I did see that they have had Seiya practicing at 1B over the winter. If they trust him there by the start of the season, Suzuki can primary DH while being able to let Busch and Tucker take the occasional day off from the field. It's not a bad compromise in my mind.
Agree only way you Trade Suzuki is if you can get a bigger bat. To me that’s basically Santander and nobody else.
I suppose if you get good value back for Suzuki and then sign Santander I would entertain it. Santander will give you more HR but I don't see him as a better overall player or bat otherwise.
It's possible but the main reason they traded Mervis was he had no path to Chicago at this point. Unless something crazy happens in spring training or there are some trades I think there is a good chance Canario is the backup OF since he is out of options and can play all 3 OF positions. The only way he is not is if they trade or cut him at this point. Alcantara and Caissie may get a chance to earn a spot out of camp with a hot spring training but as long as Canario is still in the picture and doesn't look horrible in ST he's the likely guy for the spot for now. I think both Alcantara and Caissie have the potential to push for a callup with a hot start in Iowa and finding a 2nd position for Caissie would be ideal as where are the AB going to come from with Happ, PCA, Tucker, 4th OF and Suzuki all in the mix? Trying Suzuki and even Happ who has prior infield experience at 1B in ST would help open up some AB too. I'd have more confidence in Happ than Suzuki being able to play 1B well enough but my guess is they won't try it with him since he's won Gold Gloves in LF.
Exactly. As it stands, Seiya is the Cubs second best hitter, and he's on a relatively cheap deal. If the Cubs are going to sign a free agent with a qualifying offer attached, it should be Bregman on a short-term, high AAV deal. That's the one way to significantly improve the offense at potentially their weakest position (3B). Then you let Shaw play 2B at the beginning of the year, while Nico is out, and see if he sticks.
I can get on board with Happ and Suzuki being somewhat redundant. That being said, they aren't the problem.
Happ and Suzuki are perfect pieces for a big market team that is actually willing to spend. If they were our 4th and 5th best hitters instead of 2nd and 3rd, everybody would love them. Same with Swanson, he's a consistent 4 WAR guy that plays elite defense with a league average bat, he's incredibly valuable. Jed just tried to convince the fan base that he was equal to the other big bat shortstops in that class and he just simply isn't offensively.
It saved them at least $8M over Bellinger. They want the other $2.5M so that's why there's an arbitration fight.
