Chicago Cubs: Finding a Landing Spot for Kyle Schwarber

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.