The prevailing wisdom post-Kyle Tucker trade has been that the Chicago Cubs would definitely trade Cody Bellinger (they did), and would be quite smart to hang onto Seiya Suzuki’s bat to pair with Tucker in the lineup. The dude rakes, and the Cubs are trying to upgrade the offense. Acquiring Tucker only to ditch Suzuki wouldn’t be a ton of help in that regard.
Then again, there is that whole he-may-not-want-to-be-a-full-time-DH thing lingering, and the Cubs do have some high-quality hitting prospects knocking on the door. Moreover, the Cubs tend not to love the idea of having someone locked down at the DH spot anyway, preferring to rotate guys through. So maybe the Cubs will still at least listen if teams want to ask about Suzuki?
Enter Ken Rosenthal’s latest. The Athletic’s national baseball insider discusses the Dodgers’ efforts to find possible replacements for outfielder Teoscar Hernández, and he mentions that, according to sources briefed on the team’s discussions, Seiya Suzuki is among the “potential options.”
“The cleaner way to replace Hernández would be with an outfielder. Suzuki, 30, is owed $36 million over the next two seasons and holds a full no-trade clause ….
The Cubs, according to a source briefed on the club’s thinking, are not inclined to trade Suzuki even after acquiring right fielder Kyle Tucker. In the Cubs’ estimation, the market for right-handed hitters is thin. Replacing Suzuki, who has an .824 OPS in three major-league seasons, would be difficult.
Suzuki, however, will now be relegated to DH duty, with Tucker set in right, Pete Crow-Armstrong in center and Ian Happ in left. And while Suzuki hit slightly better as a DH than as an outfielder in a similar number of plate appearances last season, the Cubs acknowledge he might not want to serve in that role full-time. The mere possibility, according to a source briefed on Suzuki’s thinking, makes him more inclined to approve a trade.”
One thing we’ve been told is that Jed Hoyer has spoken with Suzuki’s agent to find out which teams to which he might be willing to accept a trade, as Suzuki has full no-trade rights. So the Cubs know already whether the Dodgers are on that list. I’m guessing that, if there were actually talks taking place, then it won’t necessarily be completely fruitless, in terms of the sides talking only for Suzuki to squash a possible deal.
… but should the Cubs even be talking? Should any of that no-trade stuff even MATTER? Like I said up top, the idea for this Cubs offense should be to lock guys like Suzuki in place, not cast them off in trade – ESPECIALLY after acquiring just one year of Tucker.
I guess in a world where the Cubs dealt Suzuki for other upgrades on the roster? It feels like a stretch, if we’re being realistic. The Cubs already should have PLENTY OF MONEY available to deploy on free agent upgrades.
As far as possible Dodgers targets, the one thing I can’t help but think about: the Dodgers may soon have an overcrowded rotation if they land Roki Sasaki, and they also have some high-risk, high-upside arms upon which the Cubs might want to take a chance (think Dustin May, Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Nick Frasso, etc. – guys with serious potential, but all with injuries or warts or what-not). Maybe the Cubs want to gobble up some of those talented guys that the Dodgers may not be able to use because of their star-level crowding, just as the Michael Busch trade was on the positional side?
The return would have to be huge for me to even start to think this is a reasonable idea, though. So huge, that I don’t know if the Dodgers would actually go there.
The other strong possibility here is that this is just a little leverage play by the Dodgers, who simply want Teoscar Hernández to sign a deal already. We know Seiya Suzuki can play adequate right field (with the occasional head-scratcher), but we also know that his bat plays extremely well at DH. With the Dodgers, ain’t gonna be no DH starts available anytime soon. There’s also the fact that the article goes over multiple other options to replace Hernández beyond Suzuki, and the article does have the feel of the Dodgers wanting to make sure it’s known that they can go other directions.
I’d be surprised if Cubs-Dodgers rumors on Seiya Suzuki picked up real steam, but then I didn’t expect Suzuki rumors to be a thing AT ALL this offseason. I was very wrong about that. So I’ll keep an open mind.
