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Trey Mancini Cubs deal
CHICAGO — Eric Hosmer arrived to Cubs Convention this weekend as the Cubs’ new veteran first baseman, sporting a sharp Cubbie blue blazer. Prospect Matt Mervis made his way around the Sheraton Grand Chicago, where fans lined up to get the autograph of the first baseman of the future.
And on Saturday night, as Cubs fans were toasting the coming season with one day left in the convention, news broke that first baseman Trey Mancini was also in the North Siders’ plans. A source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that Mancini has agreed to a two-year deal with the Cubs, pending a physical.
The Cubs did not confirm the deal, which includes an opt-out after the 2023 season, per Feinsand. The financial aspect of the contract was also not immediately known.
Earlier Saturday at Cubs Convention, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer noted that the lefty-swinging Hosmer would be “playing every day against right-handed pitching.” That left the possibility open for a platoon situation with a right-handed hitter. Mancini fits that mold.
Hosmer said “everything” about the Cubs’ situation was appealing.
“It’s just a young, energetic group,” Hosmer said. “From the other side looking in, you see the talent, you see the guys that are on the way up and some of the signs they’ve made.”
Prior to Hosmer coming over on a league-minimum deal — San Diego is on the hook for the remainder of his previous contract that runs through 2025 — the Cubs signed free agents Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon, among others.
“It just seems like a really good group and it seems like a division that’s wide open,” Hosmer said. “And that these guys could have a really good chance. And I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Hoyer believes there could be a real “change of scenery element” to Hosmer’s situation.
“In San Diego, he went there, he signed a big contract,” Hoyer said. “He had a few good years, but obviously it didn’t go as they hoped and they moved on. And that wasn’t the most comfortable environment as that happened. And I think that getting him into our environment, I think there’s good years left.”
Mancini — named the American League Comeback Player of the Year in 2021 following a comeback from Stage 3 colon cancer — is coming off a solid ’22 showing between the Orioles and Astros. He belted 18 homers with 63 RBIs, but struggled (.622 OPS) following a midseason trade to Houston.
Mancini’s best season came in 2019, when he had 35 homers and an .899 OPS in a breakout showing for Baltimore. Over the course of his career, he has posted remarkably even splits against righties (.265/.330/.456) and lefties (.266/.331/.459).
Hosmer has four Gold Glove Awards, but the advanced defensive metrics have not been kind to him in more recent years. At the plate, he had reverse splits in 2022 (.773 OPS vs. lefties, compared to a .693 OPS vs. righties), but he has done better against right-handers (.810 OPS) than southpaws (.668 OPS) in his career.
In the field, the 30-year-old Mancini has experience in both corner outfield spots as well, but the fit with the Cubs would be at first base, where he has been a plus defender. Patrick Wisdom can also play first and get at-bats as a designated hitter, but he can also stick at third with Mancini aboard.
Adding Mancini to the first base and DH picture might also mean Mervis’ most likely destination come Opening Day is Triple-A Iowa. Last year, the 24-year-old Mervis hit .309 with 36 homers, 119 RBIs and a .984 OPS as he climbed through High-A, Double-A and Triple-A.
Prior to adding Hosmer and Mancini, Mervis (No. 21 on Pipeline’s Top 30 Cubs prospects list) looked to have a real path to Chicago’s Opening Day roster. Now, the Cubs could take a more typical development approach for a player who is not currently on the 40-man roster.
“I’m not going to put any extra pressure on myself trying to make the team by having a great game in Spring Training,” Mervis said. “Those guys are smarter than that. They’re not going to see me hit a home run or whatever and say, ‘Yeah, he’s ready.’ Obviously, they’re going to do a little more work than that and evaluate things however they need to.”
Cubs To Sign Trey Mancini
The Cubs have agreed to sign Trey Mancini to a two-year contract, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers (Twitter link). Mancini, a client of the Frontline agency, can opt out of the deal following the 2023 season if he amasses at least 350 plate appearances in the first year of the contract, 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine reports (via Twitter). Also from Levine, Mancini will earn $14MM in guaranteed money over the two years of the deal, and another $7MM is available in bonus clauses related to plate appearances.
