Cubs Rumors & News

The Score "In this two-part series teeing up next week's (virtual) winter meetings, theScore's MLB editors identify 10 players who could be dealt in each league this offseason and rate their likelihood of being traded. Francisco Lindor, Indians, SS Remaining..." December 05

MLB.com "This is a free-agent market big on bodies but light on stars. And with so many teams feeling the financial pinch of the pandemic, it’s going to be especially important to find bang for your buck. We’re here to help with this team of bargain ballplayers who could prove to..." December 05

Bleacher Report "The Chicago Cubs pulled a surprise on Wednesday when they declined to tender a contract to slugger Kyle Schwarber for the 2021 season. As a result, he's now a free agent. Though every team now has a chance to sign him, we thought we'd narrow things down by..." December 04

CBS Sports "A baseball player saying thank you and/or goodbye to a fan base after being non-tendered -- essentially baseball's version of being cut or released -- isn't necessarily newsworthy. In the case of Kyle Schwarber and Cubs nation, however, there's a bit more than..." December 04

MLB Trade Rumors "The Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball have made center fielder Haruki Nishikawa available to Major League clubs through the NPB/MLB posting system, the Japan Times reports. Major League teams will now have a 30-day window to negotiate with the..." December 04

MLB.com "In a normal year, the baseball world would be preparing to head to the Winter Meetings next week. This, as has been said ad nauseam, has been anything but a normal year. While we won’t all be working the lobby in Dallas as rumors swirl, that doesn’t mean teams won’t..." December 04

Bleacher Report "Welcome to B/R's newest article series: the MLB 25 in '25 rankings! In the coming weeks, we'll take a crack at predicting who the 25 best players will be at each position in five years, during the 2025 season. Loyal readers will remember we did..." December 04

The Score "The Chicago Cubs are going to look, and sound, a lot different in 2021. Longtime TV play-by-play man Len Kasper will no longer call Cubs games after 16 seasons... " December 04

MLB.com "Over in the NBA, the Houston Rockets and Washington Wizards swung a cool trade on Wednesday when they swapped superstar point guards: Russell Westbrook for John Wall. So we thought ... why should the NBA have all the fun? Here are seven MLB trade proposals inspired by..." December 03

Bleacher Report "The MLB hot stove is slowly heating up. The Atlanta Braves grabbed two pitchers off the free-agent market in recent weeks, signing Charlie Morton and Drew Smyly to one-year deals. Right-hander Mike Minor rejoined the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, and the Royals..." December 03

MLB.com "Wednesday was a whirlwind day around Major League Baseball, as nearly 60 players were non-tendered ahead of the 8 p.m. ET deadline, sending them into an already crowded free-agent market. In the aftermath of a pandemic-impacted 2020 season, many industry insiders..." December 03

USA Today "It wasn’t the bloodbath players and agents feared, but the free-agent marketplace became overstuffed Wednesday, with power-hitting left fielders feeling the brunt of baseball’s economic crunch. There were a record 59 arbitration-eligible players..." December 03

Bleacher Report "Major League Baseball's winter meetings may only be happening in a virtual capacity this year, but there will surely still be a few trades during the proceedings. Let's predict, shall we? We've imagined one trade that each of MLB's 30 teams..." December 03

Larry Brown Sports "The Chicago Cubs on Wednesday made some big roster moves by non-tendering Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora among others. Schwarber is now a free agent, and it is possible the Cubs bring him back. But another team already being mentioned as a possibility for him are the New York..." December 03

The Score "Major League Baseball's deadline to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players has passed. Here, we take a look at the most surprising and intriguing players who are now free agents. One thing's for sure, the outfield market just got a lot more..." December 03

Bleacher Nation "The process of snagging fringe relief arms because they do one or two very interesting things, and then trying to remake them into a great bullpen piece, begins anew. The Cubs have had great success doing it the last two years, and I’m hopeful they can do it again for next..." December 03

Mets Merized Online "The Chicago Cubs’ widely-expected roster shake-up began on Wednesday afternoon with the non-tendering of outfielders Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora Jr., according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today Sports. Despite hitting 94 home runs over the course of three..." December 02

