Which brings me to my last point.
Phil tells us Cubs fans that we need to do a better job of cheering on our OWN players. He actually makes two separate points on this but because they are both so dumb, I’ll save you the time and combine them into one dumb point.
Essentially Phil says that we should love Jake Arrieta, Javier Baez, and Ben Zobrist in their own unique ways. When it comes to Baez and Zobrist, he says,
“Don’t favor one so much that you complain about the other one.”
I’d assume he was referring to Baez’s hitting skid during the NLCS and World Series of last year when fans stupidly were calling for him to be on the bench. Baez is a SPECIAL player who has evolved from a role player to an everyday second baseman for the Cubs. Maddon will have to get a bit creative as to how he’s going to get both Baez and Zobrist in the lineup this season now that Schwarber is back to 100% and will occupy left field most of the time.
My suggestion?
Heyward in center, Zobrist in right, and Javy at second.
But if there’s any manger that will move all the right pieces, it’s Maddon (see point number two).
And just because watching him work his magic in the field never gets old, here’s #ELMAGO doing what he does best.
I can also say with full certainty that I’ve never had a true Cubs fan complain about Zobrist in regards to anything he does. He’s a great switch hitter, has defensive versatility, he’s a great club house guy, and got the winning hit of Game 7 of the World Series.
What’s there to complain about?
Once fans can struggle through the whole Baez/Zobrist thing, Phil turns his attention to Cubs ace Jake Arrieta. Every fan knows that Arrieta is in his last year of his contract and the odds of re-signing the soon to be 31-year-old after this season remains pretty slim. The 2015 Cy Young winner has made it known that he’d like to remain a Cub but the odds of Theo and company pulling the trigger on a long term deal looks bleak. Add to that, the Cubs have already started piling up young arms in preparation for Arrieta’s departure.
I asked my fellow Cubs writers at Sports Mockery, Aldo Soto and Sean Sears, to give their thoughts on the 2018 decision on Arrieta and both brought up outstanding points. Sean told me,
“I would love to see Arrieta retire a Cub, but the money side of things is going to make that almost impossible to work. Arrieta is going to ask for Max Scherzer/Zach Grienke type of money and the Cubs won’t give it to him. And from the way the cubs have been collecting young arms in recent months, it looks like the club is planning for life after Jake Arrieta.”
Aldo agreed with Sean’s point and added some additional insight into some of the numbers that will be facing the Cubs and Arrieta.
“I think there’s no way the Cubs re-sign Arrieta unless Arrieta gives a huge home town discount. On one hand, if pitches good to great again this year, he’ll be the No. 1 SP in free agency. He’ll be that regardless really, so that means $25 million at the minimum for him. He’ll be 32-years-old in 2018, so he’s trying to get at least 5 years on a deal. I just don’t see the Cubs giving in.”
I agree with both of these guys that the team will move on from Arrieta after this season. He’s going to pitch lights out this season because it’s the final deal of his contract and will be looking to get paid in 2018.
Phil says we shouldn’t “treat Jake Arrieta like he’s waving adios” this season and the only reason why Phil says that is because there’s still a possibility that the Cubs give Arrieta the long term deal that he’d be looking for.
Well no shit Phil. Of course there’s a chance but that chance is slim and none. Immediately after I read his reasoning on why we should hold out hope that we re-sign Arrieta next season, my mind jumped to this.