Reports linking Mancini to the Cubs first surfaced in December, and even though Chicago addressed its first base need by signing Eric Hosmer just over a week ago, the Wrigleyville club maintained its interest in Mancini’s services. Of course, Mancini can also play both corner outfield spots in addition to first base, and Mancini’s right-handed bat provides a nice complement to lefty-swingers Hosmer and Matt Mervis in the first base/DH mix.
As Rogers indicated in a follow-up tweet, Mervis might now be slated to begin 2023 in Triple-A, rather than immediately step into a regular role in the Cubs lineup in his first taste of MLB action. Mervis is entering only his third season of affiliated baseball, and while Mervis more or less came out of nowhere to shred minor league pitching in 2022, it looks like the Cubs would prefer to ease Mervis into the big leagues, and rely more on established veterans like Mancini and Hosmer at least in the early part of the 2023 campaign.
After spending his entire career with the Orioles, Mancini is now playing for his third organization in less than six months, following the trade deadline move that sent Mancini from Baltimore to Houston. Mancini’s time with the Astros paid off in the biggest form possible once Houston captured the World Series, though Mancini himself wasn’t a big part of that push to the championship. Mancini hit only .176/.258/.364 over 186 plate appearances with the Astros during the regular season, and then had only a single hit over 24 PA in the playoffs.
With this underwhelming finish in mind, it isn’t surprising that Mancini and his representatives sought out an opt-out clause, as a more impressive platform year could set Mancini up nicely for a pricier contract next winter. Mancini turns 31 in March, but even if he re-enters the market next winter in advance of his age-32 season, the veteran should still be in position to land a solid multi-year commitment if he returns to his old form. Mancini hasn’t been in that top form since 2019, though obviously some very difficult circumstances have interfered in his career path.
After missing the entire 2020 season due to a battle with Stage 3 colon cancer, Mancini played in 147 games with the Orioles in 2021, winning AL Comeback Player Of The Year honors for his inspirational return. Mancini got off to a strong start at the plate that year before fading down the stretch, as he had to get re-acclimated after missing a full season. Mancini’s traditionally strong production at Camden Yards took a dip, as the right-handed hitter was naturally impacted by the Orioles’ decision to move back the left-field fences prior to the 2022 season. The result was a modest .283/.338/.411 slash line over 198 PA at Camden Yards last year, well below his career norms.
All in all, Mancini has hit .247/.323/.412 over 1203 PA since the start of the 2021 campaign, translating to a 104 wRC+ that is only slightly above the league average. Between the new dimensions in Baltimore and the midseason adjustment to playing in Houston, Mancini’s bat could re-awaken simply by playing his home games in the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. In addition, Mancini has now had a full and normal offseason, as even last winter’s preparations were interrupted by the lockout.
It has been a busy offseason for Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who has aggressively added veteran talent in order to turn the Cubs back towards contention after most of the last two seasons were spent in a rebuild. Like Mancini’s deal, most of the contracts have been shorter-term arrangements, such as a one-year deal with Cody Bellinger, or the Hosmer signing for a minimum salary (since the Padres are still on the hook for the remainder of Hosmer’s contract).
Beyond these shorter deals, Chicago also splurged in inking Dansby Swanson to a seven-year, $177MM contract and Jameson Taillon to a four-year deal worth $68MM. Roster Resource projected the Cubs for roughly a $176.6MM payroll before Mancini’s $7MM average annual value was added to the mix, so there could be more spending capacity for further moves considering the Cubs spent well over the $200MM mark as recently as 2019.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Cubs, Ian Happ Avoid Arbitration
The Cubs and outfielder Ian Happ came to an agreement on a $10.85MM salary for the 2023 season in order to avoid arbitration, per The New York Post’s Jon Heyman.
Happ, 28, has spent his entire professional career as a member of the Cubs organization. He delivered a strong debut campaign in the 2017 season, posting a .253/.328/.514 slash line, good for a 114 wRC+ and some down-ballot Rookie of the Year votes while splitting time between second base and center field. The following season, Happ split time between all three outfield spots as well as third base but took a step back offensively, posting a slash line of just .233/.353/.408 (106 wRC+) in 142 games with a worrisome 36.1% strikeout rate.
