Chicago Cubs: Robel Garcia next call up or trade bait?

Chicago Cubs prospect Robel Garcia has been hitting the cover off the ball this year. Is he next to be called up or could he be used as trade bait?

Chicago Cubs prospect Robel Garcia has had an interesting path in his professional baseball career. He was signed by the Cleveland Indiana in 2010 and was in their minor league system until 2014. The Cubs signed him to a minor league deal after the 2018 season. So what was he doing in that gap of time?

He was traveling all over the world playing for Team Italy and was noticed by the Cubs scouting department when the team traveled to Mesa, Arizona to play in an Instructional League Exhibition Series. Hats off the scout who found him and had the Cubs offer him a minor league contract because all he has done has rake.

Garcia, 26, began this season with Double-A Tennessee and slashed 0.295/0.391/0.590 with 6 home runs and 26 RBI’s in just 22 games. He’s extremely versatile both at the plate and in the field. The switch-hitter has played third base, shortstop and second base in the minors this year with the majority of innings being played at third base.

That slash line was good enough for the Cubs to promote Garcia to Triple-A Iowa. So how has he been doing for the I-Cubs? He’s only slashed 0.306/0.383/0.597 with 6 home runs and 14 RBI’s in 21 games.

So could he potentially be called up? It’s definitely possible although he won’t be playing third base which is probably good because he has committed 11 errors at third base in the minors this year. Now that shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all for Garcia as Javier Baez committed several errors when he was in the minor leagues.

The Cubs have Kris Bryant occupying third base but there is some opportunity for Robel Garcia to see time at second base. Daniel Descalso has been nothing short of awful, batting just 0.094 since May 1. Addison Russell and David Bote have both been playing second base but if the Cubs cannot seem to find a place for him on the Major League squad, they should strongly consider trading Garcia for a bullpen arm.

The Cubs bullpen on the surface does not look too bad as they have a 3.95 ERA on the season but they have a combined WAR of just 0.5, which is near the bottom of the league. They are also just 11-22 in save chances, so they need to shore that up in what figures to be a very tight National League Central division race.

Garcia was an unexpected trade asset this season and the Cubs need to take full advantage.