Cubs Convention Came to an Uneventful End. Now What?
What we didn’t see at Cubs Convention and what’s next?
As Cubs fans, we have all come to expect a splash when it comes to Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer. We expect them to surprise us with their amazing ability to land the big name free agent and we expect them to do it in style too. Even the players have begun to expect these surprises from the Cubs front office. Anthony Rizzo even said as much when asked if he had seen Jake Arrieta lurking around anywhere.
“I haven’t talked to him,” said Anthony Rizzo. “I thought they were maybe going to surprise the fans here, so I’ve been looking out for him.”
Even many of the fans on Twitter were expecting to hear some exciting news coming from the Cubs Convention this year.
Yes, we all were openly hoping to hear of the signing of the next big free agent for the Cubs, but it never happened. So what did happen at this year’s convention that’s worth mentioning? We did see Kris Bryant sign the biggest pre-arbitration contract ever at $10.85 million to avoid an arbitration hearing. We did see the return of Ronnie-WOO-Wickers after he was ejected from the bleachers last season, and we found out in a very colorful way exactly why Jon Lester picked off Tommy Pham last year (Compliments of Willson Contreras).
One theory is that all the teams are preparing themselves for next years, free-agent class. Of all the theories out there this one makes the most sense. After-all take a look at who will be available next year.
- Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper
- Baltimore Orioles 3rd baseman Manny Machado
- Possibly even Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw
- Some other notables are Dallas Kuechel, Charlie Blackmon, Daniel Murphy, Adam Jones, Gio Gonzalez, Andrew Miller, Zach Britton, Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus, Craig Kimbrel and Cody Allen.
Now we sit and wait again as we watch notable players go off the board across the game. We have seen the Pittsburgh Pirates begin their rebuild by sending pitcher Gerrit Cole to the Astros and Andrew McCutchen to the San Francisco Giants. Yet still no signing of Free agents like Jake Arrieta or Yu Darvish. We’ve heard talks of collusion amongst the owners to bring down the contracts of the free agents this year. Some fans are even looking at the alternatives in a positive light just in case nothing happens.
That’s right, we are right back where we started at, waiting for the big news to drop. All of the Cubs writers out there are chomping at the bit for that big off-season signing that propels the Cubs back to the top.
Could it be Arrieta?
Could it be Darvish?
Could the Cubs still surprise everyone and pull off some crazy trade to land Manny Machado?
Your guess is as good as mine, but as Cubs fans, we can stick to what we do best. We never stop believing in our team.
