A Chicago Cubs Fan Community Since February 9, 2005
As you know, I have posted a series of articles here on players who could be free agent or trade targets for the Cubs this offseason. As a refresher, here are links to all those articles (except for two players who have already signed elsewhere). Dec. 5: Luis Severino (trade) Dec. 4: Edward Cabrera (trade) […]
about 2 months ago | 1 read
Good morning.
about 2 months ago | 1 read
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths. “Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire. Happy birthday to Johneshwy Fargas* and all of you who celebrate your natal anniversary on […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
The Cubs decided to go old-school in 2005 and 2006. From 1993-2004 they had put names on the back of home uniforms. Names had been on the back of Cubs road uniforms since 1982. But in 2005 management decided to go back to the pre-1993 look and take the names off. What they did not […]
about 2 months ago | 3 reads
Sources tell us that Burl Carraway is no longer in the organization. He was once a promising prospect with a big fastball from the sinister side, but his future didn’t turn out so well. So far, the offseason cache contains two MLB relievers and one player signed to a minor-league deal. *means autoplay on, (directions to […]
about 2 months ago | 2 reads
Earlier this week I posted here about the eight Cubs players with MLB experience who will likely take the field for their home countries in the World Baseball Classic: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matthew Boyd (U.S.), Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga (Japan), Owen Caissie (Canada), Daniel Palencia (Venezuela), Miguel Amaya (Panama) and Javier Assad (Mexico). A […]
2 months ago | 2 reads
“Wake Up Dead Man,” the third film in the “Knives Out” series from director Rian Johnson, came out in theaters briefly in October and is now available for streaming. As a (now retired) member of the Directors Guild of America, I have access to screeners of various films for DGA Award consideration. This film was […]
2 months ago | 2 reads
This is another photo from BCB reader Clark Addison. As you know, Mark Prior suffered two serious injuries that eventually ended his MLB career. The first one was a collision on the basepaths with Marcus Giles of the Braves. That happened in the bottom of the second inning July 11, 2003, after Prior had walked. […]
2 months ago | 5 reads
Former Cub and Ray Christopher Morel is now a Marlin, sources reveal. It sucks about Devin Williams, who would surely have been a fine Cub. Also revealed: several MLB players have signed with teams that aren’t the Dodgers. Dennis Franz still wants to know “What is a Met?” Insiders predict that the Dodgers plan to […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
Thirteen years have passed since Larry Biittner’s turn on the mound for the Cubs. Position player pitching was still pretty rare in Major League Baseball. And then came the spring of 1990. You have to remember the context here: The Cubs had come off a division title year in 1989 in which they won 93 […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
The Cubs have not yet made any sort of major free agent signing or trade acquisition this offseason. In fact, the Winter Meetings were pretty quiet on the transaction front, with the exceptions of the signings of Pete Alonso, Robert Suarez and Edwin Diaz, all by teams other than the Cubs. This, you already know. […]
2 months ago | 1 read
Happy Friday, everyone! Winter Meetings are over, and we have a big wrap-up of everything that happened, who signed where, and who the winners and losers were this year as we get closer to the end of 2025. There are some player moves to keep up with, including two players who won’t be heading back […]
2 months ago | 1 read
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths. “Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire. HRod had a couple of good years, and other stories. Today in baseball history: Cubs […]
2 months ago | 2 reads
Thinking about another off-season series to do, I came upon this idea. Position player pitching has become fairly common in modern baseball, so much so that MLB has codified when a position player is allowed to pitch. Now, a position player can only pitch if one or more of these criteria is met: • Game […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
The Cubs have a new left-handed reliever: This seems a signing well in line with Jed Hoyer’s practice of recent years — sign a mid-range reliever who’s had some success in the past and hope to make something out of him, as the Cubs did in 2025 with Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz. Milner, like […]
2 months ago | 5 reads
Since the baseball offseason has run cold for the moment, let’s pivot to the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Per Meghan Montemurro in the Tribune, the Cubs might send quite a few players to the WBC: As many as eight Cubs players might be on WBC rosters: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matthew Boyd (U.S.), Seiya Suzuki and Shota […]
2 months ago | 5 reads
Since the baseball offseason has run cold for the moment, let’s pivot to the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Per Meghan Montemurro in the Tribune, the Cubs might send quite a few players to the WBC: As many as eight Cubs players might be on WBC rosters: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Matthew Boyd (U.S.), Seiya Suzuki and Shota […]
2 months ago | 5 reads
So the vaunted Winter Meetings turned out to have been a massive time-suck, completely useless from my point of view. It wouldn’t be a surprise for me at this point if the Cubs signed nobody at all. It’s going to take a hell of a lot to mollify me or even to start to allay […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
It’s Wednesday night here at BCB After Dark: the swinging-est afterparty for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re so glad you decided to stop by. Come in out of the cold. We’ve got a fire going in here. There is no cover charge. We still have a couple of tables […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
The Cubs made news in this year’s Rule 5 Draft by not doing very much at all. This year, I was reasonably certain the Cubs would select someone to add to their major league roster in this annual draft. They’ve got plenty of room on the 40-man roster, which contains only 31 players right now. […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
MLB’s top brass are meeting in Orlando this week and that generally sets the stage for getting at least a few deals done. This year’s Winter Meetings have not disappointed, with closer Edwin Díaz switching teams and coasts as he signed a three-year deal with the Dodgers and slugger Kyle Schwarber resigning an even larger contract […]
2 months ago | 7 reads
Last September, as you might remember, MLB had some issues with the Ballpark app being hacked. A number of people lost tickets as a result, though most were able to recover them. I wrote about this at the time and added: MLB didn’t ask me, but if they did I would also give them this […]
2 months ago | 3 reads
It’s the last day of MLB’s Winter Meetings, and that means the Rule 5 Draft. Last week, I wrote about some guys the Cubs might take in that draft. Given that there are only 31 players currently on the Cubs’ 40-man roster, I do expect them to take someone. They’ve done so in other years […]
2 months ago | 4 reads
Good morning.
2 months ago | 4 reads
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths. “Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire. Happy birthday, Paul Assenmacher*, the death of the spitball, and other stories. Today in baseball […]
2 months ago | 3 reads