Chicago Cubs Free Agency: Top players to go after

Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

David Price — Starting Pitcher

I am saying that I am one of the many who are on the David Price bandwagon. I have loved his pitching since he burst onto the scene in 2008 and helped get the Tampa Rays into the World Series.

Price, along with Zach Greinke, will be one of the top two free agent targets this offseason. With all due respect to Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann and Yovani Gallardo, among others, but Price and Greinke are the tops of this free agency class.

I went back and forth on this one, and I have to say that Price is the man.

For his career, he has a 104-56 record with a 3.09 ERA. He has a 1.13 WHIP, a 126 ERA+ and a 3.19 FIP. This past season, between the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays, he went 18-5 with a 2.45 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, a 161 ERA+ and a 2.78 FIP. He had 225 strikeouts in 221-and-1/3 innings. For his career, he averages 227 innings and 216 strikeouts.

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Price is another player who has experience with Maddon. Maddon was his first manager, and it would be a nice reunion in a big-market city so they could complete what they couldn’t in Tampa.

Price has also expressed how cool it would be to win a title with the Cubs.

“With the talent they have coming up they could be a very special team in a few years as well. That would probably be the coolest city to win a championship in. They haven’t done it in I’m not sure how long. To do that there that would be the coolest city to win a championship in right now.”

Yes, the Cubs had an opportunity to go after Price before this year’s trade deadline, but Epstein did not want to give up a lot of his talent.

Now, Epstein and company just need to pay money for Price, something they have in abundance. They hold onto their young players AND have Price as well.

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Having a rotation of Lester, Jake Arrieta, Price and either Kyle Hendricks or Jason Hammel would give the Cubs a formidable rotation. It may be a rotation that could end a certain World Series drought that some people keep talking about.