Right now baseball fans, more specifically Chicago Cubs fans, are stuck between the joy of finally seeing a World Series championship and the start of a new season. So, that means it’s time for some rankings that don’t really mean anything, but for some reason irrationally bother me. Today, it’s the best Cubs free agent ever, picked by Carrie Muskat, as part of the MLB.com series that lists the best free agent signings for all 30 teams.
Again, this list is for best free agents ever not this offseason. Here are the guidelines for naming the best free agent signings ever for each team.
Via MLB.com:
Before bidding adieu to the Hot Stove season, we asked our 30 beat reporters to look back at their club’s past and answer the following question: Who is the best free-agent signing in the team’s history?
We narrowed the choices with the following parameters: The signings had to be multiyear contracts, to exclude fluky one-year deals and to focus on players who got real commitments. And contract extensions don’t count. Only instances when every team in the league had a chance to bid on the player were allowed, including international free agents who received Major League contracts.
Cool.
If the multi-year parameter wasn’t included, there’s no question what free agent player was the best in Cubs history. All Andre Dawson did in 1987 was win the National League MVP Award after signing a one-year deal worth only $500, 000. However, this list requires a multi-year deal so, it has to be one of the guys who, you know, just won the World Series, right?
Not according to this list.
Ugh, what?
Alou’s 2002 season didn’t start well as he opened the year on the disabled list, but he did finish with a .275 average, hitting 15 home runs, 23 doubles and driving in 61 runs. It wasn’t enough as the Cubs lost 95 games that season and finished fifth. The next year, a healthy Alou helped propel the Cubs to the NL Central title, hitting .280 with 22 homers, 35 doubles and 91 RBIs.
He contributed in the ’03 postseason, going 10-for-20 in the NL Division Series against the Braves, and 9-for-29 with two homers in the seven-game NL Championship Series against the Marlins.
In the final year of his contract with the Cubs in 2004, Alou belted a career-high 39 home runs, and batted .293 with 36 doubles and 106 RBIs. He finished 14th in NL MVP voting. Over three seasons with the Cubs, Alou posted a slash line of .283/.353/.484. Alou then departed via free agency, and played two seasons with the Giants and two with the Mets before retiring.
(Carrie Muskat)
I’m not gonna lie. When I first saw Alou’s name I tried to think of other free agents and it took more time than I’d like to admit before the light bulb went off and then, oh yeah Jon Lester!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Lester is only on year three of his six-year contract, but he’s already accomplished more in two seasons with the Cubs than what Alou did over his three-year stint on the North Side.
We can go through the stats for both players, but only one thing matters…
It doesn’t matter that Lester’s contract is worth $155 million and Alou’s was only for $27 million over three years. The Cubs won the World Series. Jon Lester was a huge part of the Cubs winning the World Series. Oh yeah, Lester also finished second in Cy Young voting in 2016.
Case closed. Best free agent signing ever for the Cubs = Jon Lester.
Hell, I’d even put Ben Zobrist ahead of Alou. All Zobrist did was win the World Series MVP.
Let’s not complicate this. The 2016 Cubs are legends. Every single one of them. Even, Chris Coghlan.
Also, let’s not forget that Alou was part of the biggest meltdown in sports history and escalated the entire Steve Bartman fiasco by throwing a tantrum on the field during Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. But you know what, none of that matters anymore because the Cubs won the World Series in 2016 and Jon Lester played a big role after signing a free agent deal with Chicago before the 2015 season. See, simple.
