The Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline of course beckons, and we're keeping track of the rumors. Speaking of which, here's a nugget from Yahoo!'s Jeff Passan ...

And now, with Cashman, the New York Yankees' general manager, controlling the July trade market with his cache of dominant relievers, he gets to covet whomever he pleases. And atop that list is Schwarber, whose monstrous left-handed swing is made for Yankee Stadium.

So that's Yanks GM Brian Cashman leveling his transactional gaze at injured Cubs outfielder/catcher Kyle Schwarber.

Schwarber is of course recovering from a torn ACL suffered early this season, but the fourth-overall pick of the 2014 draft remains a promising power source who's still just 23 years of age and who entered the 2016 season with just 86 days of major-league service time.

Passan's piece also includes Cashman's reported thoughts on how many homers Schwarber could hit in Yankee Stadium. Speaking of which, Schwarber is a left-handed power hitter, and Yankee Stadium has that short porch in right field. On that point ...


Source: FanGraphs

Schwarber's not a dead-pull hitter (he has stronger than average pull tendencies, but much of that is because he pulls the ball on the ground), and he does indeed have power to all fields. It's possible, though, that Schwarber as a hypothetical Yankee could have a home approach and a road approach, not unlike what Josh Donaldson has done with the Blue Jays. In any event, a left-handed slugger like Schwarber is almost always going to enjoy life in Yankee Stadium. To boot, Schwarber's defining weakness is defense, and in the DH league that would become much less of a defining weakness.

The larger matter, of course, is whether the Cubs would part with a high-ceiling young talent like Schwarber. The Cubs are a certifiable World Series contender, and while their window as such figures to be open for some time, such opportunities are not to be sacrificed at the altar of presumption.

That is, the Cubs need bullpen help. Presently, they rank seventh in the NL in relief ERA and eighth in FIP. In other words, it's been a middling unit thus far. As well, the Chicago bullpen may have to do more heavy lifting over the final months if Joe Maddon decides to ease off the rotation in preparation for October.

As Passan notes above, no one's as flush with impact relievers as the Yankees are. Maybe an Andrew Miller-for-Schwarber deal is discussed. Maybe Schwarber is instead the centerpiece of larger deal for Miller and Aroldis Chapman. Maybe none of this happens, and the Cubs fortify the pen by less costly means.

On the Yankees' side of things, Cashman must persuade his employers that a pivot is the best approach. Making the postseason in 2016 is certainly plausible for the Yanks (they entered Monday 5 1/2 games out of wild card position), but it's not likely (the SportsLine Projection system gives Cashman's squad just a 0.4 percent chance of being part of the playoff fray). If flipping one or two relievers can net an impact, cost-controlled talent like Schwarber, then the Yankees should indeed pack it in for 2016.

On that point, there's also this ...

If Cashman's inclined toward a reset for 2017 rather than a more thorough tear-down, then this is something to consider.

For the Cubs, there's lots to consider, including, possibly, trading one of their 2015 postseason heroes in the service of a possible deeper run this time around.