Over the last couple of days, the Cubs have cut ties with a handful of players. Some of the players who have parted ways in Chicago are Hector Neris, Drew Smyly, and David Bote. While the Cubs have made these moves to clear some costs and allow the players to play for a postseason contender, many other teams have been doing the same.
One player who recently cut ties with one of their teams was the Dodgers, who parted ways with a former Cubs World Series champ. On Monday, the Dodgers announced that they are releasing former Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward. Heyward has quickly already found a home in Houston, where he plans on signing with the Astros.
According to Chandler Rome, Heyward will be signing with the Houston Astros. The biggest part of all these players trying to sign is that they need to be with their new team by September 1st in order to be eligible for a postseason roster. Heyward now brings a fair bat but elite defense to a Houston Astros team that always seems to strike when the calendar turns to October.
Heyward played a crucial role with the Dodgers a year ago. Last year, Heyward surged back after having a couple of rough seasons with the Cubs, hitting .269 with 15 home runs. This year, on the “Avengers”-like Dodgers roster, his name seemingly got lost in the cards and returned to the form some Cubs fans were a little used to. Heyward is hitting .208 this year with 6 home runs in 63 games. While he still has an excellent glove, he has seemingly regressed from what we thought might have been a career resurgence a year ago.
For the Astros, they could definitely use some outfield help, with Kyle Tucker still on the IL, but getting closer and the rest of their current outfield being not the best outside of Yordan Alvarez and Mauricio Dubon. Heyward brings veteran leadership, who has been to the postseason multiple times, along with some of the traits that we already mentioned.
Heyward obviously was a crucial part of the 2016 Chicago Cubs World Championship team and played a pivotal role in the teams following that year. While the big contract the Cubs gave him back in the 2015 off-season never lived up to expectations, Heyward’s tenure with the Cubs still brought success. Including the World Series, Heyward won two gold gloves during his time in Chicago. Plus, it’s always fun to keep an eye on all the players of the World Series team and track where they go, plus hoping for their success.
Nonetheless, as we look across baseball, Heyward feels like only the first domino to fall for a player who will find a new team before September. I mentioned the Cubs earlier and all the players they have cut ties with, but it would not be shocking to see the Cubs part ways with even more players before the September 1st deadline.
