The defending champions may not be done wheeling and dealing after their trade for Jose Quintana earlier this month.
Mark Feisand of MLB.com quotes an industry source who believes that the Chicago Cubs will trade for Baltimore Orioles reliever Zach Britton, citing the minor leaguers that Cubs president Theo Epstein has to offer.
Industry source thinks Cubs will trade for Britton. “If you have a chance to add Britton to your club, you do it. Theo has the minor-lgrs."
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 17, 2017
The lefty Britton is one of baseball’s blue-blood closers, but he hasn’t gotten many save oportunities for the Orioles this season thanks to two months on the shelf with a forearm strain. Britton has looked strong since his return from the DL though and sports a 1.29 ERA with 88 saves in 92 chances since 2015.
The strength of the Cubs’ farm system has probably become somewhat overstated — Epstein drained much of it in the trades for Quintana as well as for the likes of Aroldis Chapman and Mike Montgomery last year. But Britton is an elite reliever who can close or function in a setup role in front of Wade Davis. He’s also under contract through 2018 and could be a real difference-maker for the Cubs, provided they can fend off other interested NL suitors.
