Last night a rumor of interest of a Jordan Zimmerman trade between the Chicago Cubs and Washington Nationals.
SOURCES: #Cubs in talks to acquire RHP Jordan Zimmermann from #Nationals, @GDubCub reports: http://t.co/r14KdVUL8o pic.twitter.com/xagbBq63b7
— Sun-Times Sports (@suntimes_sports) November 12, 2014
A rumor, which baffling since the Nationals are still in contention with the team they have, but one that was supported by David Kaplan.
Cubs as @GDubCub reported are interested in Nats P Jordan Zimmerman. Has 1 yr left on his deal. Extension would be north of 100 million. — David Kaplan (@thekapman) November 12, 2014
However, according to other well placed sources, nothing was ever going on between the Cubs and Nationals.
Source says #Cubs are not working on a Jordan Zimmermann deal with #Nationals.
— Patrick Mooney (@CSNMooney) November 12, 2014
Source says Cubs not getting Zimmermann from Nats and haven’t exchanged names, as rumored. — Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) November 12, 2014
I should not be surprised, these are the General Manager meetings after all. This is a place where most off season trades start. There will be whispers of trades and rumors of trades (both real and imaginary) will be spreading like wildfire.
The idea of the Cubs targeting a top starting pitcher has been no secret, they announced to the world a month ago that they were. They have been connected to Jon Lester more times than I can count, as well as every other free agent across baseball. After reports of Lester receiving a substantial contract offer from the Boston Red Sox, the Cubs were bound to look at as many different options as they could to see if there was a need to break out the checkbook and have a bidding war with the Red Sox. Obviously, a good place to start looking for a cheaper alternative would be to turn your attention to a team that is stacked with starting pitching talent like the Nationals.
The trade rumor made a lot of sense from the Cubs side, as they have enough minor league depth that they could probably trade for just about anyone they wanted. However, as Jesse Rogers pointed out, the Nationals have no reason to trade away a top starter when they are in contention. Not to mention that the Cubs already said they were probably not going to trade away from their system.
For those asking, have not heard any chatter re Zimmerman/Cubs rumor. Lots of odd things about it starting with timing…
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 12, 2014
No way Cubs are trading for a player in walk year without an extension in place which means they would be on the verge of a huge trade and.. — Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 12, 2014
..negotiated an extension? In what, a day? Or since season ended? Its possible but not probable. And this just hours after Jed said..
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 12, 2014
..prob not trading from prospect base, etc. Too many ifs. But of course things change when new conversations start, etc. — Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 12, 2014
Again , sources (and common sense) indicate nothing going w Cubs/Nats re Jordan Zimmerman . False rumor
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) November 12, 2014
Perhaps someone within the Cubs organization picked out Wittenmeyer to float a rumor of a trade as a way to let Lester know that he was not the only stud pitcher the Cubs could get this off season. Perhaps the rumor came from another source. Who knows where Wittenmeyer picked up this rumor. Being a professional journalist, I am sure he followed the cardinal rule of journalism and got a second source. Maybe there was (at one point) something to this rumor and those involved got cold feet and backed out before anyone else could confirm or because a trade is being discussed but it far from the exchanging names point. I doubt that though with how adamant every other baseball beat writer shoots down the rumor as completely false.
Perhaps Wittenmeyer will explain what happened next time he is on WSCR for his weekly baseball talk segment. Or perhaps he will pretend none of this ever happened.
Welcome to the Hot Stove League Cub fans. With the Cubs having banks filled with money, and a seemingly endless supply of money, I am sure there will be more rumors floated around.
Please subscribe to our blogs (info here) and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!