Where is the crowd that wanted him gone in January?

20 comments
  1. I don’t think it’s surprising his season took off when he started hitting at the top of the lineup. He was never a 6 or a 7 hitter.

  2. Not me. He’s reminded me of Ryno since the week he came up. Offensive tools are slightly different, but he does everything the right way.

  3. Right here. It wasn’t because he is bad. It was about positional flexibility, free agency and what I thought rookie Shaw could do. Bregman Swanson Shaw would have been fine. Once Bregman was not available, was happy to keep Nico and he had his best season to date. Not a bad thing at all.

  4. I feel like the arm strength metric is weird for Nico and Dansby. Both of them value getting the ball out quickly and rarely ever throw as hard as they can.

  5. He just has no power and doesn’t walk that much.  So you gotta find the right spot for him. When the other guys around him are slugging it’s all good.  But when our best hitter is a high average singles hitter, that’s not a playoff competitive lineup.

  6. Extend him for life. Get it done.

    I would not be upset if one of our bigger FA deals is a long-term extension for Nico. He’s an absolute tone setter for the team, and we need him.

  7. Nico is pretty much in my top 10 of all-time favorite Cubs from my lifetime.

    Wood
    Sandberg
    Dawson
    Grace
    Bryant
    Rizzo
    Nico is somewhere around here.
    Sosa
    Beck

  8. You just have to figure out an extension here. It’s about as easy of an extension to figure out as it gets and he won’t get more than a 5/6M raise from his current deal, which is entirely worth it and not a lot. It’s not like a Bryant or Contreras deal. It’s an easy and valuable deal and it’s not an expensive one. It barely changes the payroll structure too vs his current salary

  9. Nico remains in the top 20 in fWAR among position players over the last four seasons. He is #1 among 2B. His 6.1 bWAR has him tied for 8th in MLB among position players. He is the heart of the Cubs and the MVP for the club this year. And he somehow continues to get better.

    He deserves the AAV Semien got a few years ago, which was $25mil/yr. The years might be less – 5 or 6 instead of 7 – but $25 million per year for the proven-best 2B in baseball is a no brainer.

  10. I did last season to be honest at a time when they had him strangely wanting to hit and pull up and out for power glad Nico is playing well good defender 

  11. Completely unrelated – 2 years ago I took my kids out to Mesa for Spring Training. Nico wasn’t playing and just hung out on the walkway between the training facility and Sloan for a solid hour. We had our pics, autographs, and every kid there got the same.

    Dude just wanted to hang with fans and the kids.

    Seriously- could not have been a nicer guy.

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