Chicago Cubs: 3 trade deadline sellers to partner with

1. Kansas City Royals

As we speak, the Kansas City Royals are seven games under .500 and over halfway through their season. In all likelihood, they will be selling. One of the names headlining rumors lately is relief pitcher Trevor Rosenthal.

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So far, Rosenthal has appeared in 14 games for the Royals with an ERA of 3.29. Per MLB.com’s executive reporter Mark Feinsand, many teams expect Rosenthal to move and he has generated a ton of interest.

Prior to Wednesday’s tough outing against the St. Louis Cardinals (1.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) Rosenthal had a sub-2.00 ERA sitting at 1.79. He has been tremendous for most of this year and the Cubs would benefit greatly from adding an arm like him.

In total this season, Rosenthal has pitched 13.2 innings giving up nine hits, striking out 21 and walking seven. He also has an impressive seven saves, which would give the Cubs a big reason to pull the trigger on this type of player.

We have seen the struggles of Craig Kimbrel in the closing role, and Rosenthal could help ease that pain greatly.

Another Royals relief pitchers the Cubs could target is Scott Barlow (18.0 IP, 11 hits, 22 K, 6 BB, 1.50 ERA). His strikeout/walk numbers are strong and would come as a huge lift.

Other than Barlow and Rosenthal, Chicago could look at Josh Staumont or Greg Holland.