With their crop of highly regarded prospects expected to make some serious noise at the big league level in 2015, the Chicago Cubs are quickly becoming a team to look. After a very lengthy rebuild without much on-field success, the Cubs have very few guaranteed contracts on the books. Because of this, they have a lot of payroll flexibility and expect to be major players in costless agency starting this off-season.

Rumors of their interest in top costless agent names like Jon Lester, Max Scherzer, Russell Martin and others have grabbed most of the headlines, but Theo Epstein and his staff are always looking for low-cost bargains. There are plenty of potential bargains currently available on the open market, but few make more sense for the Cubs than outfielder Kyle Blanks, who was recently designated for assignment by the Oakland Athletics to make room for the players acquired in their trade with the Toronto Blue Jays.

The A’s would love to trade Blanks, but it seems unlikely that they will get much in exchange for him. Whether it be from a trade, or if he hits costless agency soon, the Cubs should be in on him.

Blanks is a talented player who has always shown a ton of upside. He was drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2004 as a very raw high school talent. While it has taken some time for him to develop, Blanks' upside as a powerful right handed hitter has always been obvious. Blanks always mashed at the minor league level as his career .303/.392/.517 slash line shows.

While his success has not completely translated to the major league level, Blanks has been mildly productive hitting .234/.319/.407 in the big leagues. He has been particularly successful against left-handed pitching, making him a very interesting platoon option.

Health has been the main thing holding Blanks back throughout his career. He never seems to stay healthy long enough to make a real difference. Simply put, every time that Blanks has been given an opportunity to prove himself at the major league level, injuries have held him back.

Despite the injuries, Blanks is only 28-years-old and still has plenty of thunder in his bat. The Cubs still have a young team, and even the most optimistic baseball people struggle to envision a scenario where they are legitimate World Series contenders in 2015. They are the perfect type of organization to take a chance on a guy like Blanks, and hope that he is able to stay healthy. This is the kind of acquisition that could prove to be very valuable down the road.

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About the author
Dan Schmelzer
Dan is a 25-year-old writer who specializes in Chicago Cubs content. Dan also writes about the Iowa Hawkeyes, Fantasy Football, and covers the NFL.