Chicago Cubs News: Central could get interesting, Almora’s job in CF?

The Chicago Cubs will be looking for their third consecutive Central crown. But if any of the Hot Stove turns out to be true, it could be an interesting race for the division next season.

The Chicago Cubs look poised–even with a few holes–to repeat as division champions next season. Now, there’s always a chance that the Milwaukee Brewers or St. Louis Cardinals could have a big offseason and change that narrative. The Cardinals have officially made an offer for Giancarlo Stanton. The Brewers have been linked to Jake Arrieta. Those moves alone won’t change the makeup of those teams. But it would go a long way to helping improve them in 2018.

The Cubs haven’t identified who their center fielder is going to be for next season. Albert Almora, Jr. seems like the ideal candidate. But with the talks of needing to trade away some of the young talent to get pitching? They might be holding off on that for that exact reason. Ian Happ has seen time in center but is nowhere the glove that Almora is. And Jason Heyward has played some center field. But the Cubs would like to leave him where he’s at. So that leaves us with Almora. Will he be the man in 2018?

The Cubs finished off their coaching staff for next season, officially naming Jim Hickey and Will Venable as the last two coaches. Venable was in the front office for the Cubs last year and will make his coaching debut as the first base coach. Hickey had been named as the Cubs’ pitching coach several weeks ago, but it just became official earlier this week. The Cubs are now fully staffed on the field as they prepare for the 2018 season.

These and other stories you might have missed:

‘Cubs could have their hands full in Central next year’ – Cubbies Crib

‘Could Almora be the answer in center field?’ – Cubbies Crib

‘Cubs set their staff with Venable, Hickey’ – Cubbies Crib

‘Which contenders should buy? Which pretenders should sell?’ – ESPN

‘Five teams that figure to make the Hot Stove hot’ – MLB.com

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