Cubs to give Sandberg statue, not ready to reunite with Sosa

The Chicago Cubs plan to honor Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg with a statue outside Wrigley Field and put him in an exclusive club that includes Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins and Harry Caray.

When it comes to Sammy Sosa, however, nothing has changed. They’re not ready for a reunion.

Chairman Tom Ricketts surprised Sandberg with the announcement that the statue “is in progress” during a question-and-answer session with fans, drawing a standing ovation in a crowded ballroom.

They weren’t as happy when he told them there has been no progress toward welcoming back Sosa. Ricketts said he remains hopeful a reunion will happen and insisted: “I don’t think the final chapter has been written on this.”

The Cubs are scripting another chapter with Sandberg by giving him a statue that President of Business Operations Crane Kenney said will be unveiled in 2024. The slugging and slick-fielding second baseman could not be happier.

Report: Trey Mancini, Cubs agree to 2-year deal

Mancini, a cancer survivor, helped the Houston Astros win the World Series last season after arriving Aug. 1 from Baltimore in a three-team trade that included Tampa Bay.

He struggled at the plate with Houston and finished the season batting .239 with 18 home runs, 63 RBIs and a .710 OPS overall for the Orioles and Astros.

Mancini, who turns 31 in March, brings a right-handed bat with power and could be a primary option at designated hitter for the Cubs. He plays first base and the corner outfield spots, also giving Chicago a potential platoon partner for new first baseman Eric Hosmer, a left-handed hitter.

Cub news- Trey Mancini gets two years $14 million guarantee.Bonuses can add another $7 million from PA totals. Mancini can opt out if he gets 350 PA in 2023.

— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 15, 2023

Cubs bring in veteran Hosmer on one-year deal, sources say

The Chicago Cubs filled a need at first base and designated hitter, giving free agent Eric Hosmer a one-year contract, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN on Wednesday.

Chicago will only have to pay Hosmer the minimum salary, according to the source, as he still has three years and $39 million left on a contract he signed with the San Diego Padres back in 2018. He was traded from the Padres to the Boston Red Sox last season, not long after San Diego acquired Juan Soto from the Washington Nationals. Hosmer was released by the Red Sox at the end of the year.

Hosmer, 33, has a career .764 OPS while spending his best seasons with the Kansas City Royals who he helped to a World Series title in 2015. Two years later, he signed an 8-year, $144 million deal with San Diego which runs through 2025. The Padres are paying most of that remaining salary.

Cubs, Drew Smyly near deal for 2023 season, sources say

The Chicago Cubs are closing in on an agreement with left-handed pitcher Drew Smyly, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN on Sunday.

Smyly, 33, made 22 starts last season for Chicago, pitching well in the second half after dealing with an oblique strain in late May. For the season, he was 7-8 with a 3.47 ERA, which included a 0.90 ERA over five stellar starts in August.

The nine-year veteran will rejoin a rotation that includes Marcus Stroman, newcomer Jameson Taillon and youngster Justin Steele. The Cubs also have Keegan Thompson and Adrian Sampson available to start along with holdover Kyle Hendricks, who is recovering from a shoulder ailment.

Report: Cubs land Swanson on 7-year, $177M deal | theScore.com

The Chicago Cubs and All-Star shortstop Dansby Swanson agreed to a seven-year, $177-million contract, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

Swanson’s pact includes a no-trade clause and has no opt-outs, per Sherman.

Matt Mervis Fantasy Baseball Breakdown | Pitcher List

Chris Clegg with some data on Matt Mervis.

Long-time Cubs’ radio voice Pat Hughes receives Baseball Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award

Following his 40th season as a MLB announcer, long-time Chicago Cubs‘ radio voice Pat Hughes has received one of the highest levels of recognition in the profession. That would be the Baseball Hall of Fame‘s Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting. The Hall announced that decision Wednesday:

This pick came after the Hall of Fame announced the 10 finalists in October. The other finalists were Dave Campbell, Joe Castiglione, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Jerry Howarth, Ernie Johnson, Duane Kuiper, and Steve Stone.

Sources: Cubs, Jameson Taillon agree to 4-year, $68M deal

The Chicago Cubs bolstered their starting rotation Tuesday night, reaching an agreement with free agent pitcher Jameson Taillon on a four-year, $68 million deal, sources told ESPN.