Happ spent much of the 2019 season at Triple-A Iowa working on his game, and appeared to have made improvements by the time he came up in the second half: in 58 games that season, he slashed .264/.333/.564 (126 wRC+) while cutting his strikeout rate all the way down to 25.0%. Happ’s improved game carried into the shortened 2020 campaign, where he looked like a potential MVP candidate early in the season before an injury an early September caused him to slump down the stretch. Still, he managed a 132 wRC+ on the year after his hot start to the shortened season. That slump continued throughout the first half of the 2021 season as Happ slashed .193/.296/.330 in the first half, though a strong second half allowed him to push his overall season numbers back above league average.
After a difficult year in 2021, however, Happ was able to post the best full season of his career in 2022, and looked like a completely different hitter while doing it. He posted a career high in doubles, a career low strikeout rate, earned a gold glove after settling into a full-time role in left field rather than bouncing around the diamond as he had in the past, and even managed to correct his heavy platoon split from previous years, becoming a largely split neutral player. All this led to his first career All Star appearance in 2022 and allowed him to earn over $10MM in his final trip through arbitration this offseason, even narrowly beating out the $10.6MM projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Schwartz.
While Happ is set to become a free agent following the 2023 season, rumblings of an extension have permeated throughout the offseason, with both Happ and president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer reportedly looking to start any potential extension talks before Spring Training, according to Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Dansby Swanson details Cubs decision, cites late grandfather
CHICAGO — Dansby Swanson’s first choice was Atlanta.
But the former Braves’ shortstop said his second choice was a sentimental one — because the newest member of the Chicago Cubs used to watch their games with his grandfather, who died just a week ago.
“Every time I walked in, he would have the Cubs game on,” a slightly teary-eyed Swanson said Wednesday during his introductory news conference at Wrigley Field. “He just loved baseball so much. … Being a Cub means more to me than people will realize. It’s no secret I left my hometown team to be here.”
Swanson, an Atlanta native, signed a seven-year, $177 million contract with the Cubs on Wednesday, the second-richest deal in franchise history. The Cubs “blew away” the Braves’ offer, according to a source, undoubtedly making the decision to leave Atlanta a little easier.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope that I would be back home,” Swanson said. “Atlanta is where I always envisioned myself, especially after I got traded. I’m a homebody, my family is there. There’s deep roots there, but at the end of the day I reached out [to the Braves] plenty in the offseason … and got the pretty clear sense that they were going to move on.
“We were on our honeymoon, and we felt this is where we were supposed to be regardless.”
Just a day before the death of his grandfather, whose second-favorite team was the Cubs, Swanson married professional soccer player Mallory Pugh, who just happens to play for the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL. Swanson said the two prayed on the decision to join the Cubs, who he sees as being on the upswing despite winning just 74 games last season.
“I’m obsessed with the journey of winning,” Swanson said. “It’s crazy how quickly the page can turn, but as quickly as that page turned it can turn back the other way.”
The Cubs made the postseason every year from 2015 to 2018 and again in 2020 but have been rebuilding over the past two years after saying goodbye to stars Anthony Rizzo, Kyle Schwarber, Javier Baez, Kris Bryant and others.
In regard to joining the Cubs, Swanson’s free agent conversations with the team went both ways.
“The thing that stood out to me is it felt like he was interviewing us,” team president Jed Hoyer said. “‘How are you guys going to win? What’s your plan? What’s your philosophy?’ It was very clear that winning was the priority.”
Going back to the end of last season, Swanson was well aware of where the Cubs fit into the baseball landscape. They went 39-31 in the second half, relying on pitching to carry the day. With the addition of the seven-year veteran, they can claim an improved defense up the middle as the Cubs will employ a Gold Glove winner at shortstop, a former winner (Cody Bellinger) in center field and a former finalist (Nico Hoerner) at second base.
Hoerner played shortstop last season but has been informed he’ll be moving back to second.
“You have some good veteran talent, some young guys that are really starting to perform better and then you start mixing in some guys like Nico, myself, Cody Bellinger, Jameson Taillon and you say, ‘Wow, this is getting to be a pretty complete team with the ability to compete at a high level,'” Swanson said.
