NEWSLETTER
We’ll dig in much more on Steven Souza Jr. when the signing is officially completed, but an update for this morning: it’s happening.
Per Mark Feinsand, a deal is in place:
Per source, Steven Souza Jr. and the Cubs have agreed to terms on a one-year Major League deal, pending physical.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) January 25, 2020
For all of our thoughts on the fit, please see yesterday’s post. The TL;DR version? Since the Cubs aren’t spending, he’s a perfectly good high-risk, high-upside bat to bring into the mix, most likely serving as a good 4th outfielder. His righty bat pairs well with a very lefty-strong outfield, and if he is miraculously recovered from his knee injury, you might wind up with something more than that. He was very good in 2017, the last year he was healthy. (He won’t help with the Cubs’ contact problems, though, as he is another big swing and miss guy.)
As for the health stuff, you can expect the “pending physical” part to be a little more involved than usual. Souza suffered a catastrophic knee injury in Spring Training last year, which shredded the important stuff in there, required surgery, and sat him down for the year. Even before that, he missed huge chunks of 2018 with a right pec injury and then back issues, all of which mostly derailed his 2018 season. So you’re talking about a guy who hasn’t played much healthy baseball in the last two years, so the physical will be involved.
If you ask Souza, though, he’s feeling great:
Finally back our running at 100% in AZ!! Let’s goo! God is Good! pic.twitter.com/5lcEkfT7YQ
— Steven Souza (@SouzaJr) November 18, 2019
Running bases again in the cold of the northwest! It’s where the grinders live! pic.twitter.com/7BOZo5Ptop
— Steven Souza (@SouzaJr) December 4, 2019
2020 you better be ready #4TK pic.twitter.com/k9xNWvN8y2
— Steven Souza (@SouzaJr) November 14, 2019
