Good morning, Chicago Cubs fans, Tom Ricketts has finally decided to open his wallet and spend money, let's go!
Japanese star outfielder Seiya Suzuki has agreed to a deal with the Chicago Cubs, it's a 5-year deal worth $85 million, which is the largest contract for a Japanese position player. Suzuki is a two-time batting champion and a two-time gold glove winner. Up to this point the biggest contract by the Cubs during the offseason was for a starting pitcher. Marcus Stroman signed for $71M, Yan Gomes signed for $13M, Andrelton Simmons was signed for $4M, and they claimed Wade Miley for $10M, so it's nice to see the Cubs spend money. Before the signing, the opening day outfield for the Cubs was looking like Rafael Ortega, Jason Heyward, and Ian Happ. With the Suzuki signing, we may see Heyward get cut. In 2021, Suzuki slashed .317/.433/.639/1.073 in 533 plate appearances, with 38 home runs, 88 runs batted in. After the 2021 season, Suzuki posted that he wanted to play in the MLB for the 2022 season. Suzuki hit a combined 91 home runs the last three years, just insane power. In 2019, he slashed .335/.453/.565/1.018 in 612 plate appearances, with 28 home runs, 87 runs batted in. In a shortened 2020 season, Suzuki still had a slash line of .300/.409/.544/.953 in 514 plate appearances. Here are some highlights of Suzuki hitting absolute tanks.
His ZiPS projections according to Fangraphs are .287/.351/.480 with 23 home runs, 85 runs batted in, an OPS+ of 124, a WAR of 2.6, in 529 at-bats. He can play in the outfield, third base, and shortstop. All three of those positions are already an upgrade for the Cubs. The Cubs projected an opening day lineup with Suzuki. Ortega leading off, Schwindel, Suzuki, Contreras, Wisdom, Heyward, Frazier, Simmons, Madrigal. Cubs fans should be happy with this signing, as I am. The PECOTA projections have the Cubs projected for a record of 70-91, with the Suzuki signing, does this make the Cubs favorites to win the NL central?
