No extension talks with Happ, Contreras amid trade rumors originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Ian Happ trade chatter is growing louder with only a week until the trade deadline.
Happ has been increasingly a fixture on the rumor mill in recent weeks, most recently in a report by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
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According to Passan, “almost everyone wants Happ, and the Cubs are likely to trade him.”
Happ is under club control through next season but is having a breakout 2022 campaign that has his trade value at a career high.
He’s been increasingly featured on the rumor mill this month, including in reports from The Athletic’s Dennis Lin and MLB insider Jon Heyman.
Chicago Baseball
The Cubs have not had extension conversations with Happ, he said this week, and he knows what could happen in the next seven days.
“It’s crazy to think that you could wake up one day and not be here,” Happ said Monday. “But it’s part of the game; it’s part of what we sign up to do.
“And I think everybody understands that and has been through it at different points.”
Happ added Monday he was going to absorb as much of Wrigley Field as he could this week — the Cubs’ final home games before the deadline.
He took a moment to acknowledge fans in the left field bleachers during first-inning warmups Tuesday, taking off his hat and holding it to his chest.
Happ isn’t the only Cubs All-Star potentially on the move. Willson Contreras has long been expected to be dealt at deadline and also has not been approached on an extension.
Contreras was emotional after Monday’s win over Pittsburgh and acknowledged it’s been a “tough” few days for him as he nears the end of his 14-year stint in the Cubs organization.
MORE: Emotional Contreras: 'I knew it would get to me at some point'
“I could tell yesterday he was distracted in-game,” manager David Ross said Tuesday. “There's definitely thoughts on his mind. I think it'd be unnatural not to be for him.
“I think that's just a natural human reaction," Ross added. “He's an emotional guy who wears it on his sleeves.
“He cares a lot. He cares a lot about this organization, cares a lot about his teammates.”
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