3 players the Chicago Cubs need to trade for during the offseason
By Todd Welter
Bo Bichette
Why would the Chicago Cubs trade for another shortstop? They already have Dansby Swanson and had to move Nico Hoerner over to second base just to make room for Dansby.
The speculation is the Cubs would try to trade for Bichette and move him over to third base.
I’m hearing the Cubs have talked to the Blue Jays about Bo Bichette, who would play 3B for the Cubs.
— Matt Cozzi (@matt_cozzi) November 21, 2023
This was first hinted at by @KFidds yesterday and @jonmorosi mentioned the Cubs interest in Bichette last year.
Bichette is signed through 2025 and would cost big return.
The word on the street is Hoyer and Hawkins have long coveted bringing Bichette to the Northside.
Bo Bichette to the Cubs? We examined the possibility on @MLBNetwork this morning, following the @matt_cozzi report yesterday. pic.twitter.com/TWnHsCJK2N
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 22, 2023
He is not a rental player like Soto. Bichette is locked up for two more seasons on a team-friendly deal relative to his production.
Bichette put up a .306/.339/.475 slash line with a wRC+ of 125 in 2023. He finished as a 3.8 fWAR player with fWAR splits of 16 offensively and two defensively. He hit 20 home runs last season, but that would be an upgrade over Madrigal’s two who is currently projected to be the Opening Day third baseman.
There are two problems with acquiring Bichette. The first is getting Bichette to buy into moving over to third base. The second issue is he has never played third base before.
The good thing about having a manager like Craig Counsell is he is experienced in these situations and gets the player to buy in.