Chicago Cubs: What Bryce Harper on the Cubs might look like

This poses the first potential “problem.”  I put that in quotes because it truly isn’t a real issue, just a spoil of riches.

The “problem” is that you have a four-time Gold Glove Award-winning right fielder in Jason Heyward.  While he can play center better than most, he is a natural right fielder.

So what do you do?  My advice would be to move Harper to either center or left where he has played a combined 315 of his 691 games.  According to Baseball Reference, he has played them quite well with a .976 fielding percentage.

While this is indeed down from his .983 fielding percentage when he plays solely in right, it is not that significant of a drop-off.

The second “problem” is what do you do with the left field position?  Do you go with the currently struggling and defensive liability of Kyle Schwarber or do you go with Albert Almora Jr. who hasn’t gotten a chance to prove himself yet this season.

I would personally go with Almora and trade Schwarber.  Now, this may surprise some of you as this decision would definitely be a tough one to make.  At this point, the reality is that unless Schwarber is Babe Ruth with a bat in his hands, he costs the team ball games.

Trading Schwarber would potentially help the team in two key areas: pitching and money.  I presume that the Cubs would unload Schwarber and maybe a high or low-end prospect for a starting pitcher.  Whether that is Chris Archer, Sonny Gray, or some other young controllable starter is TBD.

You might be asking, “How does trading Schwarber save the Cubs money?”  Schwarber is currently making only $565,000.  However, when he becomes a free agent in 2022, he’ll command a huge payday.