Swanson is convinced he can find another level to his offensive game. He has displayed more power over the past two seasons — 52 home runs total — but at the cost of a high strikeout rate. He whiffed 182 times in 2022, fifth-most in baseball.
“I feel like over the last three to four years, I’ve had a track record of consistently getting better and feel like that trend is a long way from being over,” he said. “I started working with guys I really trust offensively. I feel like the sky is the limit and the potential is just now being tapped.”
That desire to improve wasn’t lost on Hoyer, who found Swanson’s questions about the team and coaching staff admirable.
“I can’t imagine two better attributes of a free agent than that: How are we going to win here and how are you going to make me better?” Hoyer said.
Swanson was the first pick in the 2015 draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks before being traded to Atlanta the following year. He helped the Braves to a World Series title in 2021 and is the second high-profile player to leave Atlanta in two years, after Freddie Freeman returned to his hometown to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.
Swanson is doing the opposite, leaving where he grew up, but comes to a team in need of leadership. And it’s a team his grandfather would have been pleased to see him play for.
“I walked down to the field today and looked at my wife and said, ‘This is where we’re supposed to be,'” Swanson said.
Cubs Finalizing Contract With Dansby Swanson
The Cubs are “very close” to a deal with shortstop Dansby Swanson, and are expected to finalize the deal shortly, NBC Sports Chicago’s David Kaplan reports (via Twitter). The contract is a seven-year, $177MM deal that includes a full no-trade clause, according to Russell Dorsey of Bally Sports (Twitter link). Swanson is represented by Excel Sports Management.
It is the second-biggest free agent deal in Cubs history, second only to Jason Heyward’s eight-year, $184MM pact from the 2015-16 offseason. After the Cubs had spent the last couple of seasons cutting payroll and largely moving into rebuild mode, it is safe to say that the franchise is firmly planning to compete again, given the signings of Swanson, Jameson Taillon, and Cody Bellinger this offseason, as well as the Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman deals last winter.
Rumors have swirled since the summer that the Cubs were planning to sign one of the “big four” shortstops of the 2022-23 offseason — Swanson, Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, or Xander Bogaerts. Some reports even suggested that Chicago could sign two of the shortstops, with an eye towards moving one player to another position (a la the Rangers inking both Corey Seager and Marcus Semien last winter). Initial reports indicated that Correa and Bogaerts were the Cubs’ top options of the group, but during the Winter Meetings, Swanson began to emerge as “perhaps their most realistic target at shortstop,” in the words of The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
As it turned out, all of the big four shortstops ended up switching teams, with Swanson the last one to land his next contract. Turner signed with the Phillies, Bogaerts with the Padres, Correa with the Giants, and now Swanson will head to Wrigleyville to join the third different organization of his pro career. Drafted first overall by the Diamondbacks in 2015, Swanson’s Arizona was limited to 22 A-ball games, as he was dealt to the Braves that offseason as part of a blockbuster five-player swap.
The trade became infamous for Arizona fans, as Shelby Miller (the primary piece headed to the D’Backs) immediately struggled with his new team, while Georgia-born Swanson blossomed with his hometown Braves. Success wasn’t immediate for Swanson, who hit only .243/.314/.369 over his first 1229 Major League plate appearances from 2016-18. However, he gradually became more productive at the plate, culminating in a 2022 season that saw him hit .277/.329/.447 with 25 homers over 696 PA, translating to a 116 wRC+.
Swanson also hit 27 homers in 2021, bringing some solid power from the shortstop position. It could be that Swanson might still be entering his prime years as a hitter as he enters his age-29 season, making him an even more intriguing addition as an all-around player. Swanson is also an excellent baserunner and has a very strong defensive resume that includes a Gold Glove last season. The Outs Above Average metric grades Swanson with a +38 total over the last five seasons, and while his Defensive Runs Saved (+18) and UZR/150 (+0.4) numbers are a little more inconsistent, Swanson is certainly an above-average fielder at a key defensive position.
