Cubs Agree to Deal with Jason Heyward

The Chicago Cubs made another big signing on Friday, taking away yet another St. Louis Cardinal player from their NLDS team.  The last was way 37 year old pitcher John Lackey, and this time, it was a coveted young infielder by the name of Jason Heyward with a 8 year, 180 million dollar deal.
Heyward was born in 1989 in New Jersey, which makes him only 26 years old.  So, this is rare for a player to be a free agent right in his prime.  So, this was another reason he was such a hot commodity around baseball.  He is more known for his glove, speed and on-base percentage.  All of this made him a great fit for the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs have a lot of great young power, like Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Jorge Soler, and Javier Baez.  A big problem for them was striking out way too much, with the Cubs leading the league in strikeouts.  But, interesting enough, the Cubs also took a ton of walks, and the addition of Heyward will only help that total.  This combo actually helped the Cubs sometimes, because it got dominate starting pitchers out of the game earlier than usual.  A good example is at Wrigley, Matt Harvey got out after eight innings and the Cubs got the runs they needed in the bottom of the ninth to win the third game of a four series sweep in May.  Heyward also adds speed to thhe Cubs lineup, something that the Cubs did not have much of last year, really only Dexter Fowler and Addison Russell provided much.
Heyward is now projected to lead-off with fellow newcomer Ben Zobrist behind him.  Then Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, the 2015 NL Rookie of the Year.  Then power hitters Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler if he is not traded for power.  Rounding it out is catcher Miguel Montero, the pitcher hitting in the eighth hole, and shortstop Russell.  This may now be behind the Toronto Blue Jays as the best lineup in all of baseball.
The contract also has two years where he can opt out, the first being after year three.  If the Cubs win the World Series by then and he walks, oh well.  I think Heyward has always been overrated.  He was a good pickup, but I don't think 180 million is a good price tag for a career .270 with only 97 home runs.  But, it's better than what some people are getting paid, such as David Price getting over 200 million from the Red Sox. It is also interesting to note that both the Washington Nationals and the Cardinals offered him 200 million, showing he wants to win with the Cubs.  Zobrist took less money as well to play for Joe Maddon and the Cubs.  This is why the Cubs got all those free agents such as Alfonso Soriano  the last time they were good, to win it all and break the curse with the Cubs.  Heyward and Zobrist doing this makes a good statement for the Cubs, that they are here to win this year, not next year, this year.