Many Cubs fans, and others across baseball, were surprised when Willson Contreras was still a Cub after the trading deadline last August.
Contreras will soon receive a qualifying offer, and many expect him to reject it. It is, I suppose, possible he’ll take it and remain a Cub next year, but those chances are small. Presuming he does reject it, the Cubs will receive draft pick compensation, and we won’t know the results of that at the MLB level for several years.
The Cubs could have had a MLB starting pitcher in exchange for Contreras at the deadline in a deal with the Astros.