With the departure of free agent Dexter Fowler, the Cubs needed to address center field as well as shore up their pitching. They had no other glaring needs.
The #1 target was David Price but there was a long wait before his name came up in the bidding. I anticipated him costing in the mid-$20 million range. Edwin Jackson’s $13 million coming off books helped, but more salary needed to be cleared. It was obvious that Starlin Castro was the chip to be dealt, ideally for a center fielder. Not only had Castro lost his job, but clearing his $7 million-plus salary would help in the bidding for Price. I contacted the teams for which I though there was a match (teams needing a shortstop who had center fielders or pitchers to deal). Packages offered to the Padres for Tyson Ross, Diamondbacks for Socrates Brito and Blue Jays for Dalton Pompey did not work out. Castro was eventually shipped to the Twins for the affordable Aaron Hicks, who had a good second half, and minor league reliever, Jake Reed. Reed, a former college closer, had a down year in Double-A but the hope is that he can get back on track and help out the bullpen down the road. He will not be on the Opening Day 25-man roster. Hicks could start, if needed, but would be better as a fourth outfielder. I still hoped to re-sign Fowler to start in center field, but not at the expense of coming up short on bidding for Price. I ended
up landing Denard Span for $6 million, which is less than half of what Fowler signed for.
I made cursory bids for Grienke and Cueto along the way but I eventually got my man in Price, for $25.5 million. The Price/Arrieta/ Lester trio should make the Cubs a solid contender, if not favorite, in 2016. Jason Hammel and Travis Wood will round out the five-man rotation. Edward Mujica and Marc Rzepczynski were added to the bullpen as set-up men.
With these moves, I believe the Cubs have as good a chance as anyone to win the World Series in 2016 and beyond.
Cubs Roster
Nice team. Basically filled the hole you needed, Price, without losing any young talent. I’d take Baez over Castro any day. This is such a good, young offensive team, that will only be better with Span leading off. Adding a few bullpen arms is always useful.
I’ll tell you though, with what the Cardinals did, this is again going to be an extremely tough division again.
I was hoping to get Hicks so I like that pickup. I thought about going all-in for Price but I’m sure he’d prefer pitching with the support of the Cubs’ offense, rather than the Brewers’.