Joe made a case for this a few minutes ago, but you guys don’t read Joe’s Cubs stuff (probably because we headline Joe’s Cubs stuff with the most boring headlines imaginable, which is something we should change), and you do read my Cubs stuff, because I’m willing to ask the hard questions like Are the Cubs Bad? and Should the Cubs Trade Half Their Roster for Joe Kelly? and Is Andrew Chafin Real or Was He Sent by the Gods as a Reward for Me Stopping All the Way at Stop Signs When There Are Kids Around?
Anyway, Joe’s point was basically that if the Cubs are heading towards a rebuild, and if the NL Central is a steaming pile of human excrement (not dog excrement—the NL Central is much grosser than dog excrement), and if the rotation is the rotation equivalent of one of those Ford Tauruses from the 90’s held together by duct tape and shaking violently whenever it gets above 60 mph (I used to drive one of these—I drove a Cubs rotation), then the Cubs might as well try to make some hay while the sun’s shining and go after an NLCS appearance while NLCS appearances are here to be had, and oh by the way it’s a contract year for Max Scherzer and the Padres, Dodgers, Mets, and Giants all already have starting pitching and maybe Mike Rizzo hates the Astros and won’t work with them and look let us have this ok let us think for just a moment about the Cubs trading for Max Scherzer.
It would take a haul of prospects. A real haul. But the Nationals aren’t exactly immune from doing “uhh, did they really do that?” things. Remember the Adam Eaton trade? Adam Eaton! Adam Eaton!!!! And if the Cubs give up a bunch of prospects, so what? It sets the rebuild back by what, two years? I, as Joe hinted, would trade a year or two of rebuild for a go at a ring in the here and now. Financially, Wrigley Field’s opening back up, and playoff appearances bring in revenue, and no I don’t think that would offset the Scherzer thing but come on, guys, work with me here, I think we can figure that part out.
I am a realistic man (editor’s note: Stu likes to pretend that we’re friends with a character from The Simpsons and has imaginary press conferences with himself when he gets home from driving Uber Eats). I know this is not presently realistic. But there’s one way to change that, and that’s by changing the narrative. The Cubs universe needs something clickbaity, and it’s always better to be in an aggressive clickbait sphere than a terrified clickbait sphere. No more Kris Bryant trade speculation. Max Scherzer trade speculation only. Send out the memo.
