Chat » Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard are two of MLB's

biggest potential trade-deadline prizes Whitey Herzog Jersey , and they probably aren't going anywhere.The New York Mets right-handers are 30 and 25 years old, respectively. DeGrom is under club control through 2020; Syndergaard won't hit free agency until after the 2021 season at the soonest. DeGrom is in the midst of a Cy Young Award-caliber season, and Syndergaard, injury issues aside, owns one of baseball's most electric arms.The Mets are buried in last place in the National League East. But those are the type of assets you build around, not the kind you ship away.What if New York could loan out its co-aces, however, with the assurance they'd return to Queens after the season?It's nothing more than a thought exercise, obviously. League officials won't rewrite the trade rules in the middle of summer.There is a precedent, however. Professional soccer players in the English Premier League can be "loaned" out for limited periods before returning to their club of origin. Sometimes, they make a significant difference for their new squads.What if the same standard were applied to MLB?To give credit where it's due, NBC Sports' Christopher Crawford recently floated the notion:Christopher Crawford Crawford_MILBA thought:Lets say that MLB had a rule where a team could quot;borrowquot; an MLB player starting July 31. It would be like any other trade, only the player -- if hes under contract -- returns to the team in November.What would a player like Mike Trout get in that situation?That's a fascinating hypothetical. What wouldan offense-hungry contender pay for a few months of Mike Trout's services? At least one top-level prospect, probably, plus ancillary pieces.The Los Angeles Dodgers surrendered power-hitting prospect Yusniel Diaz to the Baltimore Orioles to rent Manny Machado in June. Diazbecame the Orioles' No. 2 prospect, perMLB.com, and the O's also nettedbat-missing right-hander Dean Kremer and third baseman Rylan Bannon, who'd hit 20 homers at High-A, as well as right-hander Zach Pop and infielder Breyvic Valera.Renting out Trout would help the Los Angeles Angels to rebuild their farm system and set them up for future contention. And it would put the game's best player in a position to perform on the postseason stage, where he's logged a scant 15 plate appearances in seven-plus big league seasons.Picture Trout temporarily in the middle of the Chicago Cubs' or New York Yankees' lineups. Are you not intrigued?Jim McIsaac/Getty ImagesThe same could be said for any number of star players who are toiling for teams on the fringe of or essentially eliminated from contention: the Miami Marlins' J.T. Realmuto, the San Francisco Giants' Madison Bumgarner, the Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto. They'd tip the balance of power wherever they landed while adding exponential excitement to October.This proposal will engender hired-gun cynicism. It's the antithesis of loyalty. If your loyalty lies with the guy donning the laundry of your choice above all else http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-marcell-ozuna-jersey , surely you're fuming.But as MLB wrestles with declining attendance and waning enthusiasm, it needs to get creative. It needs to find ways to put the best players in the spotlight and crank up the drama.Plus, free agency has already decimated the concept of franchise fealty. Whatever lip service they pay to the fans and cities they temporarily call home, most players follow the money. As they should.Let's cast aside the charade, then, and admit it's about entertainment. Many in the NBA have embraced the superteam, where contenders load up on superstars intent on winning a title. Why shouldn't baseball follow suit?"I'd give up everything I have, all of the individual awards I've ever won, for a World Series," Trout said in June, per USA Today's Bob Nightengale. "It would be so sick to win the World Series, ride around with that trophy, and see everyone so happy. That's something you dream about."Jae C. Hong/Associated PressUnfortunately for Trout, the Angels entered play Sunday 13 games behind the Houston Astros in the American League West and eight games off the wild-card pace. The odds that he'll realize his dream with the Halos in 2018 hover somewhere in the vicinity of zero.Would it be as sweet if he did it in another uniform? That's an open question. But it would be sweeter than watching the postseason from his couch.Trout, deGrom, Syndergaard et al. will likely remain with their current clubs in 2018. If you root for the Angels and Mets, then you're probably happy about that.If you're a fan of the game, on the other hand, it's an unfortunate realityith a possible, if drastic, fix. The Cubs go for their fifth straight win this afternoon."After the Cubs drew nine (!) walks off Diamondbacks pitchers Friday afternoon, tying their season high Orlando Cepeda Jersey , I’m going to put them back on Walk Watch. That gives the Cubs 84 walks in 18 games, or 4.67 per game. We’re far enough into the season that this can be called a “pace.” That pace would give them 756 walks for the season, which would shatter the team record... by 100. I doubt they’d break it by that much, but all the walks certainly help the team’s run-scoring ability. The Cubs currently rank tied for second in the N.L. (with the Mets) in runs with 108, and lead the league in runs per game (six).The Dodgers lead the N.L. with 100 walks, but they have played four more games than the Cubs.The N.L. team record for walks in a season is 732, by the 1947 Dodgers. The MLB record is 835, by the 1949 Red Sox. The top 15 team totals for walks in major-league history are all by A.L. teams. The Cubs’ team record of 656, set in 2016, ranks tied for 108th.Notes:The Cubs bullpen has a 1.16 ERA (four earned runs in 31 innings) over the team’s last 10 games. The Cubs have completed the first 18 games of 2019 (11 percent of the season) without playing extra innings for the first time since making it to Game 23 in 2016. The longest such streak in team history (from the start of a season) is 47 games, in 1968.Here are today’s particulars.Cubs lineup:Diamondbacks lineup:Yu Darvish, RHP vs. Zack Greinke, RHPJoe Camporeale-USA TODAY SportsRick Scuteri-USA TODAY SportsYu Darvish, apparently, can throw up to 99 miles per hour. That’s what he did in his last start, at least for a few batters. Nice to know he can dial it up if he wants to.More important, his outings are getting better, each time. He was pretty good against the Marlins, except for the walks. And why all the walks?The last time he faced the D-backs was August 10, 2017, when he was with the Dodgers. He struck out 10 in that outing, but a lot of the players on that D-backs team aren’t there anymore. In fact Keith Hernandez Jersey , one player who got three hits off him that night is his teammate now, Daniel Descalso.No current D-backs player has more than six career AB against Darvish. Perhaps that will be to his advantage.Zack Greinke’s overall numbers are pretty bad this year, but that’s mostly due to a horrific first start. His last three: 3.66 ERA, 0.966 WHIP, two walks and 25 strikeouts in 19鈪?innings.Historically, Greinke has not pitched well at Wrigley. In five career starts there, he has an 8.31 ERA and 1.692 WHIP, his worst at any ballpark where he has five or more starts. Current Cubs are hitting .311 (28-for-90) against him, and maybe this is the day that Anthony Rizzo (5-for-11 vs. Greinke) starts hitting.Today’s game is on ABC7 Chicago. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.MLB.com GamedayBaseball-reference.com game previewSB Nation game previewPlease visit our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit. If you do go there to interact with D-backs fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.The 2019 Game Thread procedure will be the same as the one used in previous years. Here’s how it works.You’ll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads” so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in the game’s StoryStream as noted above.The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.Discuss amongst yourselves.