Cubs-Red Sox trade proposal ships dynamic strikeout artist to Chicago

The Chicago Cubs have certainly been one of the biggest winners of the MLB offseason, as they swung a trade to land pitcher Edward Cabrera from the Miami Marlins and also signed third baseman Alex Bregman in free agency.

Yes, they did just watch as Kyle Tucker signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but it didn’t look like they ever had a real chance of re-signing Tucker anyway.

But are the Cubs done making moves?

Some feel that another big trade could be coming for Chicago, especially with its infield now a bit crowded after the Bregman acquisition. And with second baseman Nico Hoerner preparing to enter the final year of his contract, he has been deemed a prime trade candidate.

Mark Powell of FanSided has proposed a trade in which the Cubs would send Hoerner to the Boston Red Sox and reap quite the talented strikeout artist in return.

Chicago Cubs could land a dynamic pitcher from the Boston Red Sox

Powell has Chicago sending Hoerner to the Red Sox in exchange for three prospects: pitchers Payton Tolle and Sadbiel Delzine as well as second baseman Henry Godbout.

While Godbout is an impressive talent in his own right and Delzine is an intriguing 18-year-old out of Venezuela, none of the prospects are quite as enticing as Tolle, who even made his big-league debut in Boston last season.

Tolle made seven appearances and three starts with the Red Sox in 2025, logging a 6.61 ERA while allowing 18 hits and totaling 19 strikeouts over 16.1 innings. That’s a small sample size, so we can’t judge Tolle based off of that.

He did, however, rack up 133 punchouts across 91.2 frames on the minor-league level in 2025, good for an average of 13.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Considering that the Cubs have very limited pitching depth in their organization, it’s hard not to be tantalized by those numbers.

The question is, would Chicago actually want to move Hoerner?

Should the Chicago Cubs actually trade Nico Hoerner?

Hoerner was one of the Cubs’ best players in 2025, slashing .297/.345/.394 with seven home runs and 61 RBI over 649 plate appearances while playing tremendous defense. In fact, his 4.8 WAR led all second basemen.

He has been very consistent since entering the majors in 2019, owning a lifetime .723 OPS while bagging a couple of Gold Gloves. The problem is whether or not Chicago will pay him past 2026, especially after signing Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract.

We know that owner Tom Ricketts is rather stingy as it is, so it stands to reason that next season could be Hoerner’s last in the Windy City.

That being said, by going out and landing Cabrera and Bregman, the Cubs signaled that they are trying to win now, so why would they move Hoerner at this point? They would be better off keeping Hoerner, moving Matt Shaw into a super utility role and then re-evaluating at the trade deadline.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-boston-red-sox-trade-proposal-dynamic-strikeout-artist