The Cubs already had a good defensive shortstop in Nico Hoerner, of course, and yet Hoerner’s versatility allowed Chicago to explore multiple options around the diamond. With Swanson now taking over at shortstop and Bellinger also signed as primarily the everyday center fielder, it looks like Hoerner will be spending most of his time at second base. Between Hoerner and Swanson, the Cubs now have one of the very best defensive middle infields in baseball, which will be particularly important in 2023 given the new rules limiting defensive shifts.
More to come…
The Latest Round of Moves Leave Me Scratching My Head and Other Cubs Bullets
If I can separate my vacation self from my Cubs fan/writer self, I’m having a really nice start to my week! That vacation part. Not the other part.
- Because of the vacation, I have to pre-write this set of Bullets on Monday night for Tuesday morning, which is unfortunate, because here on Monday night I AM HOT. Within the span of just over 36 hours, the Cubs missed out on Kodai Senga, Sean Murphy, Chris Bassitt, and Christian Vazquez, all of whom had been reported targets for the team (of varying degrees of seriousness), and all of whom got completely reasonable contracts/trade prices. It sucked.
- The options to make for a successful offseason are rapidly dwindling, and frustration is rapidly rising. There was zero excuse for the Cubs not to be able to assemble a competitive roster this offseason (as I’ve been defining it: 85 wins on paper come Spring Training, thus a good chance at +5/-5 wins from there). To date, they have not done it, and seemingly every 12 hours or so, that job gets a lot harder. Yes, I can still concoct an available “successful” offseason, but it is also basically now coterminous with the Cubs executing a *PERFECT* offseason from here. How likely is that?
- Nobody understands this trade for the A’s. Nobody:
- I’ll set that part aside, because Billy Beane does it own thing – he’s made trades like this time and again – and it’s futile to say “Cubs could’ve done that!,” even though they quite clearly could have. Instead, I’ll look at the Brewers part, because they seemingly made out like bandits by inserting themselves into this Braves-A’s trade.
- Esteury Ruiz, 23, is admittedly very well-liked by some prospect pundits (he was one of the pieces who came to the Brewers in the Josh Hader trade), but the versatile, slappy, speedy outfielder is seen as a mere role player by others (FanGraphs has him as a 40 FV!). Again, I’ll concede that there are some out there who see a big future for Ruiz, but most just seem him a nice complementary piece who could have a long as solid, if unspectacular, career.
- For him, the Brewers get a solid big league reliever in Joel Payamps, a mildly interesting relief prospect in Justin Yeager, and All-Star catcher William Contreras, who hit .278/.354/.506/138 wRC+ this year at age 24, and who isn’t a free agent until 2028. The only way this makes ANY sense is if Contreras is viewed as almost completely unplayable as a catcher (as in, far worse than his older brother), and is just a bat. The Braves being willing to move him in the first place does kinda suggest it, but even if just a bat, it’s a really good bat! Contreras The Younger hit 20 homers in just 376 PAs this year.
- Anyway, so now we get to watch the Contreras brothers rake for the Cardinals and the Brewers for the next five years, so that’s pretty great. Offseason is going SUPER well. Tick freaking tock …
Law: The Red Sox bet big on Masataka Yoshida; Cubs sign Jameson Taillon and more
The Red Sox certainly made a choice in giving Masataka Yoshida, an outfielder who has spent his career to date in Japan’s NPB, their first big outlay of the offseason, signing him to a five-year, $90 million deal — money they could have spent on Willson Contreras, who would have filled a bigger need. Yoshida didn’t even make my top 50 free agents, even though he was eligible, as he’s an often-injured outfielder whose power output in Japan seems unlikely to carry over to MLB.
Yoshida’s most notable attribute is his gaudy walk and strikeout numbers — he rarely punches out, often choking way up on the barrel to just get the bat on the ball any way he can, and he has walked more than he’s struck out in four straight years, with 64 unintentional walks and 42 strikeouts in 2022. He hit .335/.447/.561 for the Orix Buffaloes this past season, and .339/.429/.563 the year before, with 21 homers in each of those two years.
