CHICAGO -- Declaring he turned down more money elsewhere, new Chicago Cubs center fielder Jason Heyward said joining a young, competitive team was the deciding factor in signing an eight-year contract with the Cubs.
"Knowing the core is young and those guys are going to be around for a while is very exciting," Heyward said in an afternoon news conference on Tuesday. "I don't want to take the highest dollar amount when my gut is telling me to go somewhere else.
"Being 26 years old and knowing that my contract would put me in any clubhouse for longer than most people there, you have to look at age, how fast the team is changing and how soon those changes will come about.