Chicago Cubs: Will the Cubs target an outfielder before the trade deadline?

The Chicago Cubs suffered a huge blow early on in the year but have continued to move forward. They currently have one of the best records in all of baseball and could become buyers before the non-waiver trade deadline. Is there a possibility that they’ll target an outfielder?

As we all know, outfielder Kyle Schwarber is out for the entire 2016 with a torn ACL and LCL after colliding with Dexter Fowler during the first weekend of the season. Some would argue Schwarber is a big loss while others argue that the Cubs have enough depth to survive the injury.

Jorge Soler has gotten a bulk of the playing time with Schwarber out, and all signs point to him getting most of the playing time for the rest of the season, but could the Cubs target another outfielder to potentially fill the void?

Well, according to Bruce Levine, who spoke on the radio before Saturday’s game against the Rockies, mentioned the possibility of adding a guy like Josh Reddick, Jay Bruce, or Carlos Gonzalez.

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Reddick makes the most sense, having the connection to Theo Epstein, Reddick played for Epstein while first getting his feet wet in the Major Leagues. The Reddick trade rumors go back to last season, too, and you can read more about them here.

Reddick brings a great glove out there in the outfield, being a former gold glove winner, to go along with a power bat, having hit 20+ home runs twice. He also won’t strike out much, having just struck out just 65 times in 526 at-bats last season, a K% of just 11.2%. He would fit the Cubs’ current team perfectly.

Jay Bruce makes the least amount of sense here, for a couple of reasons. The first being it’s a division rival, hard pressed to believe the Reds would trade within the division.

Bruce brings a power bat to the plate, and a solid glove out there in the outfield, but he won’t walk much, and will rack up the strikeouts, that doesn’t really fit the Cubs’ philosophy.

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Gonzalez would make sense, depending on if the Chicago Cubs want to pay the price, and right now, hard pressed to believe they would. Gonzalez had his first 40 home run season last year, and the Rockies are in the midst of a rebuild, so trading him is more than likely.

Gonzalez plays a decent outfield position, but his career is made at the plate. A .291 career hitter, who has finished over .300 three times, the guy can just flat out rake. Unlike Reddick and Bruce, CarGo brings a speed element, having stolen 20 bases four times in his big league career. All of this, of course, is dependent on how Jorge Soler fills in.

Soler falls flat and just doesn’t have it, and he’s too talented to not fit in just fine. He hits the ball way too hard, has loads of power, and has better discipline than what we’ve seen, the big question is if Soler can put it all together and be the player the Cubs think he can be.