First baseman Dominic Smith is opting out of his minor league deal with the Cubs, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN.
Smith, 29 in June, is primarily a first baseman. The Mets moved him to left field for a while since Pete Alonso took hold of the first base job, but Smith graded poorly out there and eventually moved back to first base with the Nationals last year.
The Cubs are likely going to give a lot of run to Michael Busch at first base this year, after acquiring him from the Dodgers in an offseason trade. They also re-signed Cody Bellinger after Smith signed his minor league pact, further crowding the path to playing time. Bellinger will likely be in the outfield but it’s possible that he winds up at first if Busch falters or if Pete Crow-Armstrong forces his way into the center field job.
Given that situation, it makes sense that Smith would look for opportunities elsewhere. He’s been in great form this spring, having hit .346/.370/.538 thus far, which could perhaps help him market himself to other clubs.
He’s coming off an uninspiring season, his first outside of Queens. He hit just .254/.326/.366 for the Nationals, leading to a wRC+ of 90, his third straight subpar campaign. Interested clubs will be hoping that he can get back to his 2019-20 form, when he hit .299/.366/.571 for a wRC+ of 150.
There is plenty of roster churn going on around baseball today, with several cuts being made and veterans opting out. A game of musical chairs will play out in the coming days as guys look for new clubs and Smith will see if he can wind up somewhere with a decent path to playing time.
All these 1B/DH types opting out today – Ford, Cron, Smith. Can’t be many big league spots for them.
Nope. Mommas and Poppas don’t let your boy grow up to play 1B. Don’t ask, BEG his traveling team coach to teach him how to play OF or 3B. Don’t matter how big a stick he’s got.
His signing by the Cubs was always a mystery to me after they traded for Busch and basically handed him the 1B job and they still have Mervis. He was always a 3rd wheel to me. Cooper brings much more versatility to the position in that he’s RH, Takes walks, Still has power and plays a decent 1B. I just hope Hoyer makes the right call and keeps Cooper and DFA’s Wisdom. It’s the smart play. But Cooper has an opt out chance today also.
Plus Hoyers love affair with Smyly and Wisdom is legendary. Plus my worst nightmare with Smyly is confirmed as he is an 11 million dollar reliever.
It may be an even bigger nightmare for you Uncle if Smyly replaces Steele in the rotation. Hoping it was just a direct hit to Steele’s knee, but if there was a buckle in there Smyly is going to need to get stretched out really quickly.
That would do it alright.
I think they solve that by starting with Wisdom on the DL. Cooper has definitely proved his worth- he’s a better player than Wisdom, but I don’t see them DFA’ing Wisdom at least until Morel and Busch can get settled… Madrigal and Mastrobuoni would both seem to be at more risk (especially Madrigal).
Where do all these guys think they’re landing after some of the better free agents have had problems? They had minors deals they could use to keep themselves playing and ready. This is not the year for this I think.
They’re landing on another minor deal somewhere else. Thats not the issue. The issue is how far down the depth chart he is here, as opposed to somewhere else.
I guess maybe? But man there’s a ton of red flags right now out there. Taking a chance is what I’m saying.
A better chance for him.
He’s a defensive first baseman. Definitely not a DH.
What’s wrong with minor league deals?
2/3 players opting out have had good spring training stats. If they have good stats in the minors what are the chances they’d actually be called up.
Some of these guys will head to Asia and or Mexico for more money than they’ll make in the minors here.
Sometimes it all depends on *which* Minor system, and at the right time.
Honestly I think I’d prefer Dom to Bauers as Hoskins backup for the Crew. Much better fit.
Losing Smith will not hurt the Cubs.
I agree with Uncle Mike that Cooper should be kept and Wisdom should be cut.
Smyly is not going anywhere with his money owed, but the Cubs should just eat the contract.
The don’t need any more first basemen—-they need a third baseman…they currently have zero of those.
Well that’s a horror story. Justin Steele just got hit in the knee with a comebacker and had to leave the game. Hope that’s not serious.
Huge bust
Hey, he’d prefer you look him in the eye
Smith would be a decent fit with the White Sox but no, instead they go for Robbie Grossman. Very serviceable 2-3 years ago, not much left in the tank now. Smith meanwhile has limited ceiling but in a park like US Cellulite he could have a career year…
Smith sucks. He injured himself and lost the ability to hit for power…or even be decent.
You don’t want this guy on your team
A day too late Mets could of had Smith back so much cheaper than JD Martinez. haha
I like Dom but i cant see much better opportunities out there for him at this point. Maybe minor league to return to the nationals or maybe the padres?
I just don’t understand when baseball fans – especially writers, who should know better – cite spring stats as if they actually mean something. Look, a guy’s approach might have changed, a different swing plane, for example. Or a pitcher tries out a new pitch…those results matter. But forget their stat lines – it’s small sample size and likely against some other players who won’t even make a major league roster. Yet we keep hearing how a guy hit .350 in camp, how could the team have let him go? It’s frustrating.
These border line players careers are going to get shorter and shorter