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There’s been non-stop talk of the winter meetings this week, and the Cubs have been the focus of some big potential deals on the trade market as they look to move at least one standout outfielder from the roster…all while potentially getting another one , add even more outstanding outfielders to your team?

While most of the discussion lately has been about the Cubs getting one year of Kyle Tucker, two years of Seiya Suzuki, three years of Isaac Parades, and one of the Cubs’ best young infield prospects in Cam Smith or Matt Shaw. Admittedly, that’s an insanely high price for an outstanding outfielder. But with so many years of potential talent at stake, I hope this isn’t the moment where Jed Hoyer finds the will to make a big move. One year from an elite outfielder looking to test free agency — where he demands a contract larger than any the Cubs have ever signed in franchise history — is far too high a price to pay for this amount of talent.

Today’s musical interlude threw me for a loop a few days ago when I heard it as the outro of a podcast I listen to frequently. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve heard of it interventionand to be honest I’m a bit embarrassed because I obviously know Arcade Fire:

Full disclosure, I’ve heard this song dozens of times now. These texts are simply extraordinary:

Working for the church while your family is dying
You take what they give you
And you keep it inside
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan, we can do it alone

I can taste the fear
Lift me up and get me out of here
I don’t want to fight, I don’t want to die
I just want to hear you cry

It’s a thought-provoking piece of lyricism, and the heavy beat ups the ante of the music in a way that wells up within me when I hear the song.

The other element of Arcade Fire that I find so fascinating about this song is in the depth of the music itself. In the official version it’s a little harder to hear, but in the Austin City Limits version you can really hear so many different instruments from the strong organ chord that opens the song to moments that I think are just a hint of a xylophone:

Who will throw the very first stone?
Oh, who will reset the bone?
Walking with your hand in a sling
Wants to hear the soldier sing

I’m working for the church while my family is dying
Your little baby sister is going to lose her mind
Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home
Hear the soldier groan, we can do it alone

Speaking of which Intervention, I sincerely hope someone orchestrates one for Hoyer and Co. before trading three players for Kyle Tucker for several years. That got me wondering: What about the other outfielder the Cubs tried to move away, Cody Bellinger?

It’s been a few weeks since this rumor, but with Juan Soto off the market and Anthony Rizzo reportedly talking to other teams, the Yankees could use some help in the outfield and first base:

Moving Bellinger won’t bring back a player like Tucker, but if the Cubs are willing to eat up a bit of salary (and they absolutely should before simply signing a player like Shaw on loan), they might not be capable of improving substantially in 2025, but they’ll likely land one or two interesting prospects and have a year to see what they have with some of their young talent knocking down the door in Triple-A .

Sports Illustrated reported that the Yankees might be willing to trade one of their top five prospects, Will Warren, to the Cubs as part of the deal. That’s not nearly the blockbuster that Tucker would make, but it could be a much more likely trade scenario for the Cubs.

Warren is a 25-year-old right guard who made his big league debut in 2024. He had a bit of a home run problem in Triple-A and MLB last year, causing his ERA to rise to 5.91 in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and even higher to 10.32 in limited work with the major league club. However, both numbers appear to be inflated compared to his FIP and xFIP.

More importantly, the strikeout numbers are solid. At Triple-A last season, he struck out 109 in 136 batters ¹⁄₃ innings with a strikeout of 39. In a much smaller MLB sample, the strikeout numbers appeared to be 29 of 22 ²⁄₃ Innings to 10 walks.

Look, it’s not the headliner that would be a Tucker blockbuster, but the years of scrutiny attached to Tucker might just be prohibitively high. If the Cubs insist on moving on from Seiya Suzuki or Cody Bellinger, now might be the time for Jed Hoyer, with his traditionally cautious nature, to overcome the pressure he feels to make a big splash.