Cubs Offseason Trade Targets: Dylan Crews Is An Upside-Laden Gamble Worth Taking

The Chicago Cubs have a need in each of their corner outfield spots. The Washington Nationals may have a 25-year-old corner outfielder with recent big-time draft pedigree available. One doesn't have to work too hard to put two and two together around the possibility of Dylan Crews representing a trade target for the Jed Hoyer-led front office. 

It wasn't too long ago that Crews was a No. 2 overall pick of the Nats. It was 2023, in fact, when they selected him as part of his rapid ascent to arriving at the major-league level in 2024. After getting more than 300 plate appearances worth of work that season and another 400-plus in 2025, however, it seems as if Washington may be ready to consider moving Crews this winter. 

Such a consideration doesn't stem from any lack of belief in his upside, but rather the idea that a change-of-scenery may be required for that upside to be realized. Crews sits at nearly 900 plate appearances at the top level, but he's worked to a slash of only .217/.285/.363 (79 wRC+) through that sample with a strikeout rate that has only risen with more experience and a walk rate that has declined. 

Crews does have 41 steals to his name, but only 26 homers and a mere .146 ISO. While he was never really classified as a slugging outfielder, the belief was largely that he could linger around the 30-homer threshold before long given early changes to his mechanics and a consistently-demonstrated ability to adjust. The power hasn't manifested, but perhaps a team like the Cubs might be able to unlock it. Because it's not as if it's not in there.

Crews' 74.1 MPH average bat speed sits above league average, and his 90.3 MPH average exit velocity is up in the 71st percentile. He makes hard contact at a 43.3 percent clip and found the barrel 9.4 percent of the time in 2026. These are all respectable numbers and point to a player who should probably be finding more fortune at the plate than he has to date. He was able to cut a 50-ish percent groundball rate this season down below 40 percent, but then made a bunch of contact to the middle of the field (a place where power goes to die). His batting average on balls in play was a fine .270, and it had actually been worse in the two seasons prior.

There's a defensive angle here that makes Crews appealing as a prospect too in that, well, he's good at it. Regardless of which of the three outfield positions Crews has featured in throughout his time at the big-league level, he's turned in above-average defensive numbers. Such an acquisition not only stabilizes right field in that regard, but gives you a player who can legitimately spell Pete Crow-Armstrong through various stretches of the summer heat. 

This feels like the kind of trade that the Cubs would find interesting on a number of levels. For one, you're getting a 25-year-old under team control until 2032. For another, you get the defense (and speed) that remains a priority in position players regardless of where on the diamond they line up. For a third, there is legitimate upside here that a new coaching staff outside of Washington could be privy to unlocking. And the cost shouldn't be so prohibitive that you'd steer clear in favor of a more surefire replacement-level solution.

It's an interesting concept, a trade of Crews, and one the Cubs feel as liable as any team to make, for the reasons noted above. The Nationals aren't going to part with the former top prospect for peanuts, but he's also not going to cost you (in terms of prospect capital) what an established corner outfielder might. In the absence of a high-quality free agent, the upside here has to be tantalizing. 

Considering the need for the Cubs to play at least a little against type in their pursuit of new corner outfield solutions, the potential availability of Dylan Crews represents a perfect chance to make that kind of gamble.

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