ESPN insider Jeff Passan believes that one more big signing is coming for the Chicago Cubs. I’ll be honest here folks, I am starting to get annoyed by all these “updates.” It’s been really crummy that the MLB free agent market has moved at the pace it has, but it has opened the door for the Cubs to potentially come out with at least another impact move.
After the mega deals signed by Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, fans have turned their attention to the Boras four. Taking a look at MLB Trade Rumors top-50 free agents, super agent Scott Boras still has 4 of the top 7 free agents unsigned. There seems to be a league-wide staring contest between Boras and front office officials because despite the fact that pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training next week, there has been very little traction between those four free agents in contract talks with any team.
That being said, Passan joined the Waddle and Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 Wednesday afternoon and was obviously asked about Cody Bellinger. Most MLB analysts have been writing about how league execs think a Cubs and Bellinger reunion is the most likely outcome this offseason.
However, Passan wasn’t leaning too strong on that narrative and for now he thinks the Toronto Blue Jays are the team to keep an eye on when it comes to Bellinger. His main reasoning is that the Blue Jays are entering the final stages of their competitive window with a couple of their star players approaching free agency and that will make Toronto more desperate to sign Bellinger.
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That doesn’t mean Passan thinks the Cubs are done though.
Here’s Passan specifically saying he thinks the Cubs will sign one of the four Boras free agents and although he believes the Blue Jays will be more desperate for Bellinger, he also echoed what we’ve been hearing since November. The Cubs don’t want to pay more than $200 million and do a longterm deal, but if the price comes down for Bellinger, then a reunion in Chicago becomes a realistic possibility.
And to be clear, when Passan brings up the 4 Boras guys, he is talking about Bellinger, third baseman Matt Chapman, and left-handed starting pitchers Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell. That’s what really stood out to me because yeah, obviously the focus is on Bellinger and maybe Chapman at third base, but Passan not ruling out the Cubs for one of those two starting pitchers is definitely intriguing.
Looking at the current starting depth you may think that they don’t need another starting pitcher, but if the long wait for Snell and Montgomery ends up hurting their negotiations and a shorter deal becomes available, then you know Jed Hoyer would jump all over that. Plus, the Cubs could then make another move, maybe a trade from their starting pitcher group to help another area of need on the roster.
You can listen to the entire Passan segment on ESPN 1000 here.
So, if it were up to you, who would you want the Cubs to sign: Bellinger, Chapman, Snell or Montgomery?
