The Chicago Cubs have been at the nexus of the two biggest baseball trades of the last week. On Friday, they acquired Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, sending three players back to Houston in exchange for the three-time All-Star. Days later, they traded first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees.
Another trade was reported to be in the works this week. Monday, Bruce Levine of WSCR (670-AM in Chicago) wrote on Twitter/X that the Cubs and Miami Marlins were discussing a trade that would send left-handed pitcher Jesus Luzardo to the Windy City.
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Three days later, those discussions appear to have fallen through.
Levine reported late Wednesday that "that deal appears to be dead right now."
"We don't know what the reason is," Levine told Ramie Makhlouf and Hub Arkush. "It was very hot for a long period of time. Maybe the medicals on one side or the other weren't good, but that doesn't appear to be happening right now."
Levine added that the Cubs' offseason work isn't done just because the Luzardo discussions fell through.
"They'll be shifting," he said. "They still need another starting pitcher in my mind. They have plenty of starting pitching. It's just a redundancy of guys that throw 92 mph."
A trade for Luzardo would have given the Cubs one of the deeper starting rotations in the National League and affirmed their ambitions to break their four-year playoff drought in the final year of president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer's contract.
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A lumbar stress reaction ended Luzardo's 2024 season in June. Prior to the injury, he was 3-6 with a 5.00 ERA in 12 starts.
In 2023, Luzardo went 10-10 with a 3.58 ERA in 32 starts as the Marlins clinched a surprising National League Wild Card berth.
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Levine noted that Luzardo's lumbar injury could have been a source of concern for the Cubs, but suggested talks could have collapsed around physical concerns involving any of the players in the proposed trade.
"My guess is somebody didn't like the physicals in one of the players," Levine said.
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In 2021, Luzardo suffered a broken finger in an unfortunate video game accident.
The Cubs already bolstered their rotation by signing left-handed veteran Matthew Boyd to a two-year, $29 million contract. Adding another southpaw to a rotation that includes Boyd, Shota Imanaga, and Justin Steele would give them four left-handers among their top five.
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