Friends have continued the debate about the Cubs lack of a left fielder.
Chris Coghlan is not the long term answer. In fact, no one on the current roster is the answer in left field. Kris Bryant has shown that he can play a competent major league third base. He is used to that position, don't mess with his mind by moving him around to the outfield.
With Addison Russell settling into second base, and Starlin Castro is staying at shortstop (even though Addison and Javy Baez are better defensively at that position), it means that Baez appears to be the odd man odd.
Unless Baez is the one to move to LF, he seems that he is the most likely July trade bait. Last year, we thought that Castro would have been traded to the Yankees as the replacement for Derek Jeter. But that seems to be a long shot now.
Joe Maddon has started to settle in to a more or less consistent line up with Rizzo and Soler flipping 2-3 slots (but perhaps Bryant will move permanently to the 3rd slot and Soler to clean up). This puts Castro in the 5th spot where he can do some free swinging, the left fielder batting 6th, catcher 7th and Russell batting 9th.
Coghlan is batting .203 and recalled Matt Szczur is batting .200. Junior Lake hit .286 in limited playing time before being sent back to Iowa. He seems to be deemed only a replacement player. Mike Baxter is hitting .303 in Iowa but lacks power.
So the Cubs are in a bind in left field. They need to upgrade the position, but it will probably cost them at least Baez (if he is hitting) and a potential pitching prospect (like C.J. Edwards). The question is always whether it is worth the risk to acquire a veteran outfielder for a wild card push or hold onto the prospects for next season.
