Cubs: 3 trade packages involving Willson Contreras

2. Tampa Bay Rays

If Theo Epstein can get this deal done, he should immediately be up for another contract extension. The best of the three trade packages but also, likely, the most difficult to achieve would be with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays, despite their limited payroll, found a way to be one of the best teams in the American League last year but fell at the hands of the Houston Astros in the divisional round. At catcher, they went with the combination of 31-year-old Travis d,Arnaud and 29-year-old Mike Zunino. d,Arnaud is a free agent this offseason and is could be a potential re-sign for the team.

He posted a modest 0.263/0.323/0.459 line with 16 home runs and 67 RBI’s in 92 games for the team last season. Zunino had a less than impressive 0.165/0.232/0.312 line with 9 homers and 32 RBI in 90 games. Zunino is projected to earn $4.9 million in arbitration but the Rays could potentially want more from the catching position.

Contreras would be a nice bat in the middle of that batting order with names that feature Kevin Kiermaier, Tommy Pham, and Matt Duffy. In exchange for Contreras, I have the Cubs landing second baseman Brandon Lowe who was signed to a contract extension prior to the season. The 25-year-old posted a 0.270/0.336/0.514 line with 17 doubles, 17 home runs, and 51 RBI in 82 games for the team this season. The Cubs badly need to shore up their second base position and Lowe had a 0.989 fielding percentage in 555.0 innings in 2019.

Brendan McKay would be the other piece that would come over to bolster the starting rotation. The 23-year-old is ranked as the 12th best prospect in baseball and made 11 starts for the big league club this year. He posted a 5.14 ERA in 49.0 innings of work but struck out 56 batters and walked just 16. He’s been a two-way player to this point, but a couple of oblique injuries from swinging should see his hitting days in the rearview mirror.

There’s a lot to like about McKay, who has a 1.78 ERA in 36 career starts in the minors. Both he and Lowe also have a good amount of team control, so they would figure to be contributors next season as well as the next competitive Cubs team.