Report: Braves are Trying to Acquire a Cubs Outfielder
One of the hardest parts of winning a championship is the connections that a franchise’s fans make with the players on the roster. That is no different for the Chicago Cubs and their fan base. During the offseason, the Cubs shed a couple of stars from their roster – Dexter Fowler, David Ross, Aroldis Chapman, Travis Wood, and Jason Hammel.
The Cubs have another decision to make in the coming days as well. This time it will impact their final roster spot.
With many big decisions already figured out, the Cubs will need to finalize their roster in a week’s time. The biggest decisions are going to be if they want to keep an extra lefty pitcher or an extra position player. If you haven’t caught where we might be leading you, yes, I am talking about Tommy La Stella or Matt Szczur.
Big Decisions
This is a tough decision for the Cubs to make. La Stella is a very tough hitter, who sprays line drives all over the field. He rarely strikes out and has an underrated glove. Matt adds a competent fielder at all three outfield positions, and his shortened swing has produced more power.
If you just looked at the pure facts, Matt doesn’t have an option left, while Tommy does. While it would be easy to just say, send Tommy to Triple-A, he might not accept that.
That leaves the Cubs with really one out… a trade.
Sources: #Cubs’ Matt Szczur among trade candidates #Braves considering for extra OFer. Szczur out of options; Cubs expected to keep him.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 21, 2017
There is some real interest in the Cubs outfielder in Atlanta. While the Braves have Matt Kemp, Ender Inciarte, and Nick Markakis left to right, they dealt their fourth outfielder in January (Mallex Smith) and do not expect Sean Rodriguez to see action in 2017.
There is some new information that is being reported by CSN’s Patrick Mooney.
FWIW as #Cubs shape roster, Maddon raved about Szczur during media session and indicated La Stella would report to minors if necessary.
— Patrick Mooney (@MooneyNBCS) March 25, 2017
This could all be posturing on the Cubs behalf. The Cubs could be building up Szczur’s value before an eventual trade. Organizations do this all the time, in an effort to maximize their returns. While the return wouldn’t be much for Matt, the team could force the Braves (or someone else) to add a little higher level prospect or add another player to the mix.
But even Maddon seemed to contradict himself a bit, which could be showing the Cubs hand.
“The rules in this situation would benefit Matt, which is a good thing because he’s a big-league guy that’s been riding the shuttle,” Maddon said. “He’s done it in a very stoic manner, and he’s been great for us.”
“Matt Szczur, to me, is a Major League Baseball player,” Maddon continued. “You’re seeing what Tommy can do from the left side of the plate right now. And then it’s just a matter of balancing things out. We’ve already mentioned that some guys on the infield can play the outfield within this group, thus it presents differently regarding what you need.”
To me, it sounds like Maddon is ramping up the hype machine for the Cubs outfielder. If you look at the raw facts, Tommy adds a left-handed bat (extremely valuable), and another infield glove. When Joe mentions that the infielders can play outfield – notably Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, and Javier Baez – he’s paving a path for it to be ok to trade Szczur.
I do not expect Matt to be on the opening day roster. Let’s just hope Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell steal his stock of bats and compression shorts.
*Credit Patrick Mooney and CSN Chicago
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