After signing Cody Bellinger On a one-year, $17.5 million contract, the Cubs could land another left-handed power bat today MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo Reporting that the team has had discussions with Dominik Schmidt at the winter meetings. Smith is a free agent after the Mets didn’t write him out.
Smith has struggled the past two seasons, playing through a partially torn labrum last year and never getting going in 2022 as he struggled for game time JD Davis and was eventually elected to the minor leagues. He finished 2022 with a .194/.276/.284 batting line without a single home run, good for a well-below-average 67 wRC+.
That being said, Smith has promised a lot in his career and in some ways has been the victim of circumstance. Drafted 11th overall in 2013, the 27-year-old has regularly popped up in the top 100 lists as he progressed through the minors. He received some time in the majors in 2017 and 2018 but showed his offensive promise in 2019 when he cut .282/.355/.525 with 11 homers in 197 plate appearances. That was also in the same year Peter Alonso stormed onto the stage, forcing Smith to spend time in left field where he finished poorly defensively.
Buoyed by DH’s presence in the National League in 2020, Smith continued to hit in that pandemic-shortened season, hitting .316/.377/.616 with ten runs home. But things slowed down in 2021 when an injury sapped his strength and Smith was never able to look back and the Mets opted for a non-tender rather than pay him a prospective $4 million arbitration salary.
While his 2022 numbers won’t draw much interest, he would make sense for teams willing to take a flyer rediscovering him to discover his ample potential. Of course, one of the problems Smith faced in New York was the lack of regular playing time, so perhaps he’s more inclined to seek opportunities where he can at least start, although he’s sometimes seen as a high-potential bench hitter initially .
The Cubs currently have Matt Mervis and Alfonso Rivas drawn into first base and designated hitter slots, so there’s certainly room to add a player like Smith. The Cubs also have a long-standing interest in him, with DiComo adding that the Cubs discussed a trade with the Mets in which Smith was involved last summer. The Rays and Royals both expressed interest in Smith earlier this offseason.