Cubs Rumors & News

Bleacher Report "The money spent on free agents the past two offseasons is a great indication of how much high-end talent there is across baseball at the shortstop position right now, with Javier Báez, Xander Bogaerts, Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Dansby Swanson and Trea Turner all securing..." February 07

The Athletic "Aaron Judge’s decision to remain with the Yankees and Carlos Correa’s prolonged free-agency saga got most of the hot-stove ink, but seasons are often won and lost with winter transactions that don’t grab much attention. For instance: Many..." February 07

The Athletic "Another MLB season is almost here, and despite the many changes to the game this year — from new rules to a new schedule — 30 teams from six divisions will take the field on Opening Day, as they have for 25 years. But make no mistake, expansion is..." February 07

CBS Sports "As things stand, there are zero agents in the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's likely to remain that way for a long time, if not forever. If there ever is a breakthrough, though, the first agent inducted into the Hall of Fame should be an easy pick: Scott Boras.  No, you don't..." February 07

Bleacher Report "Dr. Frankenstein has his laboratory, and we have ours. The only difference is that ours is strictly for cooking up trade proposals during times when there's not a whole lot happening with Major League Baseball's news cycle. In other words, right now. Our latest round..." February 06

MLB.com "There were plenty of teams other than the Astros -- who won the World Series, after all -- that were happy with how their 2022 season went. The National League champion Phillies, surely; the Mets and Braves each won 101 games; and the Cardinals had a nostalgia party essentially every night out...." February 06

The Athletic "With spring training upon us once again, it’s time to dust off the old calculator, find that scoring system we stole from The Athletic NFL writer Bob Sturm and crank out another edition of the tested, trusted, completely objective, never-been-questioned, all-math,..." February 06

The Athletic "A flood of new umpires will patrol games this season with 10 rookies replacing retiring veterans across Major League Baseball, MLB vice president Michael Hill said last month. It will be the big leagues’ largest first-year class of umps in more than 20 years. The newbies,..." February 06

Bleacher Report "While there is no shortage of established power hitters around MLB, there is always a new crop of sluggers poised to join the ranks of baseball's home run elite. Guys such as Christian Walker (36 HR), Rowdy Tellez (35 HR), Anthony Santander (33 HR), Corey Seager (33 HR) and Willy..." February 04

Bleacher Report "When Aaron Judge signed his massive $360 million contract this past December—and when Shohei Ohtani signs an even bigger one next winter—there was/will be arguments about whether the price was too high, too low or just right. But to decide whether a player lives up to the..." February 03

New York Post "Pitchers and catchers report within two weeks, and as usual there are plenty of enticing storylines.   1. Will the Angels try to extend Shohei Ohtani, and do they have any chance? They want to try, and have two things going for them: 1)..." February 03

The Athletic "Optimism is a spring tradition, and it increasingly seems like this column is as well. The allure of dreaming of better days for those players who suffered through a poor 2022 is just something that resonates with anyone who has struggled before, especially right before pitchers and catchers..." February 03

WGR 550 Sports Radio "Major League Baseball can’t decide what kind of baseball it wants to use, and Rich Hill is getting fed up with it. Certainly, he’s not alone. The league reportedly used three different types of baseballs last season. That comes after two different..." February 03

The Athletic "So … did you see the new 2023 schedule that Major League Baseball unveiled this week? Well, if you did, perhaps you’re wondering … Why would the Giants be spending Opening Day in New York … for the first time since 1956 …..." February 03

Bleacher Report "Welcome once again to Bleacher Report's series of the 25 greatest players at each position in modern MLB history. Up next, the first basemen. The first step in this exercise was to decide what "modern" means for the sake of this discussion, and we settled on everything..." February 03

NBC Sports Chicago "After a strong campaign with the Cubs in 2022, right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. has agreed to a minor-league deal with the North Siders, according to a report from Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Leiter Jr., who will be 32 by Opening Day, put up a solid season in 2022..." February 03

