The 5 Cubs Who Could Be on the Move at the MLB Trade Deadline

The 2026 MLB Trade Deadline is just over two weeks away.

The Chicago Cubs, who sit 12 games over .500 and five games out of first place in the National League Central, have most of their work cut out for them. They'll almost certainly be buyers and will be on the hunt to find major-league pitching in any form.

Where they get that pitching from is a question for another day — but who are the Cubs willing to give up before the clock strikes 5 p.m. CT on Aug. 3?

Let's take a look at the five most realistic candidates who could be on the move:

Kevin Alcántara

Alcántara has not truly been able to settle in with the Cubs' big-league roster. He's logged just 38 big-league at-bats since his debut in 2024, posting a career .237/.278/.253 (.513 OPS) slash line.

Of course, that's not nearly enough time to expect a hitter to fully adjust to major-league pitching, but it also shows that the Cubs simply have not been able to give him the consistent reps that he may need. He does still possess a lot of upside in both bat speed and speed on the basepaths.

Alcántara has also logged 16 defensive innings this season, spread across all three outfield positions. But the Cubs rarely need to replace any of Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, or Seiya Suzuki defensively. When they do, it's typically Michael Conforto or Matt Shaw taking up the post in right field while Suzuki moves to designated hitter.

That doesn't leave Alcántara with many opportunities to slot in on defense either. Coupling that with his struggles offensively, it seems like a change of scenery could benefit both parties — especially if it lands the Cubs a usable big-league arm.

Jonathon Long

Long, the Cubs' No. 6 prospect, was a ninth-round draft pick in 2023. The power-hitting first baseman is in his fourth full season in the minor leagues, where he's slashing .270/.352/.431 (.783 OPS) at Triple-A Iowa in 2026.

Long was a non-roster invitee to the Cubs' Spring Training the last three seasons, and impressed this past spring when he went 7-for-21 (.333) with a home run and two RBI in nine games.

However, Long has not yet been able to break into the Cubs' active roster. Michael Busch has been a mainstay at first base for the past three seasons and will likely be the fixture there for many years to come. Long has played third base and left field in the minors as well, but not nearly as much. He's another prospect stuck in a logjam who could benefit from moving to a new system.

James Triantos

Triantos is just 23 years old but has already played 529 minor-league games since the Cubs drafted him in the second round out of high school in 2021. The Cubs' No. 7 prospect can play second base and in the outfield and is currently turning in one of the best offensive stretches of his pro career.

Triantos is slashing .311/.349/.448 (.797 OPS) with Triple-A Iowa and is well on pace to eclipse his single-season career highs in home runs (7) and RBI (52) since he joined the I-Cubs. His elite contact skills and plate discipline liken him to Nico Hoerner — the player who is probably the main culprit for keeping Triantos out of the majors all this time.

Hoerner signed a six-year, $141 million extension with the Cubs in April, making him the Cubs' second baseman of the past, present, and future. That extension effectively shut the door for Triantos to ever make any inroads to the majors with the Cubs. But he is certainly MLB-ready, and there are likely many MLB clubs with a clear path for him to the big leagues. He has a lot of value, and there is no reason why the Cubs wouldn't be able to land a solid arm with Triantos as a trade chip.

Matt Shaw

The odds that the Cubs move Shaw at the deadline are probably pretty slim right now. However, he'd be the most realistic trade chip should Chicago make a splash on a frontline starter.

The 24-year-old has made two separate trips to the IL in the past two months, one for a back issue and one for a hand sprain. He's slashing .246/.322/.415 (.737 OPS) in 56 games this year, all of which are sizeable improvements from his rookie season.

The Athletic mentioned Shaw as the headliner in a potential package that would bring Boston Red Sox right-hander Sonny Gray to Chicago. Other high-end targets would include Minnesota's Joe Ryan, the Los Angeles Angels' Jose Soriano and, probably the longest longshot of all, the Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal.

The Cubs went hands-off on Shaw at the deadline last year. The rumors that swirled as the reason the Cubs didn't make a splash for a big arm at the 2025 deadline were that the asking price was too high, and it included the likes of Shaw and Cade Horton. At the time, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said dealing their young stars would be "detrimental" to the organization's future.

But then the Cubs signed Alex Bregman in the offseason, moving Shaw away from a regular role at third base. His reps have come mostly in right field, and he's largely been a platoon/utility piece. His reduced role means the Cubs could now be more comfortable giving him up for pitching, especially given the hitting talent coming up in the farm system.

Moisés Ballesteros

Ballesteros came out of the gate this season like a man on fire. The 22-year-old hit .382 in April with five home runs and 14 RBI.

But then, his production fell off a cliff. He hit just .102 in May and .231 in June before being optioned back to Triple-A Iowa for a much-needed reset.

That reset hasn't quite done him much good either, however. Ballesteros is slashing just .179/.220/.205 (.425 OPS) with the I-Cubs in his last 15 games. But the word is that the Cubs still very much believe in his bat, and he has proven that he can really mash MLB pitching.

Of the young Cubs, Ballesteros is probably the least likely to be traded. He seems like a last-resort type of departure, though he isn't as untouchable as a few of the Cubs' top prospect bats like Josiah Hartshorn and Ethan Conrad.

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