Of course, we’ve seen a lot of hitters come from NPB to the majors and lose their home-run power somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Seiya Suzuki hit 38 homers for Hiroshima in 2021, and 14 for the Cubs last year. Kosuke Fukudome hit 31 and 34 in his two best seasons for Chunichi, and then hit 37 homers in MLB … but it took him five seasons to do it. Yoshi Tsutsugo hit 44 and 38 homers in his two best years in NPB and then hit 18 total in 182 major-league games. NPB parks are smaller, and the pitching is very different, not just in stuff but in approach.
The undersized Yoshida (5-foot-8, 176 pounds) has an extremely short, punchy swing that favors contact over impact, almost like he’s playing pepper with the infielders. Not only does that approach not lend itself to power, even extra-base power, but it also can leave hitters vulnerable to pitchers who can come inside with velocity. Ichiro was legendary for his inside-out swing and his ability to make good contact almost anywhere he was pitched, but we’ve had a generation of hitters trying to imitate him, and no one has been able to do it. He’s not a runner and is probably limited to left field. That leaves Boston’s investment depending entirely on Yoshida’s ability to get on base, and that’s likely to take a hit as well, as pitchers aren’t going to pitch around a guy who lacks the impact to hurt them with extra bases. Yoshida probably won’t strike out much here, and that has some value, but he’s also likely to strike out more here than he did there. That leaves the Red Sox with a guy who gets on base at a decent enough clip, probably in the .350-360 range, without power, speed, or much defensive value. He might be a regular on some teams, but I think for a contender, he might fit more as an extra outfielder — and if I’m right, this is not a good deal for Boston. Given the massive void they have behind the plate right now, and the fact that Willson Contreras just signed for less than Boston spent just on Yoshida (before the $15.4 million posting fee), I’m just confused.
• The Red Sox also agreed to sign right-hander Kenley Jansen on a two-year, $32 million deal that is … fine. He’s not a capital-C Closer type anymore, and that’s probably more money per year than he should have gotten, but it’s hardly going to sink the payroll, and if they’re more comfortable with a veteran closer, better to get him on a two-year deal than a longer one. My guess is Jansen gives them about two wins worth of production in about 110 innings over the two years, accounting for some time off here and there for minor injuries. I’m assuming Alex Cora will leave Jansen for the last three outs and use one of their better relief options for high-leverage spots before that.
• The Cubs’ rotation right now is Marcus Stroman and a bunch of fourth/fifth starter types, so if they want to contend in 2023, they needed to go add one and probably two more starting pitchers who are better than the Justin Steele/Adrian Sampson group. They got one of them Wednesday in Jameson Taillon, signing the former Yankee and Pirate to a four-year, $68 million contract that values him more like a third/fourth starter and leaves the team with some room to come out ahead if he continues to see improvement in his command. He’s a four-and-a-half pitch guy who came back from his second Tommy John surgery throwing more strikes than ever, becoming a groundball guy as well, although he can still be homer-prone because his command within the zone isn’t great. He’s had a lot of injuries, including the two surgeries and a bout with testicular cancer, but he was mostly healthy the last two years, and he’s only 31 this year. The Cubs gave him almost exactly the deal I thought he should get, for which I take no credit, but I bet they see what I see — a solid mid-rotation guy who could still become more than that.
• The Cubs also signed Cody Bellinger to a one-year, $17 million deal. I really have no idea what to make of Bellinger at this point. His pitch selection is terrible, his swing is kind of the same as it always was but looks a lot worse when he’s swinging at the wrong pitches, and he gives the Cubs a first baseman with elite defense who can also play the outfield. I hope they can fix him.
• The Mets continued to add to their rotation with a two-year agreement with lefty José Quintana, who bounced back in a big way in 2022 after five years of replacement-level work. Quintana used his changeup more often last year, and that in turn made his four-seamer much more effective, while he can still get whiffs on his curveball and throws just about everything for strikes. I do think his home run rate is going to regress (upward) to the mean, but he could give the Mets some league-average innings, or close to it, in the fourth spot and lets them move Tylor Megill out of the rotation into a swing role or to be the extra guy if Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer needs an extra day.
(File photo: Kiyoshi Ota / Getty Images)
Cubs Have Had Discussions With Dominic Smith
After signing Cody Bellinger to a one-year, $17.5MM deal today, the Cubs could wind up landing another left-handed power bat, with Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reporting the team has had discussions with Dominic Smith at the Winter Meetings. Smith is a free agent after the Mets non-tendered him.