Bleacher Report "Baseball fans everywhere are on the edge of their seats for spring training to begin, especially with just one football game left to pass the time. Yet we're already looking ahead at the big names who could be available by the trade deadline this year. Free agency was..." February 02

ESPN "It's out! ESPN MLB draft and prospect expert Kiley McDaniel ranked his top 100 MLB prospects for 2023 this week, and now, it's time to have some fun with it. We asked our MLB experts to give us one bold 2023 prediction for the top-100 prospect they are most excited..." February 02

CBS Sports "Last week, the Houston Astros hired former Atlanta Braves executive Dana Brown as their new general manager. Brown's appointment completed a lengthy search, one that began shortly after the Astros won the World Series, and served as a good reminder that though the..." February 02

MLB.com "Two days after the cover athlete for MLB The Show '23 was revealed, the cover athlete for a special collector's edition of the video game was announced live on "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday. Marlins star second baseman/center..." February 02

The Score "Major-league players can already boast of a record contract haul this offseason. Teams have spent $3.65 billion on free agents so far, surpassing the $3.14 billion spent on the open market last winter - the first time the $3-billion mark was exceeded. While MLB revenues hit..." February 01

Bleacher Report "Major League Baseball wasn't exactly feeling the need for speed as stolen bases plummeted in the first 23 seasons of the 21st century, but that's about to change this year courtesy of new rules that will introduce larger bases, a pitch timer and limits on pickoff..." February 01

Bleacher Report "As another long, cold winter starts to thaw, we're just a couple of weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training in sunny Arizona and Florida. With the bulk of the offseason's free-agency and trade moves in the rearview, it's the perfect time for..." February 01

ESPN "The MLB trade deadline is still six months away, but it's never too early to start discussing who might be on the move, right? So, let's pull out the old crystal ball and come up with a trade candidate from each team. Even though most trades at the deadline involve minor..." January 31

The Athletic "The Athletic’s baseball staff was tasked with assigning a letter grade to each team’s offseason. The average mark was a B-minus, an indication that the staff isn’t necessarily populated with overly tough graders. That said, there were a few outliers, ranging from a trio of..." January 31

ESPN "Left field was a major problem area for the New York Yankees in 2022 -- just ask any Yankees fan -- and, heading into 2023, not much has changed. Last season, Aaron Hicks largely manned the position, leading the team with 46 starts in left field, but the team tried..." January 30

Bleacher Report "A new Major League Baseball season is on the way, and more than a few players around the league are hoping that it will be a more pleasant experience than the last one. For our part, we want to look at 10 who can make bounce-back seasons happen in 2023. This kind of exercise..." January 30

The Athletic "The reported extensions of the Mets’ Jeff McNeil and Rays’ Yandy Díaz are worth a combined $74 million. The Rockies’ Ryan McMahon, when he was in the exact same service class as McNeil and Díaz nearly a year ago, got $70..." January 30

Bleacher Report "The most painful thing anyone can experience, save for maybe a paper cut, is the bite of a Major League Baseball trade gone wrong. Need examples? We got 'em. We've recalled 15 trades—some of which we've lumped together for [waves hands] reasons—from..." January 29

ESPN "We're calling these lineup rankings "way-too-early" -- and while that might well be true, maybe it's not. At this point of the winter, teams across MLB have largely completed their heavy lifting. We do still have a few free agents out there and some trades have continued to..." January 27

The Score "Every offseason, MLB teams hand out lucrative, long-term contracts with the hope that players can replicate their past success well into the future. There have been a staggering number of megadeals handed out this winter and a few other head-scratchers that could leave clubs in trouble in the..." January 27

Bleacher Report "With the top of MLB's free-agency market settled, some notable players remain unsigned. Spring training is around the corner, and while most teams know what they are working with, some of them could use these free agents still on the market. This may have been the plan..." January 26

Clutch Points "The 2022-23 MLB free agency period has been as busy as could be. We saw the best shortstop market ever, with the likes of Dansby Swanson, Xander Bogaerts, and Trea Turner all finding new homes. Carlos Correa looked to be on his way out of Minnesota as well, but after two concerning..." January 26

