Chicago Cubs: Javier Baez nearing six-year deal with the Tigers

The chaos that ensued on Monday has spilled over into Tuesday. According to Jon Morosi, longtime Chicago Cubs infielder and two-time All-Star Javier Baez is nearing a six-year deal with the Detroit Tigers – ending hopes that he might wind up returning to the North Side in free agency.

Now, it was always a long shot Chicago would pony up the cash needed to bring back any of its former core players, Baez included. As the Cubs’ spending freeze continues, though, the Tigers are likely to face some pretty heated criticism from fans with this move, as most had their sights set on former AL Rookie of the Year Carlos Correa as the heir apparent at shortstop.

Baez is certainly no Correa – but he’s a drastic improvement for a Tigers team whose shortstops batted just .201/.275/.321 in 2021. Following a midseason trade to the Mets, the former first-rounder really turned it up a notch – and finished the year with 31 home runs,  87 RBI and a 117 OPS+.

Of course, he also led Major League Baseball with 187 strikeouts, something any Cubs fans had grown accustomed to over the years. Baez is capable of doing some tremendous things on the diamond, but his free-swinging ways certainly led to frustrations, at times, during his time in Chicago.

In his Cubs career, Baez checked in a just above a league average offensive player – due largely to that inconsistency and lack of plate discipline. But there’s definitely no questioning his baseball IQ, which was constantly on display over the years.

It’s worth pointing out that just because the Tigers added Baez doesn’t mean they’re necessarily out on Correa, either. After all, we literally just saw the Texas Rangers follow up the signing of Marcus Semien with a deal that locked up Corey Seager for the next decade. So, hang in there Tigers fans.

Chicago Cubs are still yet to make any substantive move in free agency

Given the Chicago Cubs unloaded anything of value at the trade deadline this summer and have just three players on guaranteed deals moving forward (Kyle Hendricks, Jason Heyward, David Bote) – it stood to reason the front office could be involved at the top end of the free agent market.

Now, Seager, Semien and Baez are all off the board (or very close to it), leaving the likes of Correa and Trevor Story as the last men standing. Almost all of these free agent shortstops were/are young enough to still be in their prime two to three years from now when this roster should look drastically different.

But instead, it’s been radio silence from 1060 Waveland – and with the Dec. 1 lockout one day away, it seems very likely we’re left waiting until a new CBA until we see Chicago make any substantive moves.