Tigers, Cubs talking Garza trade

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Excellent baseball sources have confirmed for me tonight that the Cubs are down the road in discussions with the Detroit Tigers to send Matt Garza to the Motor City in exchange for a package of prospects. The Cubs are currently in the middle of a complete overhaul of their major league roster and several teams have expressed serious interest in Garza including the Tigers, the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Blue Jays. He would be projected as the Tigers No. 2 starter behind Cy Young award winner Justin Verlander.

Cubs president Theo Epstein has made no secret of the fact that he is looking to overhaul not only the Cubs major league roster but the minor league system as well after finding the talent pool in the higher minor league levels of the system relatively barren. The Tigers have a handful of top-end prospects and appear to be willing to meet the Cubs asking price of multiple highly-regarded prospects.

The Yankees do have tremendous interest in Garza, but they have balked at what they felt was an excessive asking price. They have a group of top end players in their system that the Cubs are known to covet including pitchers Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances and catchers Jesus Montero and Gary Sanchez.

The Tigers also have a handful of minor league standouts including pitcher Jacob Turner and third baseman Nick Castellanos. An interesting third name in the Tigers system could be left hander Casey Crosby, who played his high school baseball in the Chicago area at Maple Park.

Baseball Prospectus minor league baseball expert Kevin Goldstein weighed in on Turner and feels that he is potentially a front-line starter.

"Turner has great stuff and he will be in the big leagues to stay at a very young age. I would definitely consider that deal if I were the Cubs and he was a part of the trade."

Turner turns 21 in May.

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