Chicago Cubs have their next Dan Vogelbach on their hands already

The Chicago Cubs dealt prospect Dan Vogelbach out of necessity last summer and already have another prospect with no road to the big leagues.

There was a time when players like Josh Vitters and Brett Jackson represented the Chicago Cubs’ best minor league talent. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case.

Despite most of their young talent making its way to Chicago (Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Addison Russell, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Albert Almora), the team still enjoys a decent amount of prospect depth in the farm system.

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But, with it comes an inherent issue: too much position player talent. And, with this, comes roadblocks for younger players trying to crack a big-league roster.

We saw this play out as recently as last summer in the Mike Montgomery trade. Chicago sent infield prospect Dan Vogelbach to Seattle in the deal, for the one simple reason. The team simply did not have anywhere for him to play moving forward.

Montgomery went on to record the final out of Game 7 of the World Series. Vogelbach has two big-league games under his belt with the Mariners so far this season, but has spent the majority of the year with Triple-A Tacoma.

Same story, different player

Don’t be surprised if we see the same type of situation play out in a few months with infielder Jeimer Candelario.

Let’s be realistic. Addison Russell has shortstop locked down for the foreseeable future. Kris Bryant, reigning NL MVP, isn’t going anywhere at third and Anthony Rizzo has the other corner infield spot handled.

Even in the outfield, the team faces a log jam. Schwarber and Almora are both regulars out there, alongside Jason Heyward, who has six-plus years left on his contract. Simply put, there just isn’t a realistic spot for Candelario on the roster.

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And, make no mistake, that’s through no mistake of his own.

Through Wednesday, he’s batting .308 with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs with 18 runs batted in. With an OPS north of 1.000, Candelario has certainly turned heads alongside Ian Happ early this year for the I-Cubs.

Another trade in the works?

Without a clear path to the majors, Candelario is doing a lot to help the Chicago Cubs’ front office by playing this well. He’s quickly becoming one of the team’s top trade chips as the club looks to shore up its pitching depth this summer.

At the end of the 2017 season, Chicago loses 60 percent of its starting rotation. Brett Anderson, Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are all in the last year of their respective contracts, leaving just Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks in their roles moving forward.

That’s not to say the team won’t re-sign at least one of the aforementioned arms. But, to be blunt, the organization badly needs to shore up the pitching depth in the farm system. There is talent (see Pierce Johnson, Dylan Cease, Duane Underwood, etc.) but no clear-cut front-end starting pitcher options.

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A player like Candelario may very well represent a key piece in a future deal that addresses just that: a rare chink in the reigning World Series champions’ armor.