Chicago Cubs: Finding a Landing Spot for Kyle Schwarber
The Chicago Cubs have reportedly offered up Kyle Schwarber in a trade proposal with the Detroit Tigers while attempting to acquire some pitching. Let’s take a quick look at some other landing spots for the powerful Cub and see if we can find them some pitching in the process.
This rumor started up in earnest when Jim Bowden said on MLB Network Radio that the Cubs had been in contact with the Detroit Tigers and were seeking Michael Fulmer or Daniel Norris. Fulmer won the Rookie of the Year award last season and was named to the All Star game this season. Bowden also said that the Cubs offered Kyle Schwarber in return.
From a Tigers standpoint, I totally get not wanting to take on a player that was just called back up from the minors after struggling to start the season and has major defensive limitations for a player that has spent the week in Miami working on his tan following an All Star nod. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a home out there for Schwarbs.
Finding a landing spot for Kyle Schwarber that satisfies two team’s needs is a bit rough, and honestly there aren’t that many viable options out there, but here are the most likely options as we head towards the non-waiver trade deadline.
New York Mets
Sure, the Mets have plenty of outfielders and they can’t take advantage of the designated hitter, but they also have plenty of pitchers (though they can’t stay healthy) and are a middle-of-the-road offensive club. The two teams could definitely make sense as trade partners.
The Cubs are likely after more of a sure thing than this guy, but Schwarber isn’t a surefire Hall of Famer either, and the fact that the Cubs just won a World Series and appear to be loaded for years to come is going to presumably leave teams less willing to want to improve their competition too dramatically when trading their own players.
That’s where Steven Matz comes in. He has plenty of upside, but he has a hard time staying healthy. Leaving the Mets is probably the antidote to that illness. Across 34 career starts (spanning three seasons), Matz owns a 3.14 ERA and will be under team control through 2021. For a team that is going to have a hard time paying all of their stars in a short period of time, a young, controllable starter like Matz could go a long way for the Cubs. Heck, according to Baseball Reference’s similarity scores, Matz and Fulmer are pretty pretty much the same.
The question for the Mets would be where they would place Schwarber. He could roam left field, but that is where Yoenis Cespedes spends most of his time. He could slide over to right and leave Michael Conforto in center, but that isn’t ideal either. First baseman Lucas Duda is expendable, so the real determining factor here is how much the Mets believe in Dominic Smith, who is batting .330 with 12 homers and 58 RBI in his first taste of Triple-A.
Oakland Athletics
Sonny Gray is on the market, and he’s probably the caliber of player the Cubs are looking for. Plus he has a couple years of team control left before free agency. While Chicago wouldn’t have Gray for as long as Matz, Gray has been a Cy Young contender and doesn’t have the long history of injuries that Matz does.
The A’s have been moving towards a youth movement all season, calling up seven of their top ten prospects at points throughout the season, and adding a bat with the potential of Schwarber would be a big “get” for the A’s rebuild efforts.
There are two potential roadblocks for this deal. The first being that Oakland is going to want a haul for Gray when they move him, and while Schwarber is a nice starting point, he’s not going to be the only piece coming to Oakland. How willing would the Cubs be willing to part with some of their other talented prospects?
The other roadblock is again the defense factor. The A’s could stick him at either first or at the DH spot, but those positions will likely be clogged by Ryon Healy or Khris Davis a fair amount of the time. Healy is also a poor defender and Davis doesn’t have much of a throwing arm, so keeping him out of left field is a net plus for the club.
Plus, the A’s are already the worst defensive club in the bigs, so adding Schwarber would just compound the problem. If Oakland isn’t making a concerted effort to improve their club’s defense, this could be a fit.
The Chicago White Sox have the other top pitcher on this year’s trade market in Jose Quintana, and adding Schwarber to the young mix of talent they’ve already acquired would be pretty impressive, but Jose Abreu will be manning first for them for at least two more seasons. They could have Schwarber DH, but trading away such a big chip for a DH feels counterintuitive to a full rebuild. That said, Melky Cabrera is in the final year of his contract with the Sox, so left field could open up.
With Yoan Moncada, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, Zack Collins and Michael Kopech, their farm system isn’t lacking for talent at the top. They also don’t necessarily need to make a big splash like landing a mini Babe Ruth.
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The Toronto Blue Jays are an interesting team because logic says they should sell and start collecting pieces for their retool/rebuild. They have a couple of pitchers that could bring back a haul in Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez, but it’s more likely that Toronto wants to keep those two for themselves for a potential final run or two than moving them and fully starting the rebuilding process.
These are pretty much the only teams that aren’t really in contention, looking to add for the future and have quality pitching to move. The Padres could use someone like Schwarber, but it’s doubtful that Chicago would take Jered Weaver for him.
The Reds would be an interesting team, but their pitching staff is very not good. The Angels could use another bat in their lineup to go with Trout and co., but again, they have no arms, regardless of what you’ve seen in Angels in the Outfield.
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It’s just hard to see a team other than the A’s or Mets trading from their big league club to add a struggling bat to their lineup. That said, both destinations would be good fits and would be a net gain for all involved.