Chicago Cubs: One more big trade in the FanSided Mock Winter Meetings

On the final day of the annual FanSided Mock Winter Meetings simulation, our Chicago Cubs traded yet another young outfielder in hopes of winning it all.

No one can say how it would play out, but we have another trade from this week’s FanSided Mock Winter Meetings simulation for your perusal. And, for the last time, a friendly reminder – this is not a real Chicago Cubs trade, but rather a fake on orchestrated by Cubbies Crib as part of an exercise.

This time, we parted ways with one of the most divisive players on the Chicago Cubs roster. Half the fan base seems sold on his multi-positional versatility abilities and switch-hitting nature. Others believe that he’s too strikeout-prone and lacks a clear spot on the team long-term. We fell somewhere in the middle but wound up trading him after fielding offers on him all week.

In the end, we traded with another National League team, this time the Washington Nationals. That alone makes this trade dangerous – because if Ian Happ would, indeed, pan out, we could be stuck dealing with him for a very long time.

Chicago Cubs: Trading from a position of strength

When this mock offseason began, we weren’t sure which of the Cubs’ young outfielder would survive – if any. But, in the end, it’s Kyle Schwarber. He made enough strides defensively last year and possesses the raw tools offensively to grant us a bit more patience in his continued development.

Happ, meanwhile, became a casualty of a crowded Chicago outfield that already parted ways with Albert Almora in order to bring in a badly-needed southpaw reliever in Brad Hand. Happ, meanwhile, seemed like the next logical option in an effort to clear up the outfield picture.

It’s also important to note – no one was touching Jason Heyward or his contract, so that’s a non-starter. We also tried not to pay for guys to play against us. More often than not, that’s just bad business.

Happ struck out 167 times last year in 142 games (387 at-bats). That works out to a 43 percent strikeout rate in his ABs – hardly something the Cubs can afford while trying to get an inconsistent offense performing on a daily basis. You might call his 2018 showing a sophomore slump of sorts, but for us, it was a telling showing – and one we don’t want to see again.

Chicago Cubs: Balancing the short and long-term needs

In return, we brought in two guys we believe can help the Cubs win in the short-term and two more with an eye on the future. Starting with the short-term, we added veteran Howie Kendrick and utilityman Wilmer Difo – both of whom fit Joe Maddon‘s utilitarian managerial style.

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Kendrick comes with just one year of control left on his deal and is coming off a .303 average last year with Washington in 40 games. He lends a veteran presence with postseason experience to the roster and, again, can play multiple positions. Should a midseason trade of Addison Russell come to fruition, he could take over at second, shifting Javier Baez back to shortstop.

Difo is more of a jack-of-all-trades. He’s a light-hitting utilityman who can step in as needed throughout the year.

Again, we built this roster based on how Maddon builds a lineup – further evidencing our continuing faith in the former Manager of the Year.

It’s safe to say had we had the power, the skipper would have undoubtedly gotten the extension he sorely lacks in real life.

Chicago Cubs: Adding depth back to the system

The two prospects both rank in the Nationals’ organizational Top 25 in left-hander Seth Romero (6) and catching talent Israel Pineda (21). Here’s what MLB.com has to say about these two.

First, for Romero:

A physically strong left-hander, Romero has feel for locating a fastball that can bump up to 97 mph and consistently sits 92-95. His plus slider in the low 80s is a legitimate swing-and-miss offering that nets him strikeouts on both sides of the plate, while Romero’s changeup, much improved in 2017, has the makings of becoming an above-average third offering. Romero will miss bats with all three pitches when he’s on, all while showing average control and command.

In short, he projects as a guy who could either become a force in the pen or even a potential middle of the rotation presence down the road. With the lack of impact pitching in the Cubs’ farm system (and the team’s lack of recent success developing young arms), we felt this was a huge get for us moving forward.

As for Pineda, we view him as a sort of additional insurance policy (albeit a long-term one at that) on Willson Contreras. In the interim, we inked Jonathan Lucroy to a one-year deal, but Pineda projects as a quality big league backstop down the road. We like the tools he brings to the table – as detailed here:

Pineda controls the barrel well, using his strong hands and wrists to generate lots of hard contact and drive the ball across the whole field. His advanced feel for hitting at a young age leads scouts to believe that the right-handed hitter will eventually hit for some power to go along with a solid batting average.