Sports Talk Philly "So far the Phillies Hot Stove has been rather quiet in this pandemic-ridden, uncertain offseason.   The first major rumor surrounding the Phillies might be a player on the way out, not on the way in.  According to mutliple reports, the Phillies are drawing trade interest in..." December 02

MLB.com "Though the trade market has been mostly quiet early in the offseason, with only a few minor deals having transpired since the Dodgers defeated the Rays in the World Series, recent history suggests that it shouldn’t be too long until a Top 100 prospect gets traded. Specifically,..." December 02

Bleacher Report "There is no MLB offseason trade chip more likely to be wearing a new uniform in 2021 than Lance Lynn. The Texas Rangers appear set to pivot to a rebuild after a disappointing 2020 season that began with legitimate hopes of playoff contention, and the front office has..." December 02

Bleacher Report "Though Major League Baseball free agents technically have their pick of all 30 teams, sometimes the best they can do is go home again. Out of the hundreds of free agents for the 2020-21 offseason, there are eight who we think are best off re-signing with their former..." December 02

MLB.com "Two-way player Oscar Luis Colas, who defected from Cuba in January, has been declared a free agent by his Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, a source told MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez on Wednesday. Colas will now petition for Major League Baseball free..." December 02

Yonhap News Agency "South Korean All-Star Kim Ha-seong's pursuit of his big league dreams has hit a snag before it began in earnest because of paperwork. Kim's club, Kiwoom Heroes, asked the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) last Wednesday to post the 25-year-old slugger for major league clubs...." December 01

USA Today "One day from now, the Chicago Cubs will decide whether to harvest that seventh season they essentially stole from Kris Bryant. One year from now, Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement will expire. It’s not hard to see how the first date is..." December 01

USA Today "The Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have come and gone, with three weeks remaining to grab free agents before the Christmas holiday. There were 186 free agents that hit the market after the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series, and a month later, there still are about 175 free..." December 01

CBS Sports "This Wednesday (Dec. 2) is an important date on the offseason calendar. It is the deadline for teams to tender their pre-arbitration and arbitration-eligible players a contract offer for next season. They don't have to sign their players before the deadline, but they do have to make an..." November 30

Yonhap News Agency "One of South Korea's premier sluggers will be knocking on the big league doors this winter. The NC Dinos announced Monday they've asked the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) to post outfielder Na Sung-bum for major league clubs. The next step is for the KBO to formally inform..." November 30

MLB.com "Major League Baseball, Prep Baseball Report (PBR), and five founding members today announced the formation of the MLB Draft League, which will become the first league in the country focused on top prospects who are eligible to be drafted by MLB Clubs that summer. With the 2021..." November 30

Bleacher Report "The New York Yankees paid a $20 million posting fee to sign Masahiro Tanaka away from the Rakuten Golden Eagles prior to his age-25 season in 2014 and then inked him to a seven-year, $155 million contract. All things considered, it was money well spent. Tanaka went 78-46..." November 30

Bleacher Nation "There are actually three separate things to get into there. First, let’s go with the tender. Were you betting on it, you’d probably peg Kris Bryant being tendered a contract by the Cubs on Wednesday as a 10-1 favorite. We’ve discussed the situation a great deal..." November 30

MSN.com "Yadier Molina has drawn the most headlines among catchers early in free agency, in part due to the willingness of both him and his agent to go on-record to discuss the veteran’s market. However, James McCann is drawing interest from a similar collection of teams, per MLB..." November 30

Chicago Tribune "Jed Hoyer, in one of his first duties as Chicago Cubs president, promoted 15 members of his baseball operations department — but is still looking for a general manager. Jeff Greenberg and Craig Breslow were both named assistant GMs, joining Randy Bush. Greenberg, who joined the..." November 30

MLB.com "When it comes to pulling off a trade, three is sometimes not a crowd but a necessity. While almost all deals involve two teams working out an exchange, sometimes the addition of a third brings some previously absent element into the mix that allows everyone to get what they want. It..." November 29

