Cubs linked to Sandy Alcantara as Winter Meetings approach

Sam Navarro - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese · Senior Writer · 1 hour ago

Depending on what side of the spectrum you follow, you either love the rumors surrounding the Cubs or you hate them. The ones who hate the rumors are on the Cubs' side, not only failing to spend the money they should be spending but also not even listed as a fit for any of the top 25 trade targets this offseason.

For a team with the assets this organization has, that is a massive concern, as the Cubs will have to improve their roster from outside the organization at some point. Then, you have the fans who are happy with the rumors going around, as the Cubs are not only listed as teams to watch on the trade market, but it does appear they have one name in particular in mind as their ideal target.

Going back to last season at the deadline, you had a Cubs team that knew they needed to get better, but for whatever reason failed to push all their chips to the middle of the table. In the end, that may have cost them the division, but it is what it is at this point. As we navigate the offseason, the Cubs have remained at the center of the trade market, and that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

As was the case last season, the Cubs are once again mentioned with many of their deadline targets from a year ago, but now it appears talks are heating up between the Cubs and one specific team. Where there is smoke, fire often follows, and the Miami Marlins and Chicago Cubs are at a point where talks are heating up heading into the Winter Meetings.

What that means from there remains to be seen, but you could see the Cubs and Marlins come together for a trade sooner rather than later. The ideal target would be for the Cubs to land Edward Cabrera, but as has been the case for a while, Sandy Alcantara remains the big fish, and it does appear that it's Alcantara or bust for the Cubs when it comes to adding an arm from outside the organization.

On paper, you can see why the Cubs would love to make this happen, as Alcantara has front-of-the-rotation stuff and can hit triple digits with his heater. You have seen how good he is as a starter, as he was the NL Cy Young winner in 2022. He struggled out of the gate in 2023 before ultimately blowing out his elbow, which led to Tommy John surgery.

Alcantara would go on to miss the entire 2024 season before making his way back to the mound in 2025. Once he returned, the season was a mixed bag, as Alcantara certainly went through it. In total, he finished the season with an 11-12 mark and a 5.32 ERA, and that alone is a massive concern, given what you would have to give up to get him.

However, numbers aside, you have to break Alcantara's season into three parts to get the full picture of how things went. Part one was his first 10 starts of the season, as Alcantara was clearly struggling to bounce back from his surgery, as he posted an 8.32 ERA over his first 10 starts. Alcantara also struggled with his command in those starts, so there were a lot of concerns about how his season started.

Part two of his season was the middle portion of the year, as you started to see Alcantara turn the corner. Over his next 10 starts, Alcantara still wasn't himself, but with a 5.43 ERA, you could see how much he had improved from the beginning of the year to this point. Then comes part three of his season, which is what the Cubs and many other teams are looking at.

Over his final eight starts of the season, Alcantara not only started to look like the pitcher of old, but also posted a 2.68 ERA, which has to make you wonder if that was the first time he was fully healthy since his CY Young season. It's that stretch of starts that has teams talking, as that is the pitcher Alcantara can be when he is locked in.

If you add Alcantara to the Cubs' rotation, you can immediately pencil him in as your opening day starter, followed by Cade Horton and Justin Steele once he comes back from his injury. Then you have Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, and Shota Imanaga, and the Cubs would have one of the deepest rotations in baseball to the point where they could use a six-man rotation.

Given the cost of the Alcantara contract and knowing he has one guaranteed year of control left, the cost to get Alcantara would be significantly less than a guy like Cabrera, and that is something the Cubs are going to think long and hard about. Even at that, you can expect Owen Caissie to be part of the trade package, and potentially a Kevin Alcantara or James Triantos adding to that. That is nothing for an ace-caliber pitcher, and the Cubs need to pull the trigger if that is the deal they can put together to get him.