The Cubs might be looking to bring a little bit of Florida sunshine to the North Side this winter.
Already rumored to be interested in signing free-agent pitcher Alex Cobb — something that might be a tad less likely after signing starting pitcher Tyler Chatwood a few days ago — a new report Saturday indicated the Cubs are likely to pursue a trade with Cobb's old team, the Tampa Bay Rays, in an attempt to secure the pitching services of Chris Archer and Alex Colome.
There's always been plenty of "what if" surrounding Archer and the Cubs, who dealt the right-hander away back in 2011 as part of the deal that brought Matt Garza to Chicago. Archer has been on plenty of fan wish lists over the years, too, as he's had a great run in his six big league seasons with the Rays, making a pair of All-Star appearances, posting a career 3.63 ERA and making at least 32 starts in each of the last four seasons.
Archer's numbers have been slightly less appealing in the past two years, a combined 4.05 ERA in 2016 and 2017 after turning in a combined 3.28 ERA in 2014 and 2015. But he's still just 29 years old and considered one of the game's better arms.
Colome, meanwhile, led baseball with 47 saves last season and has saved a combined 84 games over the past two campaigns. He was an All Star in 2016, and he finished that season with a pencil-thin 1.91 ERA.
Archer is under team control through 2021, while Colome is under team control through 2020.
MLB
Certainly the Cubs are in the market for another starting pitcher and a closer thanks to the free-agent departures of Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Wade Davis. Losing Arrieta and Lackey put a significant hole in the starting rotation, though the signing of Chatwood filled one of those two open spots. The Cubs are shorter on options when it comes to a ninth-inning man. They've been connected to free-agent relievers Brandon Morrow and Brandon Kintzler this offseason, and there's the potential option of bringing Davis back on a new contract, one that figures to be expensive after he converted 32 of 33 save opportunities in 2017.
Archer and Colome would knock two huge items off Theo Epstein's offseason to-do list. But as Rogers mentioned, it will likely take a big-time return package to net a couple of All-Star pitchers. The Cubs' minor league system has been seriously depleted in recent years as many of the organization's biggest names have either reached the big leagues — helping the team to that curse-smashing World Series win in 2016 — or been traded away in midseason deals for Aroldis Chapman and Jose Quintana in the last two years. That means it'd likely take multiple guys on the major league roster to acquire Archer and/or Colome. The same names that have been speculated about this offseason would once more figure to come into play in this discussion: Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ. But perhaps Javier Baez and others would be needed to swing a deal like this, too.
Of course, the Cubs would figure to have tremendous scouting reports on Archer and Colome — and Cobb, for that matter — with not only Joe Maddon's history in St. Petersburg, but also with Jim Hickey now on Maddon's staff as the Cubs' new pitching coach. Hickey came to Chicago this offseason after 11 seasons with Tampa Bay.
It remains to be seen if anything comes of this at the Winter Meetings, which begin Monday in Florida, or later on this offseason. Certainly starting pitcher and closer are two areas of need for the Cubs, but they might not have the assets to pull off a trade of such magnitude.