Chicago Cubs: Top 3 reasons to sign Shogo Akiyama

Chicago Cubs: Bringing back the spirit of the team

1.    Akiyama would boost morale like Castellanos

If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that Akiyama would bring some spirit back to the team in very similar way that Castellanos did last season. Of course, don’t expect to see Akiyama doing a baseball bat coffin-slam if he puts one up against the scoreboard at Wrigley.

Instead, Akiyama is more like manager David Ross, carefully injecting his heroics throughout the course of a game or series as a quiet leader. Maybe that’s just another reason Akiyama would be a good fit for the team over the next two seasons. He’s a mature player that could help Ross transition the team under his control.

Akiyama’s age, maturity and ability to stay healthy make him such a great candidate for the Cubs next season, it’s no wonder he is being courted by several teams right now to include the Diamondbacks who I talked about at the beginning of this piece and are waving their signing of pitcher Madison Bumgarner in his face.

Akiyama certainly has a tough decision and Arizona is even using geography to sell their club. The Diamondbacks recently reminded the free agent outfielder that not only is it much warmer in Arizona, it’s also closer to Japan.

Hopefully Akiyama can see through the desperate ploys of some of the teams out there and give the Cubs a decent consideration. While he’s not the Chicago Cubs’ next center fielder for the next seven years, Akiyama is a good short-term answer at Wrigley Field.