Cubs: Three outfield depth options as the injuries continue to pile up

When it rains, it pours. The good news? The Chicago Cubs went 5-1 on their recent home stand, which included a sweep of the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and an almost-sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates over the weekend.

The bad news? Injuries, particularly in the outfield, are piling up in a hurry – leaving the team in a less-than-enviable position heading into this week’s matchups with the Indians and Tigers. We can always hope that off-days on Monday and Thursday are enough to avoid IL stints for those impacted, but that’s far from a sure thing.

On Sunday, Jake Marisnick – who has been something of a surprise at the dish this season – left the game with a right hamstring strain. He’s battled hamstring issues in the past and injuries to both legs cost him all but 16 games last year. This is definitely a big one to watch early in the week.

Fellow outfielder Jason Heyward also departed Sunday’s finale at Wrigley Field due to a hand issue. We don’t know how long this has been bothering the veteran, but it’s worth consideration that he’s been dealing with it for a bit given his struggles early this year at the dish.

That duo joins a quickly-growing list of sidelined Cubs outfielders, which already features Nico Hoerner and Ian Happ. Hopefully, at least one of these guys is up for getting back on the field this week, but if that’s not the case, we could see some serious roster shuffling.

Cubs: Nick Martini is the logical choice to get reps in the outfield

Unlike the other guys I’ll go through on this list, Nick Martini is already on the team’s 40-man roster. Logistically, this makes things a whole lot simpler for the Cubs: do what you need to do with Heyward and Marisnick and slot in Martini along with Kris Bryant and Joc Pederson and you have your starting outfield.

The 30-year-old Martini, who’s a Crystal Lake, IL native, signed with the team back in January and has seen action in three games this year, going 0-for-2 in a pair of plate appearances. He didn’t get into a big league contest during last season’s shortened campaign, but in 2019 turned in a solid season as a member of the San Diego Padres.

That year, Martini batted .244/.344/.317 in 96 plate appearances. Now, that’s a far cry from what he did with the Oakland Athletics during his 2018 rookie season. That year, while playing all three outfield positions, he hit .296/.397/.414, drawing 21 walks to 36 strikeouts – looking like a quality piece for the club.

He’s never come close to replicating that early success. But given the Cubs’ current situation, he makes sense as a guy who can play all three outfield spots, giving Ross at least some options when it comes to moving guys around with several of his key outfielders on the shelf.