Chicago Cubs: Could They Be Big Spenders in 2017?

You may not see the World Champion Chicago Cubs spend big in the free agent market. Here’s why.

The Chicago Cubs signed Jon Jay to a one year deal a couple days ago in order to give Albert Almora a platoon partner in center and someone to learn from in what will amount to be a rookie year for him.

This also means, unless there is a repeat to the market shrinking for Dexter Fowler, that he will be playing somewhere else for the 2018 season and the Cubs could get an extra first round pick in order to restock their system that has graduated so many players.

They can go with Hector Rondon at closer like he was until they made their deal for Aroldis Chapman. Carl Edwards Jr could develop more and they can go into the market and sign guys like Fernando Salas to give them more depth in the bullpen.

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The Cubs question moving forward is who is going to start games for them. Jon Lester is signed for the long haul, but he’s getting older. Mike Montgomery is more than likely moving to the rotation after being a reliever last year after the trade.

Here’s the thing: Jake Arrieta and John Lackey are free agents after next season.

Here are some pitchers who could hit the market after next year: Yu Darvish, Danny Duffy, Michael Pineda, Masahiro Tanaka (if he opts out) and Chris Tillman. Also, Japanese phenom Shohei Otani could be posted and wouldn’t be subjected to the international pool since he is another year older. Pitchers like Matt Harvey and Dallas Keuchel could hit the market the year after that.

They will also have to pay guys like Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and Javier Baez, but other players contracts will be up by then like Ben Zobrist.

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The Cubs formula has been young, elite position players with veteran arms. They can continue riding that out for a few years, but they will have to spend money in the next year or two to keep that going. Those kind of arms just aren’t out there this year and trading for an arm will deplete the system even more.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone wants to be in the Cubs’ position. They will continue to be among the big spenders in the game. However, I wouldn’t expect a big money deal from them this off-season.