It’s not a new rumor to say the Chicago Cubs are interested in Japanese ace Tatsuya Imai. They have been connected in multiple reports , and the fit is otherwise quite obvious. You have a Japanese star (Cubs are strong in that area, though have two Japanese players hitting free agency after next season) coming over at age 27 (Cubs, like everyone, prefer pitcher youth if possible), who cannot be attached to draft pick compensation, and you have a club with a need in the front half of their rota...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 3 days ago
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When it comes to any Cubs relief rumors this offseason — like the one we’re about to discuss involving free agent closer Robert Suarez — two caveats apply:
(1) Historically speaking, the Chicago Cubs have come across as borderline allergic to multi-year, big-money deals for free agent relievers, electing instead to build their bullpens on the cheap using internal pitchers, one-year signings, and/or “project/reclamation” arms. And to be fair, it’s mostly worked out for them. However … thin...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 3 days ago
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As the Washington Nationals continue to reorganize under new baseball president Paul Toboni, we’re increasingly seeing evidence that the team will genuinely consider trading lefty MacKenzie Gore this offseason. Now or at the 2026 Trade Deadline seems likely either way, and since no one knows what might happen to the first part of the 2027 season – the last year Gore would be under control – it’s possible Gore has significantly more value right now than he will in July. Plus, if the Nationals w...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 3 days ago
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The Cubs have just 31 players currently on the 40-man roster. Thus, it seems quite likely that they will select someone in the Rule 5 Draft, which comes up on Wednesday. That’s especially true given the fact that they have made Rule 5 selections in past years when they didn’t really have room, or a […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
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The Mets have reportedly made their first move of the Winter Meetings, signing reliever Carl Edwards Jr. to a minor league deal Tuesday morning, according to The Athletic’s Will Sammon. A lanky right-hander with an over-the-top delivery, Edwards Jr. began his big league career with the Cubs, winning a World Series ring as a 24-year-old […]
From Amazin' Avenue
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MLB RUMORS — We made it to the start of the Winter Meetings. May the rumors be exciting and may the transaction be plentiful. Let’s jump right in, because it’s only Monday and there are a lot of table-setting storylines to enjoy.
Kyle Schwarber: Pirates, Reds, Timeline, More
Ken Rosenthal got the MLB Rumors started last night , with the most surprising rumor of the winter so far:
The Pittsburgh Pirates have made free-agent designated hitter Kyle Schwarber a four-year offer, ac...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 3 days ago
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When I saw something a few days ago, I parked it in a tab because it seemed so unlikely to impact the Cubs. After all, there hadn’t been any sourced connections between the Cubs and Munetaka Murakami, and the fit was very difficult to see if Murakami wasn’t a true third baseman.
But then Bruce Levine wrote that the Cubs could in fact be considering Murakami as an option at third base, so I think there’s good reason to share that something I had parked.
It’s Kiley McDaniel’s take at E...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 3 days ago
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Michael Soroka, we hardly knew ye.
Acquired by the Cubs at the Trade Deadline and then injured immediately thereafter, Soroka didn’t get much of a chance to make an impression on us. Still, from what I saw of the stuff, it was really easy to dream. And really easy to want to see the Cubs take a flier on bringing back such a live arm, with the flexibility to pitch out of the rotation or the bullpen.
But it’s not happening, as Soroka, who is still only 28, is signing another one-year d...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
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Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma posted an article in The Athletic Sunday that began with this intriguing comment: The Chicago Cubs are targeting a higher level of the free-agent market and signaling an openness to spending for certain players, according to team and league sources briefed on the club’s deliberations. Well. I suspect many of […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
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The odds that this chain of events actually plays out are extremely long. But it’s something I’ve been thinking about, and considered it fun enough – and at least plausible enough – to share.
We know that Kyle Tucker’s free agency is not likely to touch upon the Chicago Cubs directly, outside of the post-second-round draft pick they’ll add when he signs elsewhere. The Cubs were never going to commit $300+ million to Tucker, and there have been no public indications that his market is so s...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 3 days ago
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All right. The holiday is here. The Winter Meetings. Time to start really popping off, baseball …
Speaking of which, I wrote yesterday about the prepared-for-urgency with which the Cubs need to treat this week, even if it may wind up that it isn’t absolutely critical to get things done SPECIFICALLY this week. In short, if dominoes do start falling in certain sectors, the Cubs may have to leap quickly. They have a set of needs, and if they have strong market preferences, they can’t let t...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 4 days ago
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Over at Marquee, Bruce Levine runs down the many rumors and storylines for the Chicago Cubs this week at the Winter Meetings. It’s a very comprehensive read, and worth checking out.
