How the Cubs can follow the 2016 Yankees “rebuild” blueprint

The Chicago Cubs’ current situation is eerily similar to that of the 2016 New York Yankees.

Recently, there have been a number of reports about the Chicago Cubs being very interested in making trades or otherwise clearing payroll while at the Winter Meetings this week in San Diego, California. If true, the team would be wise to look to the 2016 New York Yankees as the blueprint to model.

Now granted, the 2016 Yankees sold off a lot of their assets during the season via trade deadline deals. However, the Yankees convinced themselves they were contenders, despite an aging roster that was declining in production.

The Cubs have the benefit of seeing the 2016 season unfold for the Yankees and avoid wasting another season. Whereas the 2015 Yankees finished 87-75 (2nd in the American League East), the 2018 Cubs finished  84-78 (3rd in the National League Central).

Both teams had hoped to compete for a World Series title in those respective years, but reality caught up to each of them.

Ironically, the 2016 Yankees utilized the Cubs’ desire to end their World Series drought to obtain one of the brightest, young stars in the game today, Gleyber Torres. The Yankees sent closer Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs in exchange for the stud second-baseman. They also flipped Andrew Miller for Clint Frazier, and although he hasn’t contributed much yet, he is expected to be a part of their future.

The Yankees also sent Carlos Beltran to the Texas Rangers and released Alex Rodriguez, which cleared room for the team to get their budding stars more playing time, like Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez.

The Cubs are in a position to do something similar. They can flip Kris Bryant (once his grievance is resolved) to a team desperate for a World Series, for a haul of prospects. The Philadelphia Phillies fit that description, as they have gone all in this offseason and are very interested in the Cubbies’ third-baseman. They could also flip Wilson Contreras to a catcher-needy team for even more prospects.

Those two moves would not only net them capital for the future (either in the form of trade assets or developmental players) but it would allow them to bring up  SS Nico Hoerner and C Miguel Amaya, who are ranked No. 1 and 2 respectively on the team’s Top-30 prospect list according to MLB Pipeline. It would also allow them to clear a lot of salary that could be used for other pieces, like signing Nick Castellanos.

Look, the reality is the club is unlikely to compete for a World Series this year, but have enough key pieces under contract that they could use 2020 to not necessarily “rebuild” but to “reload” much like the Yankees did in 2016. You may recall, the 2017 Yankees won 100 games, so any “rebuild” was short-lived.

If the Cubs can be honest with themselves, they can reload for another World Series window starting in 2021. If not, they may end up wallowing in mediocrity during that same time.