Taillon, 31, was among the top pitchers remaining in free agency and is the latest big acquisition for the Cubs, who earlier Tuesday reached a one-year, $17.5 million agreement with slugger Cody Bellinger, sources told Passan.

Taillon is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, going 14-5 with a 3.91 ERA and striking out 151 in 171⅓ innings for the New York Yankees.

A hard-throwing right-hander, he has bounced back since arriving in the Bronx in a January 2021 trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, returning to form after making just seven starts in 2019 and missing all of 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Former MVP Bellinger agrees to deal with Cubs

Former NL MVP Award winner Cody Bellinger has agreed to a one-year, $17.5 million deal with the Cubs, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Tuesday night. The club has not confirmed the move.

Bellinger put together a remarkable 2019 season for the Dodgers en route to being named the National League MVP—but he’s struggled in the three seasons since. After hitting .305 with a 1.035 OPS and 47 home runs in his MVP-winning campaign, Bellinger has hit just .203 with a .648 OPS and 41 homers in the past three years combined.

The 27-year-old Bellinger showed some flashes of his past success in 2022, racking up 19 home runs and 14 stolen bases. He also recorded seven Outs Above Average as the everyday center fielder for a Dodgers team that won an MLB-high 111 games. Bellinger’s seven OAA were tied for the third most by any NL center fielder.

Cubs need to go big at Winter Meetings or go home

Bad enough the Rickettses’ iconic, mega-revenue team has undergone a multiyear, tanking rebuild for the second time in a decade — jettisoning All-Star, World-Series-winning, fan favorites Anthony Rizzo, Javy Báez, Kris Bryant and Willson Contreras in the last 18 months alone.

But they’ve squandered so much credibility in the process they have a sales pitch on their hands just trying to convince free agent targets they plan to win.

Whether that means they might have to “overpay” to land the kinds of players they need, there’s already strong enough demand in the market this winter to suggest the top free agents might get more than some people projected at the outset.

Jacob deGrom, for instance, got an additional two years of guaranteed commitment from the Rangers than others reportedly offered to land the best pitcher in the game — when healthy — for five and $185 million. Despite a combined 38 starts (224.1 innings) the last three years combined. And then came Turner’s deal.

The time is now, this week, for the Cubs. To get one of the big shortstops left. And a significant starting pitcher. And more.

Because if the Cubs don’t use that slashed payroll money they’ve banked since the 2020 pandemic season now that they’ve stripped the roster down to Marcus Stroman and a half-dozen other proven big-leaguers, then what was the point? Or, more aptly, how do they justify it? Because we know what the point wa$.

LONDON SERIES 2023: Ticket News Announcement – Bat Flips and Nerds

The games are June 24th and 25th. Cards vs. Cubs. Now I just need to get my wife to sign off on a trip to London.

Drum roll… we have ticket sales dates for the 2023 games.

Pre-registered sales: 10:00 am, Wednesday 30th November
General sales: 10:00 am, Tuesday 6th December
Time is running out to register with MLB to get pre-sales access. Click on the link below. Don’t miss out.

Cubs Release Jason Heyward

The Cubs announced Monday that outfielder Jason Heyward has officially been granted his unconditional release. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer announced in August that the team would release Heyward in the offseason. Heyward is still owed $22MM next year under the terms of his eight-year, $184MM contract, which covered the 2016-23 seasons.

After a lengthy rebuild where the Cubs finished last in the NL Central for five straight years from 2010 to 2014, they finally turned the corner in 2015. Their 97 victories only resulted in a third place finish in the NL Central and a Wild Card berth, though they were able to defeat the two teams that finished ahead of them in the postseason, getting by the Pirates in the WC game and then the Cardinals in the NLDS. They were then swept by the Mets in the NLCS but it was clear that the rebuild was over and it was time to contend.

Josh Bell, Cody Belliger and other Cubs buzz from GM Meetings - NBC Sports Chicago

Centerfield
Hoyer said this week he expects most of next year’s center field innings to be handled by somebody he’ll add to the roster this winter.

“Certainly with [Alexander] Canario’s injury and Brennen [Davis’] setback, it made that just that much more obvious,” Hoyer said of Canario’s long-term ankle and shoulder injuries suffered two weeks ago in winter ball and Davis’ stress reaction in his surgically repaired back experienced during Arizona Fall League. They are the Cubs’ top two Triple-A outfield prospects.

