There’s no guarantee the Chicago Cubs are going to sign Manny Machado or Bryce Harper in free agency, but if you ever had a doubt the Cubs are going to be in the mix Tom Ricketts is here to get you excited.
Whenever a Cubs fan brings up the chance of Machado or Harper coming to the North Side next year they’re almost always met with, “where’s the money coming from, no way the Cubs can afford them.” Well, in a recent article by Gordon Wittenmyer in the Chicago Sun-Times, Ricketts pretty much says he’ll open up the check book as long as Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer believe it’s a good move.
Via the Chicago Sun-Times.
Perhaps just as important, Cubs ownership seems to be on board with the front office getting aggressive, especially in a competitive window of opportunity that might have less than four years left.
When asked how aggressive ownership should be in such a pursuit, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts suggested the family will be as aggressive as president Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer want to be.
‘‘We leave all the baseball decisions up to the baseball guys,’’ Ricketts told the Sun-Times a few days ago. ‘‘To the extent there’s a window where they want to sign more guys or not sign more guys, that’s their decision.’’
Sweet!
And yes, the Cubs will want to sign one of the two star players in free agency that are in their mid-20s.
The recent rumors have the Cubs as one of the teams who could possibly trade for Machado, as the Baltimore Orioles are a complete disaster and have to get something for him. They’re not alone, though, and besides Addison Russell don’t have the big-name players or prospects to trade as they’ve had in previous years.
I can sit here and pretend to know what a trade could be for Machado, but no one has a clear idea how much the Orioles are asking for. They’re complete wild cards, who will try to rob someone, but right now even with the struggles the Cubs aren’t desperate for Machado.
Plus, the bigger point here is Ricketts won’t be shy about writing another big check in the offseason. It’s going to be big too, as early estimates have Machado at about $300 million. Harper in the same range.
If you go by their recent track record, the Cubs have gotten their guy most of the time. They got Jon Lester before 2015, then landed Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist before 2016. This past offseason the front office made it clear that Yu Darvish was their number one target and they got him too.
So, whether it’s Machado or Harper, as a Cubs fan you have to feel pretty good about their chances to be right in the mix for one of them.
