Chicago Cubs: Insider names young Cub most likely to be traded at deadline

The Chicago Cubs, if they want to secure a spot in the postseason and do something there, need to make some serious moves prior to the August 3 MLB trade deadline.

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Pitching, of course, will be the focus. The team currently has a full major league-viable pitching staff out of commission and is working with several arms that can only be considered emergency fill-ins. Chief among the currently injured pitchers is Cade Horton, Justin Steele, Edward Cabrera, Ben Brown, Daniel Palencia, Jameson Taillon, Hoby Milner, and Phil Maton.

The two questions before the deadline, however, are: Who could the Cubs realistically target for trade deadline acquisitions and who, exactly, would they be willing to give up in any high-profile deal?

Chicago has some attractive young talent that could be seen as expendable in the right trade. A lot of it is bundled up at the Triple-A level or on the major league bench. What all these young talents have in common is a blocked path to an everyday starting gig with the Cubs.

The young Cub most likely to go

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Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic feels that one particular prospect is the most likely of the bunch to be dealt in a deadline deal—outfielder Kevin Alcantara.

Per Sharma:

“Alcantara has immense talent and a high ceiling, but he just hasn’t gotten a chance to play regularly. When he has, he hasn’t shown the power upside that he has displayed in the minors. While he has a .296 ISO at Triple A this season, he’s yet to get an extra-base hit in 38 MLB plate appearances spread across three years.

At his best, Alcantara is a plus defender in center field with speed on the bases and power at the plate, but his mistakes on the bases this season have limited him to being used solely as a bat against lefties. He hasn’t done enough in those moments to force the issue and earn more playing time. That and the fact that the outfield has three everyday players has made it feel like Alcántara is the odd man out. He’d obviously have a shot at winning a roster spot next year with Seiya Suzuki and Ian Happ both pending free agents, but he is not a lock to receive everyday playing time.”

Kevin Alcantara’s realities

Alcantara—among a major league or near-major league group that includes Matt Shaw, Pedro Ramirez, and Moises Ballesteros—has, arguably, the greater upside when it comes to all-around tools. But he’s wilted whenever moving up to the big league level. Up until this season, he had also started slipping in his status as a top prospect, falling off Top 100 prospects lists and regarded by many as a young player whose progress had stagnated.

This year, though, he’s had an explosive year in Iowa, smashing 17 home runs in 216 at bats and slashing .273/.367/.569, and has regained some of the sizzle attached to his name.

Alcantara is still only 23 and he does have a very high ceiling when/if he can put all the pieces together and the Cubs will need viable outfield options with the possibility of both Happ and Suzuki being lost to free agency after this season.

What might make him especially tradeable is that he’s out of minor league options after this season and he’ll have to be a ‘roster or release’ player at the major league level if brought up at any point in 2027. That lack of flexibility might guarantee a ticket out of the Cubs’ system this summer.

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