advertisement

How's this for a White Sox-Cubs trade? Quintana for Schwarber

It's a trade match made in heaven — Chicago baseball heaven.

The Chicago White Sox send starting pitcher Jose Quintana to the Chicago Cubs for the man without a position, Kyle Schwarber.

Straight-up deal.

Quintana moves to the upper end of the Cubs' leaky rotation and Schwarber instantly fills the Sox's gaping void at designated hitter.

A great trade for both clubs.

Let's do this, now.

And let's explain why.

The White Sox are rebuilding, and they have stockpiled some promising young starting pitchers in the minor leagues.

Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez, Lucas Giolito and Dane Dunning all were added in off-season trades, and Carson Fulmer, Tyler Danish, Spencer Adams and Alec Hansen are homegrown arms with major-league potential,

Quintana is an established high-end starter, and even though he has struggled a bit early (2-5, 4.38 ERA), you can mark down the 28-year-old lefty for a fifth straight season with 200 or more innings pitched and an ERA well south of 4.00.

Equally enticing, Quintana is under club control through the 2020 season at a total cost of only $36 million.

He is a valuable trade chip, and Sox general manager Rick Hahn already has turned down several offers he believed were substandard for a player of Quintana's quality.

As for Schwarber, a wildly popular player for the defending World Series champions, would the Cubs even consider trading him?

At the beginning of the season, I'd say the answer was a resounding no.

Six weeks in, you'd have to assume Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein has adjusted the answer to a definite maybe.

Epstein has to realize the rotation needs help. Through Sunday's play, Cubs starters had the 20th-highest ERA (4.47) in the major leagues.

Quintana instantly helps bring that number down, and he also gives the Cubs insurance in the event Jake Arrieta and/or John Lackey move on at the end of the current season.

As for Schwarber, he fills a hole at DH the White Sox were unable to plug with Adam Dunn, Adam LaRoche and, yes, Cody Asche, who was optioned to Class AAA Charlotte on Sunday after batting .105 with 1 home run, 4 RBI and 21 strikeouts in 57 at-bats.

Schwarber isn't faring must better than Asche with a .179 average, 5 homers, 14 RBI and 44 strikeouts in 134 at-bats, but it looks to be a classic case of a player taking his defensive issues to the plate.

In my opinion, Schwarber is not a left fielder, and he's not a catcher.

He's a designated hitter, and his big bat is needed as much on the South Side as Quintana's arm is needed on the North Side.

Chicago Cubs' Kyle Schwarber watches his three-run home run off Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, also scoring Jon Lester and Javier Baez, during the fourth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, May 2, 2017, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.