(670 The Score) Beyond their pursuits of star two-way player Shohei Ohtani and ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto in free agency, the Cubs also have several other holes to address this offseason.
One of those is in center field, a position that remains quite fluid with Cody Bellinger having hit free agency after having a strong season for Chicago. The Cubs haven't been ruled out of the Bellinger sweepstakes, but their priorities are currently elsewhere and it seems they'd only get seriously involved with Bellinger if his free agency drags out later into the offseason and his initial price request comes down.
That means the Cubs are looking at the internal option of starting 21-year-old Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field or adding someone in free agency or on the trade market. And as of Monday evening, general manager Carter Hawkins indicated the Cubs were still exploring all three of those avenues to fill the position.
"Every offseason is important for every player, but this is a really important one for Pete," Hawkins said. "He got a taste of the major leagues last year. He learned a lot. From that standpoint, it was really good. From a performance standpoint, it wasn't really good. He'd be the first to tell us that. We think very highly of him, obviously. To say definitively that he's going to be our center fielder on Opening Day would be disingenuous. To say he's part of our long-term plans? Absolutely. To say that he has a chance to be our Opening Day center fielder? Absolutely. It's going to depend a lot about the opportunities we have on the market both in trades and free agency and, candidly, what he looks like coming into spring and the adjustments that he's made on the field specifically. If he does that, he's got a better chance to play sooner, especially if we don't make an acquisition at that spot. But there are all those different variables that I think keep everything up in the air right now."
The speedy Crow-Armstrong debuted for the Cubs in September. He played strong defense, but he struggled at the plate and on the bases, where he was sometimes too aggressive. Crow-Armstrong was 0-of-14 with three walks and a pair of sacrifice bunts in 19 plate appearances across 13 games late in the season.
