Darvish

Word is the Cubs are meeting with Yu Darvish.  I had expected them to move in his direction earlier, but the market for starters has taken a while to develop.  There are four free agent starters of quality remaining now: Darvish, Arrieta, Cobb, and Lynn, mentioned roughly in order of merit.  It seems the Cubs were after Cobb, but his asking price is pretty high and the Cubs were turned off.  The same appears true of Arrieta, at least in that the asking price is ridiculously high.  I like the idea of Darvish joining the Cubs, though the price might be costly.

So far the Cubs have focused on pitching this off-season.  Why not? Despite all the carping about not having a leadoff man and whatever, the team scored over 800 runs last year, an average of five runs a game.  800 runs is good enough for a championship most years unless you are Colorado.

The off-season has brought in Chatwood, whom I regard as a great choice, as well as Smyly from the starting pitcher group.  Smyly is recovering from Tommy John surgery and is likely to miss most if not all of 2018.

On the relievers front, the Cubs have reeled in Morrow, right now the likely closer, as well as Cishek, a likely setup man although he has closer experience.  Davis, of course, is still unsigned, but his return is unlikely, especially if the Cubs go all in on Darvish or Cobb.  Austin Reed has been linked to the Cubs as well.  Reed would probably fill the closer role.

Notably lacking among the bullpen options are left-handers, which probably explains management's insistence on relegating Montgomery to the swingman role.  Justin Wilson is now the only experienced lefty pure reliever on the squad, though they signed Dario Alvarez, something of an unproven quantity to say the least. On this score, Duensing is still on the market.  The Cubs could do a lot worse than landing him to fill out the bullpen.