Report: Little Interest In Cubs' Starlin Castro On Trade Market
(CBS) As the Cubs sit in the second wild-card spot as they open up the second half of the season Friday, they continue to monitor the trade market in hopes of acquiring a starting pitcher, which management has freely admitted they must do to put themselves in position to be a true contender in 2015.
The problem is the player they would seemingly be willing to part with is drawing little interest from others.
The Cubs are finding that few teams are interested in shortstop Starlin Castro, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian reported. Though Castro is a 25-year-old three-time All-Star, he's hitting just .247 (two points away from his career-worst mark) with a career-high .604 OPS and a -0.3 WAR. He's also struggled defensively for long stretches.
The performance appears to have greatly diminished his trade value, and it all adds up to uncertainty for the Cubs, who must balance a desire to be aggressive with a desire to protect the future -- such as hanging on to rookie middle infielder Addison Russell, who they are high on.
From Kurkjian:
"They are a year ahead of schedule in their plan to contend. With a shot to make the playoffs, look for them to be aggressive and try to add a pitcher -- maybe even a big-name guy -- Cole Hamels or Johnny Cueto -- for the stretch run. Ideally, they could trade shortstop Starlin Castro as part of a package, then move second baseman Addison Russell to shortstop, where he belongs, and hope that second baseman Javier Baez is ready to be promoted from Triple-A. But there doesn't appear to be a market for Castro. And from all indications, the Cubs will not mortgage their future by dealing any of their best young players."