Cubs aren’t ready to hand over the NL Central to the Cardinals just yet

After a slow, rocky start to the offseason, it looks like – at long last – things are finally moving in the right direction in the offices at Gallagher Way.

The Chicago Cubs have been chipping away at their needs lately, and have finally added a few decent names to start rounding out the roster. Joc Pederson and Trevor Williams are a few fairly well-known names that have recently signed deals to join this group. Nothing flashy but two quality players that can help this team.

However, these signings were overshadowed by a monumental move made in the NL Central over the weekend when the St. Louis Cardinals traded for Nolan Arenado. With all the hype around the former Rockies third baseman, let’s look at why we shouldn’t be concerned with the Cardinals just yet.

Obviously this blockbuster move isn’t ideal for the rest of the NL Central, as Arenado is arguably the best third baseman in the game. He will complete St Louis’ corner infield with Paul Goldschmidt, also lured in from the NL West and could be considered the best first and third base duo in baseball (let’s hope another NL Central duo that we know of has something to say about that this season).

Cubs will have their hands full with Nolan Arenado in St. Louis

The Cardinals have quietly put together a solid roster with a lot of young talent anchored by veteran stars. The third base spot was always one that has been vulnerable and this move finally puts a staple there. Arenado’s eight Gold Gloves, four Platinum Gloves and five All-Star appearances through his first eight seasons are remarkable and definitely tells you what caliber of a player we’re talking about here.

More from Cubbies Crib

• Cubs should keep close eye on non-tender candidate Cody Bellinger
• Cubs starting pitching has been thriving on the North Side
• Make no mistake: the Cubs are very much about power hitters
• Cubs are giving pitcher Javier Assad a deserved shot
• Cubs: It’s time to start thinking about potential September call-ups

However, it’s important not to get ahead of ourselves. The Cardinals still have question marks around the roster and it starts in the outfield. A reunion with Marcel Ozuna doesn’t seem to be likely and the starting outfield is projected to to be iffy. Former Cubs fan favorite Dexter Fowler is likely to start in right once again and his .233 average since joining the Cardinals hasn’t provided fans with much faith.

Dylan Carlson is the next projected outfield starter and although he is a big-time prospect, we’ve only seen a small sample size from him in 2020 in which he batted .200 with an on-base-percentage of .252. Harrison Bader is the last man to fill out the outfield and his .234 career average has fans questioning if he really is going to be the guy.

To add to the uncertainty in the outfield, this team batted .245 as a group during the last full season in 2019, good for 23rd in all of baseball, while ranking17th in on-base percentage  and 16th in wRC+. This is a middle-of-the-pack offense that is going to need more than Arenado to become tops in the league.