Chicago Cubs: Jason Heyward, Yu Darvish no longer a drag on payroll

It took a few years, but the Chicago Cubs are getting there money (sort of) out of Jason Heyward and Yu Darvish. This has been one of the most significant boosts for the Cubs entering the second half.

When the Chicago Cubs signed Jon Lester to a massive deal, it was the turning point in their franchise. They were ready to win. But with that, you have to be prepared to win every year. In the years that followed, they’ve signed Jason Heyward and Yu Darvish to similar deals, but have not gotten the production they’ve hoped for from those two. Now, in 2019, both are starting to show an upward trend and are the key for the Cubs continuing their winning ways in the second half.

It’s hard to quantify when a player ‘earns’ his paycheck. When you make $20 million+ per year, what should you expect of them? Free agency has become an unstable place. In many cases, you pay what the market tells you, not what you feel they are worth.

Otherwise, you don’t sign the ‘big’ free agents of the winter. In the case of Heyward in his first two years and Darvish last year, the Cubs were not getting the return they expected.