re: Jason Heyward's 8 year career with the Cubs officially done

That contract remains the most befuddling in sports history to me. There have been busts before, but he might as well have been flying a plane with a huge banner saying "You'll regret this", with all of the problems he displayed with his swing, but the Cubs apparently listened to analytics people telling them not to believe their lying eyes, I guess. I can still remember reading and listening to the verbal gymnastics that people went through to try to explain why he was worth so much money.

I believed the hype when he was 20. 6 years into his career, you'd think people would have seen the warning signs. Declining power, declining walk rates, mostly pedestrian batting averages throughout his then 6 year career, and injuries. But somehow playing good defense in right field was supposed to make his mediocre offense and lack of durability acceptable to the tune of nearly 200 million dollars? If I were a Cubs fan, I'd have been so mad, the minute that contract was announced.

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mega stars

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eh

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Remember how the Cards fans bitched about him leaving them for the Cubs ?

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They thought he finally turned the corner, and hated him going to a hated rival. They figured St.Louis coaches got him back on the path, and now he takes the cash, Cubs benefit from their work with him.

Those were different GM's and owners who signed off on those deals.

He had a fricking cannon though.

He became an expensive defensive replacement late in games.

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Cubs lost all of their mega stars and kept Heyward

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Because they didn't really have a choice. I guarantee you they were trying to shop him.

So glad both him and Jeff Francouer turned down "team friendly" deals pre arbitration.