Szczur just had a multi-HR game. In limited action over his career, he's figured out the swing plane and improved every year. If his D is on par with Fowler's, and Fowler is gone next season, Szczur is best CF option and best leadoff option. The Cubs have one of the best team D in baseball and that's with Fowler in CF. I would be keeping Heyward in RF. Almora isn't a headliner, but he has plenty of value to be more than a throw-in in a trade.
I'd be rather shocked if the cubs traded Almora. Firstly, he's a HUGE character guy. I can't seem to find the exact quote from after he was demoted but if you compare what he has said and how La Stella has reacted they are basically polar opposites. I'm paraphrasing here but he basically said he could pout or whatever but all he's interested in is winning. And up until he got hurt he was basically hitting .333/.339/.456 over the first 13 games in AAA after his demotion.
Given past interaction, I'm probably higher on Almora's bat than many here. By no means do I think he's a great hitter but his walk rate really isn't a problem if his k rate is what it has been in the minors. Across all levels over 1693 PAs you're talking about a 4.3% walk rate and a 11.7% k rate. Just as a comparison, Dee Gordon had a fantastic 2015 at 3.8%/13.9%. An in his prime Brandon Phillips was generally a 5-6% walk rate guy and a 11-12% k rate guy. Jose Altuve has been at 5.7%/10.4% for his career. And obviously there's lessor degrees of success than those 3 but the basic illustration I'm going for here is that the type of hitter Almora can be does have some offensive upside albeit not MVP caliber. The downside for Almora is he largely is at the will of BABIP because he puts balls in play 85% of the time give or take. Over his time in the minors he's been at .317 which is 14 points higher than his stint in the MLB this year. He also k'd at a 17.4% clip which hurt him but that's sort of to be expected for a rookie call up. I'm not holding my breath that Almora turns into the 7.1%/10.4% bb/k rate guy he was last year in AA but we should dismiss the possibility either. And it's not like that's the only time he's had those sort of numbers. In 2013 at 19 in A he was 6.3%/11.0%.
Regardless, I'm not even sure that matters. Everything we've seen suggest he's a fantastic defender. All the scouting reports agree and the defensive metrics basically suggest his value there is similar to Heyward. To throw up a comparison here in terms of value, let's talk Juan Lagares. He hit .242/.281/.352(76 wRC+) in his rookie year of 2013 at age 24. He was worth 3 fWAR over 121 games. In 2014, he hit .281/.321/.382(101 wRC+) and he was worth 4.0 fWAR over 116 games. Almora at age 22 mind you hit .265/.291/.422(87 wRC+) and was worth 0.7 fWAR over 34 games. So, think it's fair to suggest that given Almora has hit better than Lagares at a younger age he's a rich man's Juan Lagares in terms of value.
Now, I'm sure there's a bunch of Mets fans who don't love the idea of Lagares given his bat is below average but the guy provides value. And there's at least a some what decent chance his bat improves as he grows older. The fact he's a high character guy would lead you to believe if there's more potential in him, he's going to find it. Daniel Murphy at age 24 in his first full season with the mets hit .266/.313/.427 with a 6.8%/12.4% bb/k rate. He's obviously improved since then and he's a .295/.338/.445 career hitter.
What I see happening next year assuming Fowler is gone is a lot of rotation in the OF. Keep in mind that Jason Heyward was supposed to be the cubs every day CF this year. And also keep in mind that Schwarber was supposed to be their every day LF. Maybe they trade one of Soler/Baez for a pitcher in the offseason but consider how Maddon likely will use his OF next year. Let's assume Soler is gone just for the sake of argument. You can start Almora in CF, Heyward in RF, Schwarber in LF. You can start Heyward in CF, Schwarber in LF, Bryant in RF(Baez 3B). In fact, one might argue that configuration would actually be the cubs every day line up. If Soler is around he plays into those match ups. So on and so forth.
As such, while I can see the concern some might have with Almora's bat, he's clearly an amazing defender and all the reports are he's a big club house guy. How much his bat comes around remains to be seen but I think far to many focus purely on his bat. The average MLB CF this year is hitting .258/.324/.406. Almora hit .265/.291/.422 in his first taste of the minors which other than the OBP was better in both BA and SLG to go along with his glove and of course he was a 22 year old rookie.
