Are the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians good trade partners?

The early offseason develops a lot more speculation and rumors then you’ll hear during the July trade deadline – and that is saying something. Every writer and every insider will have their phones and social media pages attached to them to try to keep up on all the comings and goings in the rumor mill.

While nothing concrete has really come up yet with the Chicago Cubs, it is always nice to play “Fantasy General Manager” and try to think up of different trade partners for the Cubs to team up with and try to get them over the last hump to get to the World Series.

An interesting team that fell very short of expectations last year (I picked them to win the American League), was the Cleveland Indians. With a wealth of young pitching, they found themselves without a lot of run support and their bats often left their pitchers wishing for more help.

With that being said, they seem like the perfect trade partners for Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer to talk to.

Two specific spots in their lineup are center field and right field. Now, the Chicago Cubs have their own questions in regards to center field, but right field is another story.

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While I personally wouldn’t trade him, there have been a few rumblings in the rumor mill about Jorge Soler and his future with the Chicago Cubs. Like all rumors, especially at this time of the off-season, it should be taken with a grain of salt, but you cannot ignore the chatter.

To make a case for moving Soler, wouldn’t be totally unrealistic. His health has been an issue in the minor leagues and this past season with the Cubs.

He had his ups and downs, as expected for a very young rookie, but he did play very well for the Cubs in the postseason; he was one of the few bats to put the ball in play against the New York Mets.

Filling his spot in right would be fairly easy. Kyle Schwarber, who played some in right field in the postseason, actually looked very comfortable in right. With his work ethic and the time given in the spring, he could make a decent transition into being a more permanent right fielder.

Another option, less likely than Schwarber, would be to move Kris Bryant to right, thus giving the Chicago Cubs an open infield position for Javier Baez to play every day. The talk of Bryant being moving into one of the corner outfield spots has been prominent since the Chicago Cubs drafted the young slugger.