Cubs to sign Joc Pederson

8:30 am: It’s a one-year, $ 7 million contract for Pederson, tweets Jeff Passan of ESPN. The contract includes an additional $ 500,000 in incentives available, tweets Joel Sherman of the New York Post. Passan suggests that the Cubs will give Pederson the opportunity to play on a daily basis rather than curl up – a part of the deal that was particularly appealing to Pederson.

7:24 am: Cubs agree on free fielder deal Pederson game, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (via Twitter). The Excel Sports Management client contract is still pending completion of a physical.

Pederson, 28, is the first noticeable addition of the offseason for a Cubs team that has otherwise been quiet on the free agent front this winter (small offers with Austin Romine and Kohl stewart notwithstanding). Pederson, in fact, would become the most important name to sign a free agent deal with the Cubs since Craig kimbrel. The team has generally avoided the pursuit of notable free agents every offseason since signing. Yu darvish On a six-year deal, owner Tom Ricketts openly bemoaned the lack of resources and declared the 2020 revenue losses to be “biblical” in proportion.

Chicago, of course, traded Darvish and Victor Caratini to the Padres earlier this season and without a tender Kyle schwarber as well as. They’ll be putting some of those savings back into that deal with Pederson, although that’s at least something odd given the great similarities he has with Schwarber. Pederson is a career .230 / .336 / .470 hitter against Schwarber’s .230 / .336 / .480 hitting line, although Pederson set up that nearly identical line in a more pitcher-friendly setting ( hence the difference in their respective 118. and 113 wRC + points).

The two left-handed hitters are widely regarded as bats of the squad, and as is the case with their overall numbers, their divisions against the right-handed are almost identical: .238 / .349 / .501 for Pederson vs. .239 / .345 / .514 for Schwarber. The same five-point gap in wRC + (128 vs. 123) tilts in Pederson’s favor because of his original fleet. The main difference apparently comes down to defense, where Pederson has a solid track record in left field and Schwarber has always been below par. Still, it’s quite surprising to see the Cubs come out and sign a player whose offense is a near-mirror image of an established clubhouse presence that they dismissed just two months ago.

With Pederson on board, the Cubs’ projected payroll climbs to around $ 152 million for the coming season, although future transactions may still have an impact on that number. Both Willson Contreras and Kris bryant are still candidates to move ahead of Opening Day, with Bryant in particular standing out as a candidate given the club’s only year remaining in control (with a hefty salary of $ 19.5 million). The Cubs also plan to explore expansions with Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez as the season approaches.