Cubs and Mariners Could Ignite MLB With This Surprise Trade

With a lull, to say the least, in MLB action, there's no better time to conjure up trades that could help both sides of the deal immediately. Veteran for veteran. Hole filler for specialist. You know, some nice win-wins.

With the Chicago Cubs' NL Central hopes pinned on finding the spark they've lacked, in many ways, since 2016, and the Mariners always willing to deal in an effort to spice up their farm, the two seem like natural partners in crime.

How's Mallex Smith for Tyler Chatwood and a prospect sound?

It sounds simplistic to break down the Cubs in this fashion, but...isn't baseball simplistic, when you really look at it? Dexter Fowler was credited with sparking Chicago throughout their transcendent season, with Joe Maddon at the forefront of complimenting him, installing, "You go, we go" as the team's unofficial motto.

For more tangible evidence of this phenomenon, look no further than the final game of Chicago's season, when Fowler opened with a homer into the bushes in Cleveland and changed everything. Adding a center fielder like Smith would replicate Fowler's effect pretty well, save for some of the home run power -- Smith's excellent 46 stolen bases in 55 tries would give new manager David Ross a tool he legitimately doesn't have in his arsenal yet.

In a deal like this, the Cubs would surely be forced to part with something of value from a position of strength, so Chatwood, a swingman who rebounded to have a sold year in his second season in Chicago, would head to Seattle. He's a free agent at the end of 2020, so he could once again be flipped at the deadline by an M's team that loves to deal. If the Cubs add a mid-tier pitching prospect like Chris Clarke (No. 17, per MLBPipeline), that should be enough.

What do you say, Trader Jerry? Chicago needs some help here.