Smith has struggled in the past two seasons, playing through a partially torn labrum last year and never got going in 2022, as he battled for playing time with J.D. Davis and ultimately found himself optioned to the minor leagues. He finished 2022 with a .194/.276/.284 batting line without a single home run, good for a well below average 67 wRC+.
With that being said, Smith has showed plenty of promise over his career, and has been the victim of circumstance in some regards. The 27-year-old was drafted 11th overall in 2013 and regularly featured on top-100 prospect lists as he came through the minors. He received some time in the majors in 2017 and 2018, but showed his offensive promise in 2019, when he slashed .282/.355/.525 with 11 home runs in 197 plate appearances. That also happened to be the same year Pete Alonso burst onto the stage, and forced Smith to spend time in left field, where he graded out poorly defensively.
Boosted by the presence of the DH in the National League in 2020, Smith continued hitting in that pandemic-shortened season, slashing .316/.377/.616 with ten home runs. Yet things tailed off in 2021 as injury sapped his power, and Smith has never really been able to get another look in and the Mets opted to non-tender instead of paying him a projected $4MM arbitration salary.
While his 2022 numbers won’t drive much interest, he’d make sense for teams willing to take a flier on him rediscovering his plentiful upside. Of course, one of the problems Smith faced in New York was a lack of regular playing time, so while times may see him as a high-upside bench bat, he may be more inclined to seek out opportunities where he can start, at least initially.
The Cubs currently have Matt Mervis and Alfonso Rivas penciled into the first base and designated hitter slots, so there’s certainly room there for them to add a player like Smith. The Cubs have also held long-standing interest in him, as DiComo adds that the Cubs discussed a trade with the Mets this past summer involving Smith. The Rays and Royals have both shown interest in Smith earlier this off-season as well.
Cubs, Cody Bellinger reach 1-year, $17.5M deal
Outfielder Cody Bellinger and the Chicago Cubs are in agreement on a one-year, $17.5 million contract, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Bellinger continued to provide Gold Glove-caliber defense in center field for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, in addition to plus speed on the bases, but he continued to struggle offensively.
He was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player after a 2019 season in which he batted .305/.406/.629 with 47 home runs, 115 RBIs and 15 stolen bases while being worth 7.7 FanGraphs wins above replacement. Since then, though, Bellinger has batted just .203/.272/.376 over a stretch of 295 regular-season games. His .648 OPS from 2020 to 2022 ranked 299th out of the 338 qualified hitters during that stretch.
“He’s a really good fit from a perspective of it is great defense, great base running, left-handed bat with the potential to have an uptick offensively,” Cubs manager David Ross said Tuesday from the winter meetings.
Bellinger ventured into the free agent market a year early after he was non-tendered by the Dodgers following the 2022 season. He had been due to make in the neighborhood of $18 million in 2023.
The Cubs are attempting a quick retooling of their roster after saying goodbye to stars Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Baez in recent years. Bellinger provides them a solid glove in center while he attempts to recoup his value at the plate.
He’s likely viewed as a placeholder for prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong — the player they got from the New York Mets for Baez in 2021. If the Cubs field a contending team, Bellinger could help them return to the postseason for the first time since 2018. If they struggle — and Bellinger is performing — he could be traded at the July deadline as the team makes way for Crow-Armstrong. If he continues to struggle, the Cubs will have wasted $17.5 million — but at least it would be for just one season.
Earlier on Tuesday, Bellinger’s agent, Scott Boras, said he was fielding multiyear offers for Bellinger but wanted a one-year deal so he could reenter free agency after the 2023 season, hopefully after a better performance than in recent seasons.
Bellinger’s batting average plummeted to .165 in 2021. Last season he hit .210 with 19 home runs in 144 games for a Dodgers team that set a franchise record with 111 wins.
In six MLB seasons, all with Los Angeles, Bellinger has a career .248 batting average with 152 home runs, 422 RBIs and 62 stolen bases. The two-time All-Star selection was NL Rookie of the Year in 2017 and NLCS MVP in 2018, and won a World Series ring in 2020.