Chicago Cubs: Is Arismendy Alcantara ready for the bigs?

After appearing in games all over the diamond for the Chicago Cubs last season, Arismendy Alcantara has been tucked away at Triple-A Iowa for most of 2015.

With the offseason acquisitions of center fielder Dexter Fowler, Tommy La Stella and Jonathan Herrera and the promotion coveted middle infield prospect Addison Russell, Alcanatara has been the Cubs’ odd-man out all year.

Appearing in 11 games with Chicago early this season, the 23-year-old Dominican Republic native batted just .077/.226/.077, striking out in 11 of his 26 at-bats, drawing just five walks.

Since his demotion to Triple-A Iowa, Alcantara has put together a nice little season, earning his second-straight Pacific Coast League All-Star selection earlier this week.

His offensive numbers still leave plenty to be desired. Make no mistake, Alcantara is no Kris Bryant or Joey Gallo when it comes to his work at the dish. Still, he’s emerged as a leader in the I-Cubs’ lineup in the wake of losing both Russell and Bryant.

Entering play Saturday, Alcantara is batting .248/.313/.454 across 66 games. According to a July 1 press release from the organization, he leads the team with 10 home runs on the season.

He’s also swiped 11 bases for Iowa this season, adding 10 doubles and a PCL-leading seven triples out of the leadoff spot in the lineup.

So with his success, has he earned a spot on Joe Maddon‘s roster in Chicago?

In short, no.

While he’s one of my personal favorite pieces, the Cubs don’t need another young bat they need to wait on. Kris Bryant (.222/.341/.444) and Addison Russell (.128/.209/.154) have struggled over the past couple of weeks, as the team has gone up-and-down quite a bit.

Alcantara appears to be facing logjams in his road back to Chicago. Could he now be a trade asset?

Adding another inexperienced, albeit versatile, piece to the puzzle could prove to be troublesome for a team doing everything it can to at least somewhat keep pace with the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League Central.

Herrera has proved his worth to the club of-late, providing a couple of clutch hits, while contently doing whatever task Maddon asks of him. In the outfield, things are about to get more crowded – with the return of Jorge Soler imminent – leaving little room for the utilityman Alcantara.

Recently, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports penned a piece in which he constructed proposed trades for 12 big league teams.

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Two of those deals involved the Cubs (more on that later this weekend), with Alcantara headed out west in one of them.

Heyman proposed the Cubs trading Dan Vogelbach, Javier Baez and Alcantara to Oakland in exchange for Scott Kazmir and utility player Ben Zobrist.

While this would fill some glaring short-term needs of the Chicago organization, I just can’t wrap my mind around Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer trading this much young, controllable talent for a pair of guys who can hit free agency after this season.

Although I personally don’t think this exact deal has much of a chance to play out (at least not without at least Kazmir or Zobrist agreeing to extensions first), Heyman makes a very valid point.

The Cubs have plenty of young trade chips in their pocket – and offering defensive versatility, speed and some pop at the dish, Arismendy Alcantara is certainly among them.

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