Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez is not worth the contract he wants
The Chicago Cubs are in a very difficult position. They are not a good baseball team and their superstars that helped them win the World Series in 2016 are all on expiring contracts at the same time. Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo, and Kris Bryant could all be traded if they don’t sign extensions before the deadline next week. None of them have been good enough to warrant some of the money that they believe they deserve either which makes things even worse.
The biggest example out there right now is Javier Baez. According to a report from Jon Heyman, a 200 million dollar contract could be needed to get Javy extended. That is a lot of money for a player like him. Baez was an MVP caliber player in 2018 and 2019 but has taken a major dip since. His 2020 was awful and 2021 has flaws as well.
Baez will always have good power numbers and a flash to his game that is hard to replicate. With 21 home runs, 59 RBIs, and 44 runs scored, it is hard to argue. As a result, his slugging percentage is really good (.487) and his OPS is decent (.773).
Unfortunately for him, that is about where the good ends for him. He strikes out as much as any player in the league and his on-base percentage of .286 is horrible. You can’t give 200 million to a player with numbers like that. You just can’t do it.
Giving Javier Baez 200 million dollars would be a disaster for the Chicago Cubs.
It also doesn’t help that Baez isn’t having his best year defensively. He has 17 errors this season and a fielding percentage of .953. Those don’t mean everything as he does have a lot of range at his position but his game has been overrated in a lot of ways. Getting 200 million from a team would be a complete waste of money. The Cubs would be foolish to allow that to happen, especially with this team surrounding him.
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Right now, the Cubs would be so smart to trade him to a team that thinks he is better than he is. He is super flashy and would sell a lot of season tickets but he doesn’t lead to wins as much as players much cheaper. His time in Chicago will always be remembered if they do decide to trade him but not giving him a bad contract would be much better. If he goes, he will have some success for a few years on another team which will be weird to see. Maybe, just maybe, they can work out a deal that is fair but don’t count on it.