The Winter Meetings start tomorrow, and boy would it be nice if the Chicago Cubs already had a worthwhile signing in their back pocket by then. I’m not asking for a shortstop TODAY, but how about a catcher? A mid-rotation arm? A center fielder? Some other bat?
Things are very quiet, still, on the Cubs-specific front, though. So if something does happen today, it might be coming out of nowhere. Maybe just lock down Christian Vazquez?
Elsewhere around baseball …
- Although I don’t see the Cubs and Pirates matching up on a trade right now within the division, Bryan Reynolds being available in the outfield pool could help the Cubs’ own pursuits in center field:
- Reynolds, 27, is a switch-hitting center fielder who has posted a combined .281/.361/.481/126 wRC+ slash line in the big leagues. He’s also got three years of team control remaining, so if the Pirates accede to his request, they’re going to get a ton for him. Maybe the Cubs could and should try to seal the deal on a guy like Cody Bellinger while the market gets all hot and bothered about Reynolds’ availability.
- Reynolds will DEFINITELY be seen as competition on the market for Brandon Nimmo, by the way.
- UPDATE: From the Pirates, who say Reynolds’ request will have zero impact on their offseason:
- I don’t think there’s much there, to be honest. Not like the Pirates are going to tell the world that they want to trade him, and the mention of three years of control is the tell. “You want him? You’re gonna have to knock us over with an offer to get us to consider it, because we have plenty of time.”
- The Cubs were mentioned on Jameson Taillon previously, but I have a hard time seeing them go way over the rumored four years and $56 million, because I presume that’s now what his price tag is going to top:
- Speaking of price tags going up, Joel Sherman is guessing 9 years and $342 million for Aaron Judge, and I’m thinking in this market there’s no reason to believe that’s too high:
- And speaking again of price tags, I’ll be curious to see the value on this one, given how bad Gibson was last year (but given how much bounce-back veteran starters have been getting on one-year deals):
- After trading Kolten Wong to the Mariners, Bob Nightengale says the Brewers are now done selling:
- We’ll see if that holds, as it would be a bit silly for the Brewers to say anything else. I imagine they are still listening on all three of those guys.
- I did not see this segment and I haven’t found a clip yet, but this seems impossibly low now that we have seen what the market is doing:
- At 5/$120M, Rodon should be an OBVIOUS yes for about 15 teams, so that tells me it’s just way too low. With deGrom – much older and even more injured – getting five years, it’s not at all hard for me to see Rodon getting six years (albeit at a much lower AAV, because deGrom is deGrom). Two months ago, six years and $180 million would’ve shocked me. Now? That might just be market price and the risk you have to take.
- Sounds like the Rangers pulled the “we’re gonna go way over the top if you just say yes right now and no one gets a chance to match” move:
- Wonder if that’s what the Giants try to do on Judge, which might be the only way they can actually get him away from the Yankees.
- Franchy Corder-O: