It’s hard to avoid a sense of déjà vu writing this piece because I’ve written it before — I also did this five years ago, the first time the Cubs signed Drew Smyly to a two-year deal when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Cubs took a second flyer on Smyly in March 2022 after he’d bounced around a bit between the Rangers, Giants and the Braves (where he won a World Series Championship in 2021).
Smyly declined a mutual $10 million option with the Cubs for 2023 and used the leverage from a solid 2022 to negotiate a two-year, $19 million contract with a mutual option for his age 36 season.