Chicago Cubs: Three reasons Javier Baez will re-sign with the Cubs

Chicago Cubs: There’s still time

Don’t believe the hype Cubs fans!

“Oh, we were having great talks, but there was nothing serious discussed…” Blah, blah, blah! Don’t believe it for a second.

To their credit, Epstein and Hoyer are getting smarter along the way. They have made some awful deals in the past, but for the most part, I think they have learned at least these two things:

1. Don’t make a deal today if you can make it tomorrow.

2. Don’t lose a deal today; you should have done yesterday.

See, the front office knows they have time. Time to get more data, time to be sure, time to ensure there are no injuries, time to see what the market says, time to evaluate their holdings. A time to consider a package deal with other teammates, discuss marketing, time to discuss legacy, time to see what happens after pandemics, time to see what Javy wants, time to see what Javy needs, time to learn what will make Javy happy and then make a deal.

Oh yes, Cubs fans, I would expect that Baez will have to take the field for several weeks of great play before Biff and the Yacht Club will make him an offer. However, knowing that Epstein and Hoyer have learned rule number two (Don’t lose a deal today you should have done yesterday), I would expect that the offer will be good enough to keep Baez around for several years.

Baez should be looking at a seven-year deal between $18 and $21 million per year. So somewhere between $126 million and $147 million based on deals like Jose Altuve’s seven-year, $151 million extension.

The third reason Baez will re-sign is that Epstein and Hoyer are looking to make some targeted deals over the next year to ensure they can keep the equity they’ve built.

If I were Epstein and Hoyer, I’d go out of the box and bring in Baez with Chicago Cubs second baseman Kris Bryant, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, and catcher Willson Contreras and see if the group would be willing to negotiate to stay together and play.

All of the players have the same feelings about staying a Cub for their entire career, and of course, they would all have different deals, but they would also know that part of their deal is to keep their core players together for several years.

Can you imagine how good a Rizzo, Bryant, Baez and Contreras team would be over the next seven years?

Unstoppable.