Agree he would be a great add. Stick him in the #2 slot and play DH/utility. He played 1B last year.
He can DH in 26 and do some utility. He’s played all over including the OF. But if you add him and Miller. Odds are Shaw and Ramirez are gone.
Arraez is one of the most overrated players in baseball. He doesn't walk, has no power and is one of the worst defenders in all of baseball. 0 chance I bench any defenders for him. Do you really want a DH with no power. There's a reason nobody signs him until very late for very cheap every offseason.
Exactly. He's basically been a league average hitter by WRC+ and OPS+ the last 5 years. He's being greatly propped up this year by playing half his games in a park with a huge outfield and that ain't it at Wrigley. There's no slug, he doesn't walk and DHing a guy with no slug makes no sense. People get enamored when they see a .300 hitter in today's game but there are so many other factors that make him basically an average bat.
His slug is above league average and his walk rate is around 6% meaning he walks around once a week less than league average.
Historically he has not been good defensively. But after some time with the infield guru, Ron Washington, he's quite literally the 7th best defensive player in baseball in terms of Outs Above Average this season.
Players don't like to sign short term expensive contracts. Unless they're a massive overpay like Dodgers and Kyle Tucker
Can't have that mentality else the Cubs will never be a factor with the top talent on the free agent market. Everyone has been calling for a big signing or trade in recent years, they have tried it twice now with Tucker and Bregman and it hasn't worked out as well as we would have liked. Maybe we have not been targeting the right guys but at least have finally shown a willingness to open the checkbook a little for the first time in a while. With all the salary coming off the books at the end of this season do you want them to just play it safe and only target guys willing to take a 3 year deal or do you want them to be in on some of the top starting pitching which fills a huge need but is going to require expensive long term deals?
Not taking big swings is how you end up with a whole bunch of 3 WAR players that lives in the Wild Card race. That's exactly what Jed has done and, hopefully, he keeps swinging big. For all the hand wringing, Bregman is still going to be around a 4 WAR guy this year.
Exactly and it's not like some of the big market teams don't have some of their own bad contracts of underperforming guys too. I mean the Mets are a perfect example. They are going to be sellers being one of the worst teams in the NL at 43-60 and a league high payroll over $328 mil. They've got quite a bit of dead money on the books still too for guys they released or traded. Even the Yankees and Dodgers have missed on some expensive guys over the years too.
