The Chicago Cubs were always going to look at adding starting pitching this offseason, whether it be via free agency or the trade market, but thus far they have missed out on major additions.
While the Cubs were not expected to be in on top-of-the-market free agents like Corbin Burnes or Max Fried, there were some hot commodities available via trade that made some sense, but didn't pan out.
The best of which would have involved swinging a deal with the crosstown rival Chicago White Sox for Garrett Crochet, but the lefty wound up being sent to the Boston Red Sox.
In the next tier of starters was a deal that felt like it could be imminent with Miami Marlins six-year veteran Jesús Luzardo, but for whatever reason those talks stalled out towards the end of last week.
Luzardo was instead sent to the Philadelphia Phillies, leaving Chicago once again to look elsewhere.
If the Cubs do in fact continue to comb the trade market rather than bringing in another free agent to join Matthew Boyd, a new potential option could emerge in Minnesota Twins right-hander Pablo López.
Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote last week that López is a name the Twins could shop given the demand for starting pitching from teams who are unwilling to pay the steep prices that have been handed out in free agency this offseason.
Mark Powell of FanSided proposed a deal that would see Chicago acquire López in exchange for prospects Kevin Alcantara and Jaxon Wiggins.
Similar to what was attractive about Luzardo, López is under contract for the next three seasons, albeit at an expensive number of $21 million per year.
More intriguing about López, however, is the fact that he has been able to stay on the field.
While Luzardo has missed over 30 starts in the last three years, López has made a full 32 starts in each of the last three seasons.
During that period, he has posted an ERA of 3.83, a record of 36-28, an impressive WHIP of 1.171, and struck out 606 batters in 559.1 innings pitched.
Since the Cubs already added a lefty in Boyd, in addition to having two lefties at the top of the rotation with Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga, bringing in a right-handed starter like López to balance out the rotation could be preferable.
To this point, there have not been reports linking López to the Cubs directly, but if Minnesota is truly fielding offers, Chicago should absolutely be involved.
