best-case scenario return based on what they would get in return by landing a star ace for their rotation and a potential long-term answer at catcher.
The problem is, there have been conflicting reports around whether or not they want to move Bellinger.
It would make sense to trade him.
He is carrying a much larger price tag than his results would suggest he should be getting, so if a team is willing to take him off of Chicago's hands while they also upgrade in places of need, they should absolutely consider it.
Hoerner would be another casualty of his $11.67 million price tag as they look to improve elsewhere.
He has been solid at the plate, but is very replaceable with a .273/.335/.373 slash line last season. Hoerner is at least a very good defender, but the Cubs will need to decide how much that is actually worth to them.
Castillo would be an excellent pitcher to add to the rotation since he has been a consistently solid starter throughout his career.
The 31-year-old has three All-Star appearances and has stayed around his career average ERA of 3.56. He gets a fair amount of strikeouts and doesn't walk many batters.
Adding a great righty to a rotation with Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga would be a great idea.
Ford would be a huge bonus as one of the top catching prospects in all of baseball.
He is a great athlete, leaving him a very high defensive upside behind the plate. As a hitter, he posted a .249/.377/.367 slash line with 35 stolen bases last year.
That kind of speed for a catcher is rare.
Moises Ballesteros is already a great prospect for the Cubs who plays catcher, but doesn't have the same defensive upside. They could move Ballesteros to first base or designated hitter where he can still show off his best traits.
