The Chicago Cubs and Yu Darvish have been dancing to and fro for a while now. There have been multiple reports that suggest Darvish will be headed to the Windy City eventually. The big question now is whether or not the Cubs really still are the front-runners.
According to Bleacher Report, the Cubs are still very much the team Darvish will eventually sign with. The website isn’t just pulling this information out of thin air.
There are more than a few MLB executives among those who are expecting Theo Epstein and company to get the pitcher.
Chicago Cubs need to upgrade their staff
Yu Darvish headed to Chicago simply makes entirely too much sense. The Cubs are looking for another top of the rotation starter. Jake Arrieta appears to be gone. Jon Lester needs some help. Kyle Hendricks might be able to be the opening day starter, but the Cubs are looking for someone to at least give Hendricks a run for his money.
The former Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher is likely the best pitcher still on the open market.
That’s one of the reasons why the pitcher is still on the open market. It looks as though he’s still trying to see if another team might be willing to offer the hurler a slightly better deal.
Yu Darvish the victim of a buyer’s market
The free agent market has been surprisingly slow and quiet for most of the baseball offseason. One of the reasons for that is because the big spenders haven’t been looking to spend big. The Cubs are one of those teams that people thought would be spending more money than they have.
There was also talk the team might have been going after Christian Yelich. All that is over now. Darvish is the big prize now that the outfielder has moved to the Milwaukee Brewers. There is something to be said for the fact that the Chicago Cubs need to make a splash move.
The fans of the club are still plenty happy about the World Series win a few years back. They are also expecting at least an appearance in the World Series in the coming years. They want to make sure it wasn’t some kind of fluke. They’d also like to see a team full of young talent make at least one more run. A veteran pitcher like Yu Darvish could certainly spur that along.
The question now is whether the team is really looking to pay more than someone like the New York Yankees. It seems likely they are the two teams still going for the pitcher. The question, as always, is whether the Chicago Cubs can afford to offer what might be the winning bid.