Last night, the winter hot stove rumor mill started to pump out a lot of heated gas.
It was reported that the rumor was the Cubs would trade Starlin Castro and Junior Lake to the Marlins for OF Giancarlo Stanton. Only in a Cubs dream. When the season ended, the Marlins were adamant that they were not going to trade Stanton.
Stanton, 24, is the Marlin franchise. Last season in 116 games, he hit 24 HR, 62 RBI, .249 BA and .365 OBP and 2.4 WAR. In his four year career, he has hit 117 HR, 294 RBI, .265 BA, .354 OBP, 14.8 WAR.
In comparison, Castro's 2013 WAR was negative 0.6 and Lake's 0.8. Castro's career WAR is only 7.4 over four seasons.
To make a trade make sense, the Cubs would have to add another starter with a WAR more than 2.2 per season (a commodity the Cubs do not have) plus additional prospects.
But this is silly trade speculation on the part of media, fans, and agents who want to stir the pot at the winter meetings so their clients names are in the newspapers as being seen as something valuable.
There is no question that Castro and/or Lake could be traded this off season. Really, no one on the Cub roster is untouchable. However, it would be a public relations disaster to trade away a "core" player for more prospects when management just told its season ticket holders that their plan is just about ready to come together with the core prospects.