Problem with the external solution: There aren’t many available outfielders who fit the bill. And when it comes to bills, you can forget the top two guys out there: megastar, soon-to-be-megabucks recipient Aaron Judge and the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo, who looks like a candidate to get overpaid based on his recent numbers, league-wide need and scarcity.

But three-time Gold Glove centerfielder Kevin Kiermeier, who had his 2023 option declined by the Rays, and Bellinger are both on the Cubs’ radar, according to sources.

Kiermeier, who turns 33 in April, didn’t play the second half in 2022 because of a hip injury, and likely will be available on a modest, short-term commitment.

Bellinger, the lefty hitter who has made most of his career starts in center (and second-most at first), has been a significantly below-average offensive performer the last two years after shoulder surgery, which could make him — at age 27 — a candidate for one of agent Scott Boras’ one-year, “pillow” contracts to prove his value for next year’s free agency.

“He can play Gold Glove first base and center field,” Boras said. “It’s really about getting his strength back so he can repeat his skill level.”

Why Cubs might be early favorite for Japanese star Koudai Senga - NBC Sports Chicago

Wolfe, who also represents Yu Darvish, the former Japanese star and Cubs Cy Young runner-up, sees the Cubs as a natural fit for his latest client, who — unlike Suzuki a year ago — is not tied to posting fee because the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks held onto him until their club control expired.

And NBC Sports Chicago’s Dave Kaplan has reported the Cubs are “very interested” in Senga.

Cubs president Jed Hoyer planning more ‘intelligent spending’

Speaking for the first time since Chicago completed its second straight losing season, Hoyer talked Monday about building on the team’s 40-31 finish. But the Cubs’ president of baseball operations also returned to the ambiguous concept of “intelligent spending”—which could price the big-market club out of the massive contracts at the top end of the free agent market.

“We want to build something lasting and we want to build something that we’re proud of for a long time,” Hoyer said, “and I think that you can get caught up in our game in transactions that feel really good in the short term and don’t make long-term sense. So those are the ones we’ll avoid.

“But we do want to be aggressive to capture that momentum, to fill the holes on the team that we know we have.”

While Hoyer left himself miles of wiggle room when it comes to the team’s offseason plans, he did confirm the club would make a qualifying offer to Willson Contreras. The All-Star catcher, who helped the Cubs win the World Series in 2016, is eligible for free agency.

IT’S THE CUBS’ WORLD NOW

Not to spoil the ending, but:

But the Cardinals aren’t doomed. They still have a solid lineup, a solid rotation and a solid bullpen, and you’d have to think they’ll add somebody. But for years, some fans have claimed, wrongly, that Cardinals-Cubs isn’t a real rivalry because the Cards have always been so much better than the Cubs. This, not coincidentally, is the same thing Yankees fans used to say about the Red Sox, before Epstein took over there as well. Now, some have said, in the wake of the Cubs’ signing of Heyward, that this ratchets up the rivalry.

But if anything, I believe it dampens it. Even before Friday, the Cubs were a better team than the Cardinals in just about every way. Now that the Cubs took the Cardinals’ best player, the gap between these teams have widened. If anyone needs to prove this is a rivalry, it’s the fading Cardinals.

Fergie Jenkins still emotionally invested in Cubs, keeping an eye on Epstein

Clumsy.

Ferguson Jenkins takes a wait-and-see attitude towards Theo Epstein’s appointment as president of baseball operations of the Chicago Cubs.

...The Cubs hired Epstein in October. Jenkins is holding off on giving Epstein his full endorsement.

“I really don’t know what to take of him yet,” Jenkins said Thursday in Calgary. “I tried to get a meeting with him and he was really busy.

“He’s young. He’s never put a jockstrap on though. See that’s the thing. I tell people all the time ‘this guy reads about the game and has seen it on TV or in stadiums,’ but he’s a pretty smart individual. He knows talent and that’s what it’s all about.

“People sit back and say ‘you know he never played’ but he watches and recognizes what individuals can do what and where they can play.”

RLYW: Salvaging a Sunken cost

Burnett projects to have an RA of 5.03 in CAIRO.  The following possible starting pitchers project better than that.

CC Sabathia (3.57)
Michael Pineda (4.37)
Freddy Garcia (4.55)
Brad Meyers (4.56)
Hiroki Kuroda (4.57)
Phil Hughes (4.63)
Ivan Nova (4.93)
...

