In a surprising move to many the Cubs have sent Ian Happ to AAA Iowa to get every day at-bats that are otherwise unavailable while he is on the Major League roster. “Especially from the left side” manager Joe Maddon told reporters on Saturday.
Being told that this is purely for Happ’s development, he didn’t do much to fight for his spot this spring struggling to a .135/.196 /.389 slash line.
It doesn’t appear the Cubs plan for a quick return as Bruce Levine has reported on twitter that the Cubs are looking to add a center fielder to replace Happ’s glove on the roster.
Echoing Theo Epstein’s comments about valuing “production over talent” at last year’s end-of season press conference–the front office has shown commitment to this philosophy by sending down a player in Ian Happ that has shown flashes of great talent, in between a string of strikeouts in which he appears over matched.
Is Happ being used to send a message to the rest of the team or do they really believe every day at-bats versus lesser pitching can get his K/BB rate to an acceptable level? That remains to be seen. Either way you can expect little tolerance for everyone on the opening day roster if they’re not producing offensively.
Kyle Hendricks has been extended to a four year deal with a fifth year option that vests if Hendricks finishes top 3 in Cy Young voting in 2020.
With this extension the Cubs secure Hendricks who, with his style, is expected to continue his success independently of overpowering pitch speed.
Hendricks is often compared to Greg Maddux due to his pitching intelligence–and placement of his pitches–as well as using his 2-seam fastball with two strikes to freeze left-handed hitters.
This continues the spring trend of players signing extensions with their teams in reaction to the Manny Machado and Bryce Harper negotiations that took until late spring to come to fruition.
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