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Tomorrow, I’m going to begin a five-part series in which I examine the possibilities of contract extensions for Cubs players who are currently pre-arbitration.
Many other teams have done this with their young players and had success with it — the Braves, for example, locking up Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies, and the Padres, who signed Fernando Tatis Jr. to a long-term deal. There are other examples, but those two stand out because they’ve had success doing that, both on the field and financially.
The Cubs have never really done anything like this with players coming up from their system. About the only example that’s even close was the seven-year, $41 million deal they signed with Anthony Rizzo early in the 2013 season. That deal included two team options at $16.5 million, both of which the Cubs exercised, turning it into a nine-year, $74 million contract. That worked out pretty well for the Cubs, I’d say.
But they didn’t do that with any of the other players from the World Series core. In a couple of cases (Kris Bryant, Javier Báez) they probably did the right thing. On the other hand, such a deal with Kyle Schwarber would have paid dividends for the team for many years.
The Cubs have five players like this now, call it the “2020s core” if you will: Michael Busch, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cade Horton, Daniel Palencia and Matt Shaw. Which of those players would you most like to see signed to an extension?
Cast your vote below, the results will be posted later this week, and the five-part series begins tomorrow.