Chicago Cubs: Three trade packages for Francisco Lindor

The Chicago Cubs might be interested in acquiring Francisco Lindor this offseason.

The Chicago Cubs are in a weird spot. They have a bunch of guys that they might not be able to retain but they are all worth retaining. Most of them, however, have underachieved over the past two seasons. They are going to lose Theo Epstein after (and possibly even before) the 2021 season but that might not be their ultimate doom. If they want to try and extend their playoff window before rebuilding, they might consider trading for Francisco Lindor.

Lindor has been one of the best shortstops in all of baseball for the past few seasons. He has played shortstop for his entire career with the Cleveland Indians but he also has some experience playing second base. If the Cubs wanted to add Lindor while keeping Javier Baez, they could absolutely use either one of them at short and the other at second. No matter what, it would form one of the best defensive middle infields in the MLB.

It would also form one of the most impressive middle infields offensively as well. Each of them has a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger which shows how good they are at all parts of the game. Baez had a very down year in 2020 but all of the evidence tells us that he will bounce back just fine in 2021. If the Cubs added Lindor, it would throw away any rumors that they are trying to rebuild instead of winning more.

The key to a trade like this being worth it would have to come down to them retaining most of their key players which might be tough following the pandemic. If they could figure out  a way to make it work, however, these are three trades that might get it done: