Cubs near trade for closer Davis as Maddon underscores need

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@GDubCub can’t believe what he’s hearing from Cubs manager Joe Maddon Tuesday at baseball’s winter meetings.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – As the Cubs closed in Tuesday night on a trade that would send outfielder Jorge Soler to the Kansas City Royals for closer Wade Davis, manager Joe Maddon reminded everyone Tuesday why the Cubs need to stock up on as many strong arms as they can get.

Those early hooks? The way he rode Aroldis Chapman in the playoffs – in particular how he used him in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series? All the scripted machinations of Game 7 that looked like they were about to cost the Cubs a game they led from the start – before they rallied in the 10th to win?

“The only reality I know is that we won,” Maddon said.

And nothing that happened during multiple comebacks by the Indians in Game 7 as Maddon stuck firmly to his pregame script is about to make him rethink how he puts together a game plan or navigates midgame going forward, he said.

“No,” he said, “because I thought the script was really good. Jonny [Lester] came in the game and gave up a dribbler, and then a wild pitch.

“If you had done something differently, would it have turned out better?” Maddon added. “But better than winning, I don’t know what that is.”

Whether that smacks of outcome bias from the man who often chides such thinking, one thing is clear as the Cubs try to become the first team to repeat since the 1998-2000 Yankees:

They’d better make sure not to suck as they bolster their bullpen – an effort that centered around Davis on Tuesday. Sources said the Cubs and Royals had a Soler-for-Davis deal on the table as the Cubs looked hard at the medicals on the right-hander who spent two stretches on the disabled list with forearm problems last season.

After returning in early September, Davis finished the season with seven consecutive scoreless outings, striking out nine in those seven innings. He converted 27 of 30 save chances overall.

If the Cubs sign off on the medicals, the deal could get done as early as Wednesday morning, barring a third team coming in with a stronger bid at the last minute. The Nationals also were said be making a late push for Davis, who has one year left on his contract at $10 million.

Davis has ERAs of 1.00, 0.94 and 1.87 the last three years, and he also has at least a minor question surrounding his health after a forearm issue put him on the disabled list for two weeks in July and again for all of August.

The Cubs also have been heavily involved with Davis’s predecessor as Royals closer, hard-throwing right-hander Greg Holland, a free agent expected to be at full strength by spring training after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery.

They’re also exploring shorter-term, veteran free agent possibilities in pitchers such as lefty Jerry Blevins and righty Brad Ziegler.

The more the better, especially with a manager who has shown an itchy pitching-change finger with some of his starters and who insists he still likes his bullpen scripts.

For example in Game 7 last month, Maddon said his plan was to use starter Kyle Hendricks, then Jon Lester and then Chapman to get through nine innings – even though Chapman had been used the night before in the seventh to hold a five-run lead, was left in for a batter in the ninth with a seven-run lead, and even though using Lester meant a full battery switch involving Lester’s personal catcher, David Ross.

Ultimately he landed in the same place as his front office bosses did when they defended his moves last month: The Cubs won.


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