Brewers NL Central rival reportedly discussing big 1B acquisition at trade deadline

So far, the 2024 NL Central race has been shaking out exactly how the Milwaukee Brewers hoped it would. Coming off a series win on the road against the Detroit Tigers, the Crew are 38-27 and have a 6.5-game lead over the rest of the division, the entirety of which all sporting sub-.500 records at present time.

Unless things go catastrophically wrong, the Brewers appear as though they will be buyers, especially for pitching, come trade deadline time later this summer. But even though they have a decent cushion in their division, there's a good chance that other NL Central teams will join them as buyers at the deadline.

For one, there is well over half the season left and anything could still happen within the NL Central between now and the deadline. Additionally, no team is out of it in the race for Wild Card positions either as even the NL cellar-dwelling Marlins are 9.5 games out of the final playoff spot.

One of the worst possible scenarios for Brewers fans is that an NL Central rival ends up making a high-impact deal at the deadline and then goes on a dramatic run to the postseason. Well if a certain rumor comes true, there's a chance that unfortunate prophecy could be fulfilled.

An MLB insider reports that the Brewers NL Central rival Cubs have discussed acquiring a top 1B target if he becomes available.

In this piece about fallout from recent gambling suspsensions in the league, MLB insider Bob Nightengale ended the article with some quick hits around the league. Among them is the mention of how the Cubs have talked about targeting one of the league's top, young first basemen.

That first baseman is Toronto Blue Jays infielder Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Per Nightengale, the Cubs "have privately discussed the possibility of trying to acquire Guerrero at the deadline." That would be a huge get for Chicago if they could make it happen.

The 25-year-old Guerrero has been one of the best first basemen in the league for years already. In six seasons, he is already a three-time All-Star and this year he is slashing an impressive .294/.387/.429 with seven homers and 30 RBIs.

So why would the Blue Jays want to give up such a player? Well they might not have a choice, because as Nightengale points out, they have been trying to lock up both him and teammate Bo Bichette to contract extensions. If they feel they will be unable to do so, Toronto, who is nowhere near out of playoff contention but hasn't been impressive this year, could look to move one or both players to get something for them before they leave.

Adding a player like Guerrero would be huge for a Cubs team that was 17th in the league in offense at 4.31 runs per game coming into Sunday. He also has one more year of control remaining, though, so the price to obtain him, if he's even made available, would be extremely high.

Plenty still has to happen to see if this scenario has any remote chance of playing out. Ideally, the Blue Jays just keep him and Brewers fans don't have to worry about him terrorizing their team in the future.