This years big spender during free agency has been the Chicago Cubs. They have unloaded a ton of money on Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist, and John Lackey. The big question though is did they overpay for these players? For the most part I would have to say yes they did overpay. Below is my breakdown of the cubs three major signings and whether I think that player was overpaid.
The Cubs paid a lot of money to Lackey who is going to be 37 years old. Lackey is making 32 million over two seasons, and despite having a great year last season his FIP suggests that he was pretty lucky last year. Lackey had a 2.77 ERA but a FIP of 3.57 which is nearly a full run higher. This is a lot of money to a guy that is likely close to retirement and has a career 3.92 ERA. The Cubs don’t need him to be their ace but they are paying him close to number one pitcher money.
I feel like Zobrist is the one free agent whom the Cubs did not overpay to get. Zobrist is making 14 million a season for four years, and while he doesn’t excel in any one area he provides a little bit of everything. Last year was the first time in six years that he didn’t have double digit homeruns, and steals.
More importantly that his offense is the fact that Zobrist can play just about any position on the baseball field. If I’m not mistaken he has played and started at every position but catcher and pitcher. This flexibility is extremely useful particularly when a player gets hurt or needs rest as you won’t have to shuffle the lineup too much making this a good singing at 14 mill per year.
With Jason Heyward however I feel like he is vastly overpaid. Heyward is going to be making 23 million a season for eight years. Heyward is making only a million less than Mike Trout and nearly three times the amount of Andrew McCutchen which is absolutely crazy.
Heyward is only a .268 hitter, and has eclipsed 20 homeruns only once in his six year career. Sure Heyward is a gold glove defender but there is o reason to pay a player this much simply because of great defense. If the cubs signed him to keep him away from the Cardinals it could wind up being a huge mistake. Heyward is a nice player but he is being paid like one of the greats, and I can’t see why.