The Chicago Cubs should trade Wisdom and Schwindel

The Chicago Cubs were a very bad baseball team in 2021. They were especially bad after trading away superstars like Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, and Craig Kimbrel away. There were some positives that came out of the season for a few individuals, however, as the future may be bright for these men.

Of course, both Patrick Wisdom and Frank Schwindel each had breakout years for the Chicago Cubs in 2021. Wisdom did his damage for the entire season while Schwindel came in after Rizzo was traded to play first base. Each of them played very well for being older MLB rookies.

Wisdom broke Kris Bryant’s Chicago Cubs rookie home run record and then ended the season with a total of 28. He slashed .231/.305/.518 for an OPS of .823. He also had 61 RBIs and 54 runs scored on the season. All of this accumulated a very respectable 2.2 WAR.

Schwindel was outstanding as well with a little bit smaller of a sample size. Wisdom played in 106 games while Schwindel played in 64 games. 56 came with the Cubs as he had an 8 game stint with the Oakland A’s before making his way over.

In those 64 games, he slashed .326/.371/.591 for an OPS of .962. He also had 14 home runs, 43 RBIs, and 44 runs scored. He ended on a 1.7 WAR which is very nice for only playing in such a small amount of games. To be honest, if these numbers were averaged over 162 games, we would be talking about an MVP candidate.

The Chicago Cubs would be wise to trade their two rookie sensations right away.

Wisdom is 30 years old and Schwindel will turn 30 during the 2022 season. As a result, after the lockout is over, the Chicago Cubs need to trade both of them. Their value will never be higher than it is right at this very moment. As soon as they don’t appear to be repeating those numbers next year, nobody will give up anything for them.

A contender might give up something nice for one of them if they believe in the upside. There is a reason that they were 29-year-old rookies and didn’t get their shot earlier. Each of them was so good and deserves so much credit but seeing them repeat it is unlikely. Hanging on to them for too long could be Jed Hoyer’s biggest mistake if he allows that to happen.

The  Cubs are sending mixed signals with their direction based on trades and signings that they’ve made but these two have to be taken advantage of. They could each be good for another few years but the Cubs won’t be good during any of those years. Trading them now would be so smart.