Ben Revere would be a nice stopgap for the Cubs outfield

The Chicago Cubs were one of the most active teams during the Winter Meetings, and while they added some valuable pieces like Jon Lester, Miguel Montero and Jason Hammel they are certainly not done adding pieces for the upcoming season.

The Cubs have a surplus of infielders but they are lacking pieces in the outfield. As of right now, Jorge Soler and Chris Coghlan are the only two players that appear to have a secure spot on the roster, and even Coghlan’s place in the starting lineup could be in jeopardy if they can sign a better player. Arismendy Alcantara is ticketed to patrol center field but he’s a converted infielder and he might have more value coming from the bench where he can create havoc with his speed and his raw power.

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Based on that perspective, Chicago could be interested in adding a stopgap to play in center, and while the free agent market doesn’t offer a lot of valuable players the trade market does offer some intriguing possibilities like Coco Crisp and Denard Span. However, based on the cost required to acquire anyone from other team, few players make more sense than Philadelphia Phillies’ Ben Revere.

Revere is only 26 years old but he already has a few MLB seasons under his belt. In addition to his experience he checks some of the boxes that the Cubs are currently trying to fill on their roster. He’s a left-handed bat and he could easily be a leadoff hitter since his career strikeout rate is under 10%. He’s mostly a singles hitter and he doesn’t have a lot of power but if he reaches base then he’s a threat to steal as he has well above-average speed. His defense isn’t anything special but he has played in that position several years so he’s clearly more experienced than Alcantara who’s still learning the job at the MLB level.

Revere had a .306/325/361 slash line last season so he makes plenty of contact but he doesn’t walk much and as I explained earlier, his power is almost non-existent. But based on what it might take the Cubs to acquire him and the fact that Albert Almora could be ready in a few years, Revere would be a cheap, experienced option to patrol the outfield while also adding a lot of versatility to a Cubs lineup that’s expected to be heavily right-handed for the upcoming season.