One thing jumped out at me, not necessarily for the strength of the rumor, but instead for the identity of the player. Because it’s not a guy we’ve really heard attached to the Cubs:
“While [Tatsuya] Imai is the jewel of this year’s foreign player class, Japanese third baseman Munetaka Murakami is a pow...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 4 days ago
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Behold, what artful creature gambols across yon prairie? ‘Tis the ever graceful Denzelope bounding joyfully in its habitat! Whatever Denzel Clarke does, he certainly does it to the hilt. Defensively he debuted taking the league by storm and putting up pro-rated numbers that would have broken DRS. At the plate he started his career by […]
From Athletics Nation
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Here’s another photo from BCB reader Clark Addison. It is, quite clearly, a play at the plate. There are enough letters on the back of the runner’s jersey to identify him: That’s Jason Marquis. Here’s the full photo: Marquis pitched for the Cubs for two seasons, 2007 and 2008. The catcher’s uniform doesn’t show a […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
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Given the fact that we know the Cubs are in on third baseman Alex Bregman , and given the reports that had the Cubs interested in Eugenio Suarez at the Trade Deadline, I have been waiting for some kind of rumor to connect the Cubs to Suarez this offseason. We can and will discuss the wisdom of such a match, but it only made sense that, at some point, the Cubs would have the conversation, right?
Right:
The Cubs continue to explore the third-base market in free agency, and Eugenio Suár...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
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Major League Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings are taking place this week at the Marriott Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa in Orlando, Florida. Here are some of the events going on this week and what to look for from a Cubs point of view. First, there was a report by Bob Nightengale of USA Today early […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
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We cover the coverage like PCA covers center field. We catch everything but we throw a lot back. ‘Insider’ Bob Nightengale’s dispatches aren’t often found here. He’s on the same level as ‘Insider’ Jim Bowden as far as I’m concerned. Zac Gallen is still on the market. *means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| 5 days ago
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Braves News We continue our annual player review series with Eli White, who put in a strong season as a fourth outfielder on the squad. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman previewed the winter meetings for the Braves. MLB News The Mariners acquired a good controllable reliever from the Nationals for some real prospect capital. The Cubs are […]
From Talking Chop
| 5 days ago
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Today was a bit of a wild ride, with an erroneous initial report that the Chicago Cubs were signing Zac Gallen to a multi-year deal worth $22 million annually, followed by an immediate and firm refutation. Then the original report was withdrawn, and changed to only that the Cubs were hoping to maybe try to sign Gallen. It was weird, given how specific the original report was.
So where do things stand? What’s the real story on the Cubs and Gallen, who reportedly is among the many starting ...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 5 days ago
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Last week, we learned of the major (and mostly negative/financially pessimistic) changes coming to Marquee Sports Network here at the end of 2025.
In short, the Region Sports Network, co-owned by the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group, announced its plans to scale back across the organization in a series of cost-saving endeavors. There’s a lot more to it than this, but among the immediate, front-facing fallout was the firings of content director Tony Andracki and reporter Andy Martinez.
...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 5 days ago
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Well, this was a strange one. I’m glad it took me a few minutes to click publish, because the initial news of the Cubs signing free agent starting pitcher Zac Gallen ( from Bob Nightengale , who has since edited his initial post on X) was shot down almost immediately ( from Jeff Passan and others ).
Still, after yesterday’s news that the Cubs were looking at Zac Gallen , and the specifics from Nightengale, I do believe there’s probably something here.
Zac Gallen to the Chicago Cubs? ...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 5 days ago
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Here we have three easily recognizable Cubs: Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Jacque Jones. It appears to be (and I found that it was) after the fourth player, the only one whose face we can see, has hit a grand slam at Wrigley Field. Here’s the full photo, another one sent to me by BCB […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| 5 days ago
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The Houston Astros are hot on the trail of free agent SP Ranger Suarez, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. In his recent article regarding the top 5 free agent starters on the market, Feinsand noted the Astros, Cubs and Orioles as the three teams as the most serious threats to signing Suarez away from […]
From The Crawfish Boxes
| 6 days ago
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The bigger news dropped earlier today, when Mark Feinsand reported that the Chicago Cubs were among the three biggest threats (along with the Astros and Orioles) to sign free agent starter Ranger Suarez this offseason. You can read all about his fit, cost, and attractiveness right here if you missed it.
But at the end of that report, Feinsand also mentioned another guy on the Cubs’ radar … a 30-year-old free agent starter they were also considering at the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline … a 2023 ...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| 6 days ago
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This is another repost of the game recap from a walkoff home run, this one from Chicago-area native Mike Tauchman, who grew up a Cubs fan. Once again, there will be an epilogue after the lightly-edited recap repost. This concludes this offseason series about Cubs walkoff heroes. Mike Tauchman grew up in the […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| 6 days ago
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