The trade comes as a major surprise as this leaves a void on the bench for a fourth outfielder. Coghlan was expected to get few starts this year with Kyle Schwarber taking over in left field but Cogs was still expected to spell Jorge Soler against tough righties on occasion. Not only that but the trade puts quite a bit of pressure on young Javy Baez to be able to produce off the bench all over the field (both infield and outfield) as he is the new utility man off the bench.
Adding to the confusion here is the fact that Aaron Brooks is somewhat of an unproven swing man. The 25 year old spent the majority of the season last year in AAA after being traded to the A's in the Ben Zobrist deal with the Royals. With guys like Adam Warren, Travis Wood, Trevor Cahill, and Clayton Richard, there isn't any room at the Major League level for Brooks, so the Cubs will probably use one of his options to send him back down to Iowa.
While it is always nice to add pitching depth, this definitely was not the way I expected it to occur. My guess is that we see a corresponding deal made to sign Austin Jackson to fill the role as the Cubs fourth outfielder as he is a guy who could cover all three outfield spots this season. That being said, Theo & Co. are putting a lot of faith into the combination of Tommy LaStella and Javy Baez to produce off the bench this upcoming season.
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