Chicago Cubs: Will Anthony Iapoce bring in big-time star power?

Chicago Cubs: Is Iapoce the golden goose?

But, really, what fans want to know is: Does this hire make it more or less likely that we land one of the two young blockbuster megastars in free agency this offseason?  The answer is filled with rampant speculation and myriad variables, so let’s break it down.

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Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are the two belles of the ball and prizes of the coming winter Ned Stark warned us all about.  This long winter could certainly be made warmer with a few acquisitions (either via trade or free agency), but it’s unclear which way the front office might go.

If they do go the route of hefty price tag megastar, it would seem that one of the two would mesh really well with Iapoce’s hitting philosophy, and one wouldn’t quite so much. (Just sticking to sheer offensive ability and style here; not factoring in defense at all, which I concede might be a determining factor in the choice as well).

Manny Machado is a really good hitter. His lifetime slash line sits at .282/.335/.487. He walks a fair amount (and is getting better at it) and hits lots of doubles and home runs.

His lifetime ISO (isolated power; suggesting how hard and how many extra base hits he has and will hit) is .204; good, but not elite (Anthony Rizzo‘s lifetime ISO is .214, by comparison). Machado also seems to be trending in the right direction as he heads toward the prime of his career, as his 2018 season (still ongoing with the Dodgers in the NLCS) has been his best yet. Seems like a good candidate for someone like Iapoce to work with and sit in the middle of the Cubs lineup, right?