SerpApi.Org
The Chicago Cubs are making their way to the August 3 MLB trade deadline with a lot of uncertainty swirling all about them.
And as the winds of doubt pick up, the team has made a small acquisition that may give an indication of where the front office is headed.
It was announced on Tuesday that the Cubs had signed DFAd outfielder Greg Jones, most recently of the Milwaukee Brewers, to a minor league contract.
Admittedly, this isn’t a big, impactful move. Jones, a former first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2019, has done nothing of note at either the major league or minor league level and has been passed along to several organizations looking to find some life in him.
If he finds his way to the big league Cubs, Jones would purely be a bench player as someone with speed and defensive versatility who can play all three outfield positions, plus middle infield in a pinch. He’d absolutely be a 26th man on the active roster.
Currently, that 26th man is outfield prospect Kevin Alcantara. The addition of outfield reinforcement, however, could mean that the 24-year-old might be shopped around in Chicago’s pursuit of pitching.
Alcantara trade brewing?
Alcantara—who puts up big power numbers in Triple-A, but struggles with the bat in the majors—will be out of minor league options next season. The Cubs will then be facing a situation where they have to either add him to the active roster out of spring training or cut him loose entirely. And given his inability to adjust to major league pitching, the smart move may be to see what they could get for him now rather than gamble on some sudden and borderline miraculous development.
The young, toolsy prospect could be a prized piece in a package for a high-end starting pitcher before the deadline.
Such a move would certainly make sense. Even with the possible departures of free agency-bound corner outfielders Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki, an Alcantara who isn’t hitting at a big league level is of little use to the Cubs. And unlike any team that may want to give him a starting spot, Chicago is in “win now” mode and not in a position to focus on player development on the job.
Defying odds can only last so long
Right now, this team looks to be playoff bound. They are thirteen games above .500 and firmly atop the NL Wild Card standing. Fan Graphs currently gives them an 84.2% chance of making the playoffs.
But making the playoffs and doing well in the playoffs are two very different things.
Common baseball sense tells us that the teams who do things in the postseason are those that are rock-solid in pitching. The Cubs are most definitely not that.
As a matter of fact, it boggles the mind a bit that this crew is doing as well as it is with the pitching staff it has. In what sane, logical universe could a team be riding high, sporting the fourth-best record in all of baseball with four projected starting pitchers, their closer, and a half-dozen top relievers on the shelf?
So, the Cubs desperately need some impact arms. And Alcantara may still have enough shine on him to help bring in at least one such arm.
The Jones acquisition may be nothing more than a simple depth move by the Cubs. But the timing maybe shows there could be something else at play.
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