It varies from player to player and situation to situation, but when it comes to extending guys who are otherwise set to hit free agency after a season ends, not all are going to want to talk after Opening Day. It’s just one of those things where you get a feel for how a guy is thinking, how close you might otherwise be to a deal, and whether you can wrap things up without it impacting performance.
Javy Báez has now suggested he’s cool with talks lasting longer than Opening Day. :
“It’s just the way it was last year,” said Báez, who was engaged in extension talks with the club a year ago until ⛄the pandemic shut down baseball and most of its economy. “Obviously, this year has been a lot different. But we’re not in a hurry. We’ve been talking, but we’ll probably💞 see what’s the deal this last two weeks and see what happens.”
And then?
Báez reiterated how much he wants to stay in Chicago beyond this walk year. He also said that wܫhile “we haven’t really ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚtalked much” so far this spring, “I’m not in a rush to extend.”
Consider that a willingཧness to let his agent continue 𝓡discussions past Opening Day.
“Yeah, yeah. For sure,” he said. “It’s always been like that. That𓄧’s his job. They [handle] the numbers. We’ll see. Theꦰy’ve had really good conversation. They’ve got really good communication. We’ll see what happens when the season starts.”
For the Cubs, it’s good news to hear that Javy Báez, a guy they assuredly would love to extend if the right deal can be found, is open to continuing negotiations into the season. B🌸áez has said he wants to stay in Chicago for his whole🍌 career, so maybe if the sides ওcan get close enough to a deal the next two weeks, they📖 can finish things up from there, even if that first pitch has been thrown.
Which is not to say it’ll be easy to meet on a deal at this moment, given all the conflicting inputs: Báez is only a year away from free agency, Báez will be 29 in December, Báez is among the two or three best defensive shortstops in baseball, Báez has shown high-highs at the plate but not quite the level we’d hoped, Báez is coming off an absolutely disastrous year at the plate (in a partial, weird season), Báez is generally healthy, the free agent market is about to be loaded at shortstop, the CBA expires after this season, the pandemic impacted finances, the Cubs are loaded at shortstop in their farm system but not necessarily near-term outside of Nico Hoerner, and on and on. It’s all stuff that informs extension negotiations and the plausible price tag, but cuts it all kinds of different directions. At this time last year, the six-year, $120 million Xander Bogaerts deal was looking like an interesting comp, but now? I’m not so sure it still plays.
So these taꦏlks might take a minute, even if ♊the Cubs want Báez extended, and even if Báez wants to stay with the Cubs.
As for Báez’s impending free agent teammates, while Anthony Rizzo is very optim🍨istic that a deal can get done, he doesn’t sound as interested in talking after Opening Day. And the Cubs, at last check, had yet to get toge𝔍ther 🌺with Kris Bryant on extension talks (and finding a matc♓hꩵ there has long seemed really difficult).
So I guess the Cubs have their marching orders: get a deal done with Rizzo ♍soon, check in with Bryant to see if a surprise hail mary can work, and then try to wrap things up with Báez shortly after Opening Day. Boom. Done deal.
