After months of claiming there was
no money left in the cupboard to go after high-priced free agents, the Cubs are
expected to sign a high-priced free agent, closer Craig Kimbrel, who gets a reported
three-year, $43 million deal once he passes his physical. But didn’t team owner Tom Ricketts claim
repeatedly during the offseason that his team was tapped out? Never mind.
Will Kimbrel make a
difference? Of course he will. Enough to put the North Siders back in the
World Series come December (just kidding on the date)? I’m not so sure. Kimbrel is 31. Assuming the Cubs don’t decide to go with
fourteen pitchers (and, hey, why not in this Looney-Tunes’ age of matchups?),
he’ll likely be one of eight pitchers the other side of 30, or nine, depending
who gets demoted or cut. Come July, Mike
Montgomery turns 30, while Tyler Chatwood and Kyle Hendricks will join the club
in the offseason, or earlier, if in fact the World Series does reach into
December.
Hendricks is the only Cubs’ starter
under 30, and Kimbrel could become the fifth reliever in that category. Stuff happens to pitchers once they reach a
certain age. Most of the Cubs’ staff is already
there, so we’ll see.
No comments:
Post a Comment