Chicago Cubs: Five potential trade deadline targets

Chicago Cubs: The Detroit Tigers could hold another missing piece to a Cubs run

Detroit does not have much to offer in terms of veteran bats with value, but Nicholas Castellanos may be worth exploring. Now he may not seem overly exciting looking at the regular numbers, and yes we know his defense is awful as evident by the career -33 DRS and -24.7 UZR but the hitting splits are worth a gander.

Castellanos on the year is hitting .269/.328/.452 with seven homers and a 105 wRC+. Not setting the world on fire, but not bad by any means. However, his .295/.385/.523 slash against lefties could make him a heck of a platoon bat in the Cubs lineup. With the defense on a contending team, he may not be a guy to play every day, but the splits would solidify a platoon role for him. At this point, his bat regardless of facing a lefty or righty is better than a chunk of the bats on the roster now.

Castellanos probably is not going to cost an arm and a leg in terms of assets; he will cost something but not like a Merrifield. He is likely very easy to attain, but again, the salary. He is on the last year of his deal and is making $9.95 million this year. This leads to the overall thought that the Cubs may have to get creative in their deals to either clear space or spice up the deal, so the other side eats money.