6 Dominoes if the Cubs Sign Jason Heyward

Congrats to the Kansas City Royals! Now the MLB offseason, and the final pieces to what could become a Chicago Cubs championship run, can begin!

The Cubs have been linked to several players already this offseason, but we are dissecting what it would look like if the Cubs sign Jason Heyward.

Cubs sign Jason Heyward

The Cardinals are sure to place a qualifying offer to Jason, which has been determined to be a 1 yr offer of $15.8 M. This becomes important for the Cubs as they will need to send a first round pick to St Louis. A sure sign that the Cubs will go after Heyward will be if they only offer Dexter Fowler a qualifying offer and do not pursue a long term deal with the Cubs centerfielder.

Heyward, perhaps responsible for the end of Carlos Zambrano‘s Cubs career, will cost the Cubs around $20 to $22 million a season for seven to eight years. While that figure seems like a lot for a right fielder that hits 15 HRs a season, Heyward has posted a 31.1 career WAR and has only a pair of seasons in which he posted a less than 5.0 WAR. His back-to-back 6+ WAR seasons not only suggest he’s one of the best players in the league, but values him at around $40 M a season, or about double what he will be paid.

The only issue will be, where does he play? While Heyward can play centerfield, he is much better in right, and the Cubs will also look to add a centerfielder that is also a leadoff hitter. Thus poses a problem for the Cubs as they already have a right fielder in Jorge Soler.

Jamie Baker

Hi, I’m Jamie and I run this site. I’ve published work on multiple other sites and through that experience I decided to create CHICAGO style SPORTS. We truly aim to speak for the Chicago fan. Additionally, as a member of the IBWAA (Internet Baseball Writers Association of America) you can be assured that all content you read will be written with incredible integrity.

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