Cubs add OF Joc Pederson

In a bit of a surprise due to the Cubs alleged money issues the team has signed outfielder Joc Pederson to one year deal worth $7 million. The deal was initially reported by Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic and Joel Sherman provided the financial details along with the inclusion of a 2022 mutual option.

Pederson struggled through a rough 2020 season with a .190/.285/.397 line along with seven home runs in 138 plate appearances, but he was not nearly the only player that struggled in the weird 2020 season so it's fair to give him a pass especially given his previous track record. He is coming off a two year stretch between 2018-19 where he hit .249/.331/.530 along with an impressive 61 home runs in 957 plate appearances. 

He is a very similar hitter to Kyle Schwarber, but one thing that he is significantly better at is making contact. Although 2020 saw Pedersons zone contact rate drop his career rate of 79 percent is still better than Schwarbers 76 percent mark. You can see the difference in strikeout rate as well, with Pederson striking out 24.2 percent of the time in his career with 132 per 162 games, while Schwarber has struck out 28 percent of the time with 174 per 162 games.

If there is one thing Pederson cannot do it is hit lefties. He has accumulated just 385 plate appearances against southpaws in his career and has managed to hit just .191/.266/.310 with only nine home runs and 111 strikeouts compared to 36 walks. Plain and simple, he sucks against lefties, and it's possible he finds himself in a platoon with Phil Ervin (who has an .811 OPS against lefties). It is interesting that Jeff Passan mentions Pedersons opportunity to play everyday which suggests that he could at least get a chance with lefties, but based on his track record any experiment like that will not last long.

Defensively, Pederson will most likely spend most of his time in left field, but he has also played most of his big league innings in center field so it's definitely a possibility to see him there as well. He won't wow you on defense with decent range, but he lacks the arm that Schwarber had. A Pederson-Happ-Heyward outfield has a lot of promise, but there is still some work the Cubs can do to add some depth.

The Cubs roster still has a lot of holes, especially in pitching, but it's worth noting that David Kaplan tweeted that Tom Ricketts recently increased the player payroll. He mentions how the Cubs view the division as "winnable", which makes sense when you consider that no one in the NL Central has made any significant improvements and teams like the Pirates and Reds have both lost key contributors. The Cubs still have some very good players, especially on offense, and adding Pederson gives them a very legit power bat to replace Kyle Schwarber.