It certainly is a great time to be a Chicago Cubs fan.
After the club won 97 games and reached the NLCS last season, Joe Maddon’s boys are not taking anything for granted towards the upcoming season and the management has improved the team on both sides of the ball.
The signings of Jason Heyward, John Lackey, Ben Zobrist and the trade for Adam Warren made the Cubs one of the most complete teams in all of baseball but news didn’t stop there. During Thursday the Cubs acquired a former first-round pick Aaron Brooks from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for Chris Coghlan and they have also secured the services of Dexter Fowler with a one-year deal worth $8MM. It also has a mutual option for 2017 worth $9MM with a $5MM buyout.
Chicago is certainly doing everything they can to have a loaded roster on both sides of the ball but the latest moves have created a bit of a logjam in the outfield. Kyle Schwarber is likely to be in left field for most of the season and Jason Heyward is either manning CF or RF on a regular basis. Dexter Fowler is also expected to be a regular starter but the likes of Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Ben Zobrist are also in the mix for playing time in the outfield spots.
What are the Cubs going to do in this situation? They could have Soler and Schwarber splitting time in left while Soler could also move to right, giving either Heyward or Fowler some rest. Baez is also expected to spend some time in CF to test his ability as a back-up. Zobrist can be competent enough to play in any of the three spots but at this point he might be better suited to stay in the infield.
The Cubs, for one, could move Schwarber into a full-time catcher but a) he’s not ready yet and b) that would mean moving either David Ross or Miguel Montero, something not likely to happen considering both are the safer choice if the club wants to win in 2016.
We all know Fowler and Heyward are not going anywhere so we can pretty much pencil them both in CF and RF – Fowler certainly didn’t accept less money (he reportedly had a $33MM offer from the Baltimore Orioles) to be a fourth outfielder. Baez might stay in the infield for now as he can play 2B, 3B and SS so the whole outfield idea can be revisited later in the year if needed.
All signs point towards Jorge Soler being the odd man out in this equation but the Cuban prospect could end up being the most productive player of this bunch in the long run. The 24-year-old has struggled to stay healthy (suffering hamstring issues in each of the last two seasons) but he showed flashes of his potential in the postseason where, at one point, he got on base in nine consecutive at-bats. He’s not one player the Cubs will try to trade unless they get a massive offer in return.
This is clearly Joe Maddon’s problem but the skipper always seems to find enough at-bats for everyone in the 25-man roster. One thing is for certain, however, and is that the Cubs continue to separate from the rest of the league as the team to beat in the upcoming 2016 season.