Early in the offseason, the Cubs signed Tyler Chatwood from Colorado and then went into a holding pattern as the market for top-of-the-line pitchers ground to a halt.
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The deal is the richest of the offseason and could springboard other signings with less than two weeks to go before the start of spring training.
Epstein said Darvish was their top target.
Of course, the Cubs couldn’t be happier to add Darvish to their rotation. “The sides are talking but JD is also willing to wait it out”. This is a welcome sight for a Cubs pitching staff that succumbed to the free pass for much of 2017 and certainly during the postseason. Have to believe the Sox will bend at some point, as GM Dave Dombrowski is under huge pressure to counter the Yankees’ trade for Stanton.
This doesn’t include first baseman Anthony Rizzo or utility man Ben Zobrist, both later-round choices, or the sensational young catcher, Willson Contreras, a free agent signed out of Venezuela at age 17.
Is this the year they break through?
Talk about drama, the west-coast version: Kershaw’s opt-out hasn’t been subject to years of speculation, as has Harper’s pending free agency, partly because it’s hard to imagine the Dodgers, with all of their money, letting him walk at any price. And with the Cubs’ Opening Day roster close to set (!) before the first day even dawns, we will need distractions like these to keep us interested until the real games arrive at the end of March. They re-signed and signed lefties Brian Duensing and Dario Alvarez to try to ensure they could take advantage of the maximum number of match-ups.
Among them: Former NL Cy Young victor Jake Arrieta.
“I found it to be a really productive meeting”.
“I like [Willson] Contreras better”, Darvish said, smiling, when asked about Gimenez on Tuesday.
Although Maddon won’t be handing out cans of Red Bull to his players, he came up with a working theme for this spring and beyond during Cubs Convention week in January. The World Champions even improved by adding Gerrit Cole to their rotation, which already features Dallas Keuchel, Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers, and Charlie Morton.
And so, Tuesday afternoon, a roughly 20-foot-by-30-foot room set up as workspace for about 15 media members found itself crammed with almost 100 people – dozens of journalists from Chicago and Japan, the Cubs’ brass, a couple of agents and the person chiefly responsible for this mash-up of winter and spring rites: right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish. Up to this point, Mike Montgomery was the Cubs tentative fifth starter, so they needed to get another starter. The first baseman has hit 25 home runs in each of the last two seasons, and he’s won the Gold Glove Award four times since 2013.
But for how long? Let’s take a look through a few potential suitors. He’s only pitched a couple of months in elite reliever status.
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However, I’m also honoring the memory of the great Ray Nacke, one of my favorite fellow Chicago Cubs fans who would perennially pump me for promising news on “our team, ” hoping to see them finally win a World Series.
