[DJ's left nut]

And Schwarber was a credible OFer this year.

dWAR be damned - I would never ever EVER trust him past the 6th inning of a playoff game if I had a lead, but he's not a complete embarrassment out there in the Jose Martinez fashion.

I just don't see Schwarber as surpurflous at this point - y'all need the guy and you need him to be some approximation of what he was before the ASB (the guy after the ASB wasn't terribly useful). He's a second source of lefty run-production in the lineup and counting on Heyward to be that guy is a fools errand. I expect Rizzo rebounds a bit next season but you can't just do what the Cardinals did and have a single halfway decent lefty in your lineup.

I guess if you just stuck Happ out there full-time, he could end up being that guy given his splits as a switch hitter. But with Russell's issues, there's a chance he ends up being moved back to 2b. If so, you run into less of a lefty/righty issue and more of a 'who the hell plays LF for us' issue.

Bote to 3b and Bryant to LF fixes that question, I suppose. But I'd be reluctant to trust exactly what he is just yet. He was a fine hitter in the minors but nothing more than...fine. Give him a starters job and if you're lucky he's David Freese. Freese was, post-season notwithstanding....fine. And like Freese, Bote also has a bit of that 'older prospect' thing to him that makes you wonder how well he'll hold up; Freese was actually a significantly more accomplished minor league hitter than Bote was. I'm not sure how eager I'd be to trade away Schwarber to make a hole on the IF for 'Freese Light'.

Cubs have some questions and some potential answers but if I'm them, I don't move Schwarber until the trade deadline if someone ends up proving capable of replacing him out there.