Mariners Second Trade Offer to Cubs for Zach Davies
A second trade that could be proposed: Zach Davies for Jake Bauers ($0.6M MTV) and Matt Brash (Arkansas Travelers SP, 2.58 ERA, $0.5M MTV). The Cubs could view adding a versatile outfielder like Bauers as a move to attempt to fill Pederson’s shoes, and it probably helps that he could step in at first base if the Cubs go all-in as sellers (Rizzo’s 9yr/$75M contract expires at the end of the 2021 season).
Since getting traded to the Mariners, Jake Bauers has posted a slash line of .240/.282/.288 and an OPS+ of 64. This OPS+ is almost identical to that of Ian Happ (67), and only slightly worse than Jason Heyward (71). Matt Brash was promoted to Arkansas 10 days ago and has posted a 2.70 ERA in his two starts at Double-A. He’s a promising young arm that the Cubs would view as ready for the majors as early as next summer.
This is a slight overpay by the Mariners, but given the breadth of their pitching prospect pool and the versatility of our current roster to fill the hole left by Bauers, it’s not hard to imagine that this deal goes through.