Red Sox reportedly interested in Kyle Schwarber |
Is
Kyle Schwarber on the trade block?
The Boston Red Sox are interested in the young slugger according to ESPN's Scott Lauber. "Another source acknowledged the Sox's interest in Kyle Schwarber, who profiles more as a designated hitter," Lauber said. "But it's doubtful the Chicago Cubs will trade Schwarber, who hit 30 homers in a down year and remains a favorite of team president Theo Epstein." I doubt the Cubs are ready to move on with Schwarber since he has been working hard this offseason to improve his overall speed to make himself a more viable defender in the outfield. "It was mutual,” Theo Epstein said recently about Schwarber getting into better shape. "We brought it up with him. He told us that he had made it a priority that he was going to get in the best shape of his life and realize now that to be the left fielder he needs to be and be the hitter that he needs to be that this is something that he wanted to do, to take control of the controllables. You can control what kind of shape you get into in the off-season. A lot of this game you can’t control. He’s looking to dominate everything under his control. This one of them." Trading away Schwarber would be a drastic change in philosophy to unload one of their young players that is still under control for FIVE more years at an affordable rate. Remember the Cubs are still after Alex Cobb and if they sign him through free agency, there will be little need to trade one of their young major league pieces for a starting pitcher. The teams reportedly interested in Cobb are the Cubs, Rangers, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Orioles. If the North Siders miss on Cobb, it will be interesting to see what moves are made (possibly Schwarber) to get that final established pitcher in place to round out their rotation. In 2017, Schwarber batted .211 with 30 homers and 59 RBIs. For his two-year major league career, he is batting .222 with 46 dingers, 102 RBIs, and .329 on-base percentage.
