3 Ways To Improve All 30 Teams — The Chicago Cubs
The stove is once again hot. Guys being signed left and right with the two biggest names (at time of writing) being Carlos Rodon going to the Giants and Clayton Kershaw re-signing with the Dodgers. The NL West is once again going to be a powerhouse, and adding a DH to the mix only makes them stronger. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.
The Chicago Cubs finished the 2021 season with a record of 71–91 for a 4th place finish in the NL Central. They traded away their 3 biggest pieces of their 2016 World Series at the deadline in what seemed like the beginning of a rebuild, but not so fast my friends. The Cubs have a solid farm system with a few guys ready for the Big Show. They could even make the expanded playoffs this year. That is, if they take the following advice…
1. Make Nick Madrigal Their Everyday Second Baseman and Leadoff Hitter
The Chicago Cubs made a trade at last year’s deadline with their cross-town rival, the Chicago White Sox, sending them star closer Craig Kimbrel and getting RHP Codi Heuer and 2B Nick Madrigal in return. Codi Heuer made 25 relief appearances for the Cubs going 28.2 innings and putting up a 3.14 ERA, easily claiming his spot in the Cubs’ 2022 bull pen. Nick Madrigal, on the other hand, had his season end on June 10th due to injury so he was not able to make an impact on the Cubs’ 2021 season. He can, however, make a huge impact on the Cubs’ 2022 season.
Coming into his age 25 season, Nick Madrigal has 324 career Major League plate appearances (303 at bats) and has slashed .317/.358/.406 with an OPS+ of 110. Solid numbers, but let’s dive a little deeper into them. Nick has struck out a total of 24 times. That’s good enough for a career K% of 7.4%. The league average over his 2 seasons in The Bigs? 23.3%. Of his 303 at bats, he has put the ball in play a total of 279 times. He has amassed 96 hits in those 297 times. That gives him a BABIP (batting average on balls in play) of .338.
Numbers like these make Nick Madrigal the perfect leadoff hitter. He puts the ball in play more often than not, very rarely strikes out, and converts balls in play to hits more than a third of the time. Having him in the leadoff spot on a day in and day out basis would give the Cubs a huge scoring opportunity early in the game and have them pitching from ahead on a regular basis.
2. Improve Their Pitching
The Chicago Cubs finished the 2021 season with a team ERA of 4.87. Most of that came from their starting rotation as not one starter that made at least 10 starts had an ERA below 4.50. Zach Davies is now a free agent, and Jake Arrieta was traded to the Padres at the deadline. The Cubs did, however, sign Marcus Stroman to a 3 year, $71 million deal before the lockout which immediately slots him in as their ace. That gives the Cubs a rotation of Stroman, Kyle Hendricks, Adbert Alzolay, and Alec Mills. This could definitely use some improvement.
With Carlos Rodon and Clayton Kershaw off the table, there are still a few pitchers available on the market that would easily slot in and could even be their 2 or 3 starter. The Cubs should look to sign Carlos Martinez. Carlos is coming off of back to back down years, but is a ground ball pitcher with a career ERA of 3.74 over 967 innings. He would easily slot in as their 3 starter and considering his recent struggles could be picked up for as little as 2 years, $10 million with an opt out after year one. The Cubbies infield defense would help the ground ball inducer and he could be a bounce back candidate with an ERA in 2022 in the 3.90–4.25 range. Adding Martinez into the above listed rotation should lower their overall ERA below 4.50 and give the Cubs another 5 or 6 wins.
3. Bring Up Their Top Prospect
For 6 years the Chicago Cubs have had Jason Heyward manning a position in the outfield as his production has continued to decline. Once heralded as a future great, Heyward has never quite lived up to the lofty expectations that came with being drafted in the first round. Still a solid glove, the 5 time Gold Glover no longer offers the production at the plate that he once did. By June 1st, it will be time to relegate him to a bench role.
Enter Brennen Davis. Drafted out of high school in 2018, Davis reached AAA last year and put up solid numbers over a small sample size. Over 56 at bats, he slashed .268/.397/.536 with 4 homeruns. Give him 150–200 more at bats, and he will be ready to slide in to the Cubs 3 hole in their lineup. Having him for the home stretch with those numbers could easily give them another 4–5 wins and potentially win him a RotY.
With Nick Madrigal adding 2 wins, the improved rotation adding 5 wins, and Brennen Davis adding 4 wins, a total of 11 more wins than last season would give the Cubs a record of 82–80 and have them in a late season playoff race. With the expanded playoffs starting this year, they might just snag one of the Wild Card spots and could make a run in October.
This has been the 6th part in our series going through the League and finding ways to improve each individual team. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, and the Chicago White Sox. We’ll stay in the NL Central for our next entry as we cover the Cincinati Reds!
