Cubs likely to trade All-Stars Willson Contreras, Ian Happ

The Chicago Cubs are very much threatening to put up their worst regular-season finish in a decade and have some enticing All-Star talent that reportedly is very much available on the trade market.

Catcher Willson Contreras made his third All-Star team (all in the past four years) this year, and outfielder Ian Happ was just named to his first career Midsummer Classic roster. According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, both players could be moved before next week's trade deadline.

"The question about the Chicago Cubs catcher isn't whether he's going to be traded — that's an inevitability. It's whether his new team keeps him at the position where he has played more than 90% of his games," Passan wrote. "Multiple teams, sources said, worry about Contreras — who is not known for his game-calling acumen — meshing with a new pitching staff on the fly. The number of teams with World Series aspirations that could use a catching upgrade isn't huge, but the New York Mets and Houston Astros have been in contact with the Cubs about the 30-year-old free agent-to-be, sources said, and the San Francisco Giants are poking around on catching options, too. Other teams could seek Contreras more as a bat with the ability to play catcher rather than acquiring him as a primary backstop."

Contreras currently sports a career-high (and team-best) .374 on-base percentage, while leading the Cubs in runs scored (50) and OPS (.847) as well. Happ enters Tuesday with a team-high 95 hits, 24 doubles (career-high) and 150 total bases, while also playing in a team-most 94 games.

"Two things have become clear in the past week as trade talks picked up: Almost everyone wants Happ, and the Cubs are likely to trade him, according to sources," Passan wrote. "It makes sense. Happ, who turns 28 next month, is in the midst of an All-Star season. He's a switch-hitter who after years of swinging far better from the left side is crushing left-handed pitchers this season, he's a well-above-average defender in left field, and he won't reach free agency until after the 2023 season."

The MLB trade deadline is Aug. 2.