Chicago Cubs: Plenty of big free agents still to come

Chicago Cubs: The ever-present worry over Coors Field

Arenado is the best defensive third baseman in the National League. He has won the Gold Glove Award for third base every year since he got called up to the major leagues. That’s six in a row including this last season. So if Arenado joined the Cubs they would have Gold Glovers at both corner infield spots, plus an elite defender in Javier Baez at one of the middle infield spots.

However, the thing that you have to be careful of with any free agent from the Colorado Rockies is what impact did playing half of their games in Coors field have on them. This time last year, the Cubs thought that Tyler Chatwood would be an even better pitcher after he got away from Denver’s thin air.

As teams consider DJ LeMahieu this offseason they are trying to evaluate how good of a hitter he might be in the future despite not having the benefit of playing in Coors Field.

Arenado has definitely benefited from playing his home games at Coors Field. His road splits should give us pause about his ability as a hitter without the benefit of the thin air of Colorado.