I haven't written much this winter because not much has been happening. The Cubs needed to add a veteran center-fielder as insurance unless they planned to move Heyward there on a regular basis, bolster the bullpen, and probably add another starting pitcher. In some ways, they have achieved these goals.
The acquisition of Jay satisfied the first need, though he is a far cry offensively from Dexter Fowler. Wade Davis is a pretty good replacement for Chapman as closer. The departure of Travis Wood and the likely promotion of Mike Montgomery to the starting rotation exposes a weakness from the left-hand side in an otherwise strong group of relievers.
The lefties the Cubs have picked up are not exactly household names, nor do they begin to project performance at the level of the guys they potentially replace. So that leaves a possible chink in the team's armor going forward. Maybe they will bring Wood back, which would put them in a better position. Apparently Wood still wants to start even though he is clearly a better reliever. Given the makeup of the team right now, he would have little if any chance cracking the rotation even on a temporary basis.
For a while, it looked as if the Cubs were seriously pursuing Tyson Ross as a viable starter who could rehab at his own pace and slot into the fifth starter slot later in the year. Ross, however, signed with Texas. The Cubs picked up Brett Anderson as a kind of poor man's second choice. Anderson has always shown a lot of promise, but he has knocked around forever and has had only one healthy and productive season as a starter, that being a couple of years ago with LA. The odds of Anderson coming back to that level of play are not all that great. It is possible he is effective out of the bullpen, more or less on the model of Trevor Cahill.
The Cubs are still a really good team even though right now they are probably not as good on paper as they were at the beginning of last year. Still, last year they were an offensive juggernaut from the start even though they lost Schwarber in like the third game, Soler was injured off and on almost all season, Montero had a bad year, and Heyward was a total flop at the plate. This year they will have Schwarber in the lineup on a regular basis, they can hope that Heyward returns to form, and that Baez continues to develop a disciplined approach. Contreras is a major upgrade as the everyday catcher both offensively and defensively. So I look for them to score a lot of runs.
The starting rotation is still quite solid even though Lackey is a year older and Hammel is gone. The only real weakness that I can see is left-handed relief.
Pitchers and catchers report in only a couple of weeks. Should be a fun year.
