Rumor: Dan Vogelbach Could be Enough for Yankees to Trade Andrew Miller to Cubs

Photo of Jon Ferlise Jon FerliseJuly 19, 2016

Speculation is abound as the MLB trade deadline looms in less than two weeks. For the Chicago Cubs, it appears their biggest issue is pitching, more specifically, the Cubs need bullpen reinforcements in the form of a solid middle reliever and preferably a lefty.

For several weeks now, there has been rampant talk about what it would take to bring Andrew Miller to the Cubs from the New York Yankees. A lot of the chatter has focused around the Yankees desire to trade for Kyle Schwarber and, while Theo insists that no player is untouchable, the Cubs don’t seem nearly as interested in shipping the talented Mr. Schwarber.

Yesterday, Andrew Marchand, a senior writer for ESPN New York, mentioned that it now appears the Yankees could be interested in Dan Vogelbach.

This now becomes much more interesting and much more realistic. Dan Vogelbach is a stud first baseman currently stuck at triple A Iowa with little to no hope of getting to the Cubs’ big league roster. This year in triple A has been a breakout season for Vogelbach, he’s slashing .318/.425/.548 with 16 home runs over 360 plate appearances. That’s a big improvement to his 2015 double A numbers of .272/.403/.425 with 7 home runs in 313 PA.

With such a big improvement in his numbers from double to triple A, it’s easy to see how the Yankees could have interest in Dan. In fact, my suspicion is that the Yankees have probably been good with Vogelbach all along but, when you negotiate a deal you always make the initial “ask” – Schwarber, in this case – such that it looks like you’re willing to take less – Vogelbach – but need more compensation (more players than they would’ve asked in a hypothetical Schwarber trade) to get to a deal.

Lot’s more to come on this as the days to the trade deadline dwindle. Stay tuned to Cubs Kingdom for the latest.

Photo of Jon Ferlise Jon FerliseJuly 19, 2016
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