If that’s true, then every start that goes to Burnett is a start that should be going to one of the above.

...

Unfortunately, since Burnett is owed $33 million over the next two years, the Yankees probably feel obligated to try and get some value out of him.

I don’t think they can do that by pitching him…. trading Burnett’s bad contract to another team for their bad contract might be a way to recoup some of that value.

Cubs installing 70-foot digital scoreboard at Wrigley Field

Pitch count of 3,665?  Dusty is back??

From CSNChicago.com’s Jake Flannigan comes the below mockup of a 70-foot LED scoreboard that will be installed in right field at baseball’s second-oldest stadium. Construction will be completed this spring.

Above the new scoreboard you’ll see something called the “Budweiser Patio.” It will contain 150 all-inclusive seats (not bleachers), and is also going in before the start of the season.

MLB Trade Rumors: Bartolo Colon Agrees to Sign With Unknown Team

Bartolo Colon has agreed to a deal with an unknown club reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (on Twitter). The right-hander wouldn’t divulge the team because he has not yet passed his physical.

Pretty sure it’s either the All-Stars or the Champs.

Cubs Agree To Contract With Kerry Wood

Wood: “I Feel Like Playing”

The Cubs and veteran reliever Kerry Wood have agreed to a one-year contract that also includes an option for 2013.  The contract will pay Wood $3MM next season, according to Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter).

MLB: Cubs front office calls on Bloomberg Sports

I knew he’d miss Bill James…

The Cubs are using every potential avenue to improve their club. Chicago announced Thursday that it will partner with Bloomberg Sports—a company already allied with MLB.com for fantasy baseball—to design a new player evaluation system for the team’s baseball operations department.

The player evaluation system is expected to combine video with an extensive database on all professional players, and it will also include customized technology to assist the evaluation process. The Cubs will be able to access their system via laptop and will have mobile capability, and the two sides will begin development and implementation of the program immediately.

“We are excited to partner with Bloomberg Sports and benefit from their world-renowned expertise in analytics and information management,” said Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. “The management and analysis of data—whether it be scouting reports, statistics, medical information or video—is a critical component of our operation.

“We look forward to developing a customized program that utilizes the most advanced and efficient technology available in the marketplace today to facilitate quicker, easier and more accurate access to all the sources of information we use to make baseball decisions.”

Cubs sign Paul Maholm, reports Paul Maholm

It’s otherwise unconfirmed, but it seems like you should only need the one source when it’s actually the guy himself.

Just wanna say thank u to everyone that has cheered for me during my career as a Pirate. I loved my last six plus years in the city.

I hope to get to continue some things when I visit during the year and start some great things as I start my Cubs career.

Cubs acquire Rizzo in trade with Padres

Theo: You’re looking good, Riz.
Rizzo: Eat your heart out.
Theo: And sloppy seconds are my style!

The Cubs acquired first baseman Anthony Rizzo and right-hander Zach Cates from the Padres on Friday, sending right-hander Andrew Cashner and outfielder Kyung-Min Na to San Diego.

The 22-year-old Rizzo batted .331 with a 1.056 OPS, 34 doubles, 26 homers and 101 RBIs in 93 games for Triple-A Tucson last year… Rated the top first-base prospect in the league by MLB.com, Rizzo struggled during his brief time in the Majors last season batting .141 with one home run and nine RBIs in 49 games…

Cates, 22… made his professional debut last year, posting a 4-10 record and 4.73 ERA in 118 innings over 25 starts for Class A Fort Wayne. He struck out nearly a batter an inning and allowed only four home runs on the year.

Cashner, 25, went 2-6 with a 4.29 ERA in 60 big league appearances with the Cubs, including one start, over the last two years….he was limited to just seven outings in the Majors last season due to a right shoulder strain.

Na, 20, hit .268 with 10 doubles and 22 RBIs in 83 games between four different teams in the Cubs’ Minor League system last year.

Robothal: Big Z Headed to Miami

What could possibly go wrong?

The Marlins, seeking to make another offseason splash, are close to acquiring Cubs right-hander Carlos Zambrano, according to major-league sources.
...
Zambrano is owed $18 million in the final year of his contract. The Cubs likely will pay most of that sum to purge Big Z, whom they placed on the restricted list in 2010 and disqualified list in ’11 due to issues with his temperament.