Chicago Cubs Rumors: 5 trades to make for starting pitcher at deadline
By Ryan Heckman
Chicago Cubs’ starting pitcher trade candidates: Matthew Boyd
Just in front of the Twins in the AL Central are the Detroit Tigers at 33-44. Like Minnesota, Detroit will be sellers at the deadline this year as well.
Arguably the best trade candidate for the Cubs, out of Detroit, is starting pitcher Matthew Boyd. Boyd has enjoyed a fairly strong season aside from one particular 4-game stretch. In April, he didn’t allow over three runs once. Then, on May 16 versus the Cubs, Boyd gave up four runs in six innings. This began a stretch of four games where he allowed a total of 18 runs.
One other things to note when it comes to Boyd is that he recently exited in a start against the Kansas City Royals (June 14) due to some pain in his arm. Depending on how long he’s out, Boyd may not be traded by the deadline. However, if he returns healthy, the Cubs could potentially land him for a somewhat reasonable swap.
In this trade, the Tigers get the Cubs no. 12 overall prospect Cole Roederer and no. 19 prospect in Rafael Morel.
Had Boyd kept up his strong season and not had that rough stretch, paired with the injury, he could go for quite a bit more. At the moment, Boyd holds an ERA or 4.93 with a 1.20 WHIP — which would qualify as the second-lowest WHIP of his career.
Boyd will supposedly be out through the All Star Break (July 13) which makes things real dicey. The deadline being the last day of July would give Boyd maybe two starts to show he’s back to full strength. Although, with this being a tendinitis issue, the Tigers will want to be careful bringing him back.