Chicago Cubs Could Potentially Look to Trade Red-Hot Prospect at Deadline

During the early part of the season, it was hard not to be captivated by what the Chicago Cubs were doing.

After so many injuries to expected contributors across their rotation, bullpen, and lineup, the fact they were at the top of their division and once holding a lead was truly impressive, prompting there to be positive thoughts about what this team might be capable of when they get healthy.

That started to happen as the Cubs began activating players from the injured list, but the results did not follow.

In fact, they have been one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball since the midpoint of May, pushing them out of a Wild Card spot.

But, just a half-game out of the playoffs right now, there is a good chance Chicago becomes buyers at the trade deadline to fill some of the clear holes on this roster.

There have been tons of names thrown out there about who they might be interested in, specifically Pete Alonso who was connected to the Cubs during the offseason and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who the front office reportedly has real interest in.

Their strong farm system should allow them to get into conversations for anyone on their target list, and Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation thinks they could use one of their hottest-hitting prospects in Alexander Canario to get something done.

"One way is that you just let him keep riding it into July, and then maybe he's an excellent trade piece. That may well be the way this plays out, as we've long known about Canario and his fit on the big league roster," he writes.

Chicago fans might not like to hear that, especially because he really hasn't been given a real shot at the Majors, getting only 19 games of action despite slashing .282/.333/.538 with two homers, five extra-base hits, and eight RBI across 39 career at-bats.

Peaking as their 11th ranked prospect in 2023, the 24-year-old has largely been relegated to minor league action as Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Mike Tauchman, Seiya Suzuki, and now Pete Crow-Armstrong are higher on the pecking order.

But with the Cubs' offense struggling so much right now, it's hard to look at Canario's incredible stretch where he's hit six homers in his last 10 games and has a wRC+ of over 200 in the month of June and think they can't utilize him.

However, that is likely the case.

Chicago will probably keep him with their Triple-A affiliate to boost his numbers and look to feature him in a package that lands someone they can use on their Major League roster right now.