Going into 2016, Kyle Schwarber was going to play a variety of positions with Joe Maddon’s specific intent of getting Schwarber to the plate. Now that a knee injury has ended his season before it really began, he’ll need to figure out a way to break into the starting lineup.
While David Ross won’t catch past this season (he’s announced his retirement) and Miguel Montero and Tim Federowicz may help Chicago get by for a little while. but Willson Contreras (the top catching prospect out there, according to multiple sources) is waiting in Iowa for his chance. There’s reason to believe Contreras will be in the bigs this year, even though they just called up Federowicz when Montero went on the disabled list today.
So do the Cubs really want Schwarber coming back behind the plate? The outfield is crowded, and Schwarber isn’t going to do anything on the infield except give Anthony Rizzo or Kris Bryant an occasional day off. The North Siders, if they have to have a designated hitter, could do a lot worse than Kyle Schwarber.
This is exactly the kind of job the union could save if the MLB pushed for the designated hitter in the National League. If Schwarber returns anywhere near 100 percent in 2017, the Cubs may have to consider trading him to get him in a lineup every day.
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