It's official. The Chicago Cubs have won the Jason Heyward sweepstakes, outlasting the home-standing St. Louis Cardinals and other contenders for the 26-year old right fielder's signature.
Per CBS Sports' Jon Heyman:
Cubs get heyward
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) December 11, 2015
While financial terms of the deal weren't fully revealed at the time of this writing, Heyman indicates that the Cubs got him on a multi-year contract for less than $200 million total.
Heyward posted a .293/.359/.439 slash line with 13 home runs and 60 RBI for the Cardinals in 2015 (154 games). He also won a Gold Glove award this year for his work in right field -- the third of his career.
The former Atlanta Braves prospect/star is likely to start in center field for the Cubs this year, transitioning to one of the corner outfielder spots in years to come. Although he hasn't quite lived up to his power potential quite yet, Heyward was a free-agent anomaly of sorts. Five-tool players just outside of their primes like Heyward are rare, and if they do hit the market, they usually don't last until mid-December like Heyward did.
“What we sought out to build when we got here was a team that can be good for a long time,” Cubs GM Jed Hoyer said of the team's aggressive tact in free agency on Tuesday. “I think we said the expression ‘sustained success’ ad nauseam. We think we can be good for a long time, but we also know we’re good right now. I think we always talk about the difference between what we know at this moment and what we think we know about 2020, 2021. It’s really difficult, because the future does arrive.
“We’re a good team. We have a great manager, great coaching staff. I think this team really believes in itself, and I think we have a lot of upside. So we have to act with urgency to make this team better.”
Other impact moves by the Cubs this offseason including the signings of utility man Ben Zobrist and starter John Lackey, along with trading Starlin Castro to the New York Yankees for swingman Adam Warren and utility player Brendan Ryan.
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