The Athletic "It has been a while since Cubs fans were truly satisfied after an offseason of work. Since the addition of Yu Darvish, which came early in the spring of 2018, it was nearly four years before the Cubs once again dipped into free agency and came away with what one would describe as..." January 26

CBS Sports "The 2022-23 MLB offseason will be remembered as the winter free agency became exciting again. A record $3.8 billion has been committed to free agents thus far, among that two 11-year contracts (Xander Bogaerts and Trea Turner) and one nine-year contract (Aaron Judge). That doesn't..." January 26

The Score "Every fan wants their team to sign the top free agent in the winter, but there's only one Aaron Judge. The fact is, there are a bunch of lower profile players who can also help a team win, and while they don't get the headlines of the New York Yankees retaining their record-breaking..." January 26

The Athletic "This offseason has been filled with record-breaking signings but relatively few trades as player evaluation has become more similar from team to team thanks to sophisticated analytics and algorithms. There were still some terrific trades made this winter, highlighted by the three-team deal in..." January 26

USA Today "2000 National League MVP Jeff Kent is speaking out against Baseball Hall of Fame voting after he failed to make it to Cooperstown in his 10th and final year on the writer's ballot. "The voting over the years has been too much of a head-scratching..." January 26

The Score "Cody Bellinger said he's excited to see the impact of Major League Baseball's new shift restrictions in action once the 2023 season gets underway. "It just opens up a completely different part of the game," one of the newest Chicago Cubs additions said..." January 26

NBC Chicago "The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a minor-league deal with free agent catcher Luis Torrens, according to a report from Ángel Daniel Conde T of the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League’s Navegantes del Magallanes. Torrens, who will turn 27 in May, has..." January 26

Bleacher Nation "Per the Chicago Cubs transaction wire tonight, relievers Anthony Kay and Manny Rodriguez were each outrighted to Triple-A Iowa. That means each, who’d previously been designated for assignment to open up a 40-man roster spot, was placed on waivers and went unclaimed. Thus, they..." January 25

The Athletic "After David Ortiz was elected to the Hall of Fame a year ago, the debate started as to whether anyone would be elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 2023. Looking ahead to 2024, the question is not “if,” but “how many?” Luckily for those..." January 25

Bleacher Report "The results of the voting for baseball's 2023 Hall of Fame class won't be announced until Tuesday evening, but it's not too soon to have bones to pick. Because based on how things are looking right now, some guys deserve better. It would be impossible to know..." January 24

CBS Sports "The mind can wander. For the past six weeks or so, I've been pretty focused on the current Hall of Fame ballot. In the course of deep dives, my mind will wander to current players. On the downside, it causes procrastination from the task at hand, but the upside is huge because it's..." January 24

Sportsnaut "Major League Baseball suffered massive financial losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, cutting player salaries by more than half and only playing a 60-game regular season. Just two years later, baseball is spending more money than ever before. The salaries for..." January 24

CBS Sports "Holloway underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery in August of 2022, so it's unclear whether he's returned to full strength at this time. However, he'll have a chance to battle for a spot on the Opening Day roster once healthy. Holloway figures to compete for a spot in..." January 24

Bleacher Report "Out of the new rules that will take effect during the 2023 Major League Baseball season, arguably the most welcome is the ban on defensive shifts. Though, to be sure, it depends on who you ask. The new regulations will require teams to have all four infielders..." January 23

MLB.com "Injuries are an unfortunate part of baseball, even for some of the game’s best players. There are more than a few players who would likely have plaques in Cooperstown right now if they experienced better health during their careers. Injuries have taken a toll on some..." January 23

MLB Trade Rumors "This offseason’s crop of free agents featured a clear top four in the shortstop category. Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson were all highly sought after and all ended up securing deals well into nine-figure territory. There was a..." January 23

Baltimore Sun "Among the most significant questions facing the Orioles’ rotation as the 2023 season nears is how many innings they’ll get out of arguably their most talented pitchers. The team itself is without an answer less than a month until pitchers and catchers report to Sarasota, Florida,..." January 23