The Cubs go into the off-season with many open positions/issues.
1. Centerfield and Lead-off Hitter. Dexter Fowler will reject the $17.2 million qualifying offer. He wants to obtain a long term, guaranteed deal. No one can blame him. He is saddled with the lost draft pick like last year. Many writers believe the Cubs need to re-sign Fowler because when he scored, the Cubs won more than 70 percent of those games.
If the Cubs do not re-sign Fowler, the job falls to Albert Almora or a defense weakening shift of Jason Heyward from right. Heyward has enough on his plate to correct his swing to worry about moving full time to CF. He prefers right field. Leave him there. If the Cubs are high on Almora, let him sink or swim in center.
But that does leave a gap at lead-off spot. No one of the club right now is the prototypical lead off hitter (high contact, walks and stolen base threat).
2. Left handed reliever. Travis Wood is a free agent. He is likely to sign elsewhere. He was a workhorse out of the pen (and a pretty good hitter off the bench). He had 77 appearances for 61 IP. With Mike Montgomery penciled in as the 4th starter next season, the job may fall to Rob Zastrynzny, who had 8 appearances (1 start) for a 1-0, 1.13 ERA record in 16 IP. However, the Cubs are weak at starting pitching depth in the minors so Zastrynzny may start 2017 at Iowa in case there is an injury in the rotation.
3. Closer. Will Hector Rondon return from his injury to reclaim his closer role? Or will there be a closer-by-committee approach with Rondon, Pedro Strop and CJ Edwards? Most writers believe that the Cubs will go after a high priced closer to replace Chapman (and thus making the bullpen rebuild less onerous).
4. The Schwarber Problem. Where will Kyle play? With his significant knee injury, most experts doubt that he will be in the position to catch at the major league level. Too much strain and stress on the rebuilt knee. Willson Contreras will be the main catcher, and Miquel Montero the expensive back-up catcher (maybe Lester or Arrieta's personal catcher). In the best case scenario, Schwarber would catch Hendricks starts (30/ year). Where will he play for the other 120 games? 20 at DH in AL parks? 100 games in LF?
The left field situation gets very crowded with Schwarber, Zobrist and Soler all in the mix for playing time. Zobrist has lost his second base position (unless Baez is at third which moves Bryant to LF). Zobrist has been the only consistent Cub to protect Anthony Rizzo in the line up.
5. Starting pitching. As stated, Montgomery appears to be the guy to take Hammel's spot as the #4 starter (moving Lackey to #5). But the Cubs depth chart as an organization is thin with major league ready starting pitching. Most pundits plead for the Cubs to move several young players to acquire young, durable and controllable starting pitchers. But most clubs will not trade their best pitching prospects, even for really good hitters. The free agent market for starters is also weak.
6. The bullpen. It is an annual make-over for bull pen arms. The Cubs current 40-man roster has this group to potentially fill four (4) opening day bull pen slots: Aaron Brooks, Jake Buchanan, Geraldo Concepcion, Justin Grimm, Conor Mullee, Spencer Patton, Felix Pena, Jose Rosario and Zac Rosscup. Concepcion and Patton had their call-up moments and did not stick. Grimm has been hanging around but is inconsistent. Rosscup is coming back from a major injury. Mullee was a recent waiver pick up. No matter what is in the system, the Cubs still need to look to upgrade bull pen arms.
