USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale shared some solid info in his "Trade deadline primer", about where he's hearing Cubs right-handers Matt Garza and Ryan Dempster could be traded before the July 31st deadline.
Starting with Garza, Nightengale is hearing the"Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers would love" to have him.
The Tigers' interest in Garza has been well-documented, going back to this past offseason (with pitching prospect Jacob Turner being the main name brought up as part of a return package). But, there's been conflicting reports of late as to whether or not the Rangers (currently 5.5 games up in the AL West) are legitimate players for Garza. The Rangers feature a top-5 farm system, so if Garza's going to be dealt, that might be the organization the Cubs could get the best prospect return from. Simply put, interest from the Rangers is a very good thing.
But the most noteworthy Cubs-related nugget from Nightengale's article was definitely about Dempster:
The Dodgers are the leaders for Dempster, according to a high-ranking Cubs official, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because negotiations are ongoing.Dempster's expected to be dealt any day now, and we can officially consider the Dodgers the front-runners to acquire him.