Yardbarker "The Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes will not pursue new contracts with infielder Addison Russell or right-hander Jake Brigham, the team announced (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). However, the Heroes are planning to try to re-sign southpaw Eric Jokisch, Kurtz..." November 29

Bleacher Report "The days of roaming a hotel lobby in search of baseball executives are on hold temporarily, much like many other things in 2020. Baseball's winter meetings will be held virtually this year, with the coronavirus pandemic preventing thousands of baseball industry executives, scouts,..." November 29

MLB.com "The goal of this game is to get home. Sometimes that ambition applies not only on the basepaths, but on the business side as well. Free agency is an opportunity for players and clubs to find a fit, and sometimes the best fit is one that’s been previously broken-in. Here are a..." November 29

MLB Trade Rumors "More than 200 MLB players are currently eligible for arbitration, meaning they are on a team’s 40-man roster and have enough service time to have their salaries determined through the longstanding backward-looking system.  At the low end, this includes players who qualify for Super..." November 29

MLB.com "With the release of the 2021 Hall of Fame ballot earlier this month, our thoughts turned to the institution of the Hall itself, and particularly this question: Are enough players being inducted? Or too many? What is the right number of players to have in the Hall,..." November 28

The Score "Welcome to Major League Baseball's offseason where nothing happens for months as teams play what looks like a perpetual game of chicken with free agents and each other. Compare this to the wild flurry of activity that came almost the moment the NBA kicked off free agency. This has..." November 27

MLB.com "This is the time of year for big meals ... and big deals? The only things more fun than real trades are fake trades, which is why we annually use this space to concoct swaps that -- hopefully unlike your Thanksgiving turkey -- are half-baked. But they’re stuffed with fodder for..." November 27

The Score "Some of the best baseball players who were denied the chance to play at the highest level might soon be able to finally call themselves big leaguers. Major League Baseball is considering granting major-league status to the Negro Leagues, which housed Black players for several decades..." November 26

CBS Sports "Happy Thanksgiving, fellow baseball enthusiasts! As the holiday name suggests, this is a day to be grateful for the good things that have happened and the good things that are still to come. Sports are often a secondary focus on this turkey-filled day, especially this year, but baseball is as..." November 25

Bleacher Report "There's a staggering drop-off behind National League Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer in this year's crop of free-agent starting pitchers, and that could mean a busier than usual offseason on the trade market. Another pitcher with a Cy Young on his mantle is reportedly..." November 25

MLB.com "Free agent season is upon us! It will be unlike any other, which makes sense, following a season unlike any other. You can’t expect things to start getting normal now. For the next few weeks, we’ll be taking regular looks at the top free agents, their top suitors..." November 25

McCovey Chronicles "The San Francisco Giants have made no secret about their plans to upgrade a starting rotation that finished 15th in Wins Above Replacement (per Fangraphs) and ninth in FIP in 2020. Re-signing Kevin Gausman was a strong start, though losing Drew Smyly in free agency was..." November 24

Yonhap News Agency " South Korean All-Star shortstop Kim Ha-seong will be made available for interested major league clubs this week via posting. The Kiwoom Heroes of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said Tuesday that they will ask the league office to post Kim for Major League Baseball (MLB)..." November 24

MLB.com "There’s no doubt that signing a reliever to a big-money deal is a risky move, given the volatile nature of the position. But that doesn’t mean some relievers aren’t worth the risk. Take Liam Hendriks, for instance. The 31-year-old is a free agent at a time when..." November 24

The Score "A hot stove season that's been slow to warm up thus far was rocked to life Monday with a report the Tampa Bay Rays are open to trading ace Blake Snell. Outside of Trevor Bauer in free agency, Snell is now likely the best pitcher available this winter. The Rays will..." November 24

The Score "Two stars from Japan's Nippon Pro Baseball will be posted for Major League Baseball teams this offseason. The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters plan to post right-hander Kohei Arihara, a source confirmed to Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Fighters outfielder Haruki Nishikawa will..." November 24

The Score "The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs discussed a deal involving star third baseman Kris Bryant during the summer, sources told Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune. However, talks between the two clubs faded before a trade materialized, according to..." November 23