Infield Solutions – Padres Could Trade with Cubs

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The biggest contract offered to Pablo Sandoval came not from the Boston Red Sox or from the division rival Giants, but the Padres, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.  And yet, also according to Shea, he is still favoring signing with Boston.  One could argue that the Padres have a hole at every infield position, with a Grand Canyon-sized whole over at shortstop.  Previously, here at FriarsOnBase, it was argued that the Padres could trade for Cubs’ shortstop Starlin Castro.  It will be argued now that the Padres should trade for a top prospect in the Chicago organization. 

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The Cubs have a logjam in their infield.  Between top-rated prospects and players currently on the major league roster, Chicago has: two second basemen, three shortstops, and three third basemen.  I am just as sick of the Padres constantly rebuilding by trading away top players for prospects that never work out.  But keep in mind that all of the top prospects factored into those numbers are going to be in the big leagues this year.  The following slides will profile the players most worth trading for.

Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Arismendy Alcantara

Alcantara’s Basics:

Positions – SS, 2B, CF

Bats S, Throws R

2015 Opening Day Age – 23

Size – 5’10” 170lbs.

Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a teenager, Arismendy Alcantara started out playing mostly shortstop in the Cubs minor leagues.  He has since played second base, shortstop, third base, and center field.  The takeaways: he has a good enough arm to play on the left side of the infield, quick enough reactions to play third base, and the speed to play both center field and shortstop.  According to Bernie Pleskoff, Alcantara needs more repetition if he is to man shortstop everyday at the major league level as he is error-prone.

On the offensive side, his good speed has netted him 52 steals over the past two years in the minors (and 8 steals in 13 attempts in the majors).  In his first 70 games in pro ball, Alcantara produced a .205/.254/.367/.621 slashline.  (For a guide to slashlines click here).  The batting average and on-base percentage were not very good.  They certainly weren’t as good as his career minors stats .284/.337/.437/.774, including his sensational .307/.353/.537/890 in his 89 games in 2014.  If he were to put up those numbers in the major leagues, he would be a very competent middle infielder.  Regardless, his power while with the Cubs was quite good.  The average major league player has a slugging percentage about 140 points greater than his batting average.  Alcantara had a difference of .162.  That’s about the difference Tommy Medica had last season.  For a middle-of-the-diamond player weighing 170 pounds, he has shown a good amount of power.

Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Javier Baez

Baez’s Basics:

Position – SS

Bats R, Throws R

2015 Opening Day Age – 22

Size – 6’0” 190lbs.

Javier Baez split his time between shortstop and second base in his 52 major league last year primarily due to Starlin Castro.  He is a very good fielder at short.  Baez’s range factor per nine innings was 4.73 where the NL average at shortstop was 4.30.  Basically, that means he was able to get to a noticeable amount of more balls than the average player at the position.  Because he has only average speed, this stat indicates that he has good instincts and reads the ball well.  His speed has some arguing for moving him over to third, but at the moment, he seems competent enough.

Baez is projected to be better than Alcantara both in getting on base and the power game.  His 2013 and 2014 minor league slashlines were: .282/.341/.578/.920 and .260/.323/.510/.833 from high-A ball to AAA.  Baez’s .169/.227/.324/.551 while on the Cubs looks like he was a member of the Padres in June.  But, it tells us that when he made his move to the majors he walked at a decent rate and, when he actually got a hit, it had some power behind it, like Alcantara.

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Addison Russell

Russell’s Basics:

Position – SS

Bats R, Throws R

2015 Opening Day Age – 21

Size – 6’0” 195lbs.

Addison Russell will be 21 and major-league ready by Opening Day.  The Cubs added him to their stockpile of infielders through the Jeff Samardzjia trade with Oakland.  He has the arm, range, and hands combination necessary to man the shortstop position.  Russell’s range factor per game was 4.34 (NL average was 4.30 for shortstops).  For a guy with average to slightly above average speed, that range factor is promising in regards to his reactions and instincts.

Offensively, while he isn’t Kris Bryant, he is still a monster.  In 2014, he hit .295/.350/.508/.858.  Russell is projected to have above-average power on top of a good ability to get on base, as per Jonathan Mayo.  I see Russell as the prospect the Padres should go after if they elect to get an infielder via trade with Chicago.  The Cubs have the highest number of shortstops.  Chicago already has a proven player in Starlin Castro at the position.  They will have a few positions taken over by young and inexperienced players. It’s unlikely GM Jed Hoyer would allow for another risk in the infield by trading Castro.  Hoyer, obviously, was formerly with the San Diego front office and will be more comfortable trading with Preller.  The Cubs need pitching, an outfielder, and a catcher more than they need a third shortstop.  The Padres have a surplus in pitching and a hole so big at short that light can’t escape the gravity from that hole.  Seems like a match.