Report: Cubs have 'privately discussed' Guerrero trade

The Chicago Cubs have "privately discussed" the possibility of trading for star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. should the Toronto Blue Jays make him available this summer, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today.

Nightengale wrote Sunday that if the Jays do not turn their season around and are unable to sign Guerrero and shortstop Bo Bichette to contract extensions, rival executives believe Toronto would be open to moving them.

But as of last week, that wasn't the case yet.

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told MLB Network Radio last Sunday a trade involving either star player wouldn't make sense for his team.

“It just doesn’t make any sense for us,” Atkins said when asked about a Guerrero or Bichette trade. “There will be occasional times as you’re talking to other executives that they’ll ask if you’ll consider. And we just say it’s not something that we have spent any time on.

"But because they’re so talented and such great teammates they are attractive to other teams. So they will call. I was disappointed to see a report that that was something another executive had commented on about our team. But it just doesn’t make sense."

Atkins said the goal remains to sign both players to extensions and that a dialogue remains ongoing. Both players are scheduled to hit free agency at the end of next season. 

"On extension, of course. We have dialogue with them and that is something that will continue. We believe in them, we believe in their futures and hope that there’s a way they can play here for a long time."

Guerrero has rebounded nicely after a slow start to the season, coming into Sunday's series-finale with the Oakland Athletics slashing .294/.387/.429 with seven home runs and 30 RBI in 64 games. Bichette is slashing .243/.292/.356 with four homers and 27 driven in over the course of 61 games.