The Chicago Cubs reportedly met with first baseman Josh Bell, presumably as something of a back-up plan for Jose Abreu and others, but it was never clear how serious their interest was or wasn’t.
Doesn’t matter now, because they’re not getting him. And the price tag is sufficiently soft that it seems pretty clear that the market didn’t love him:
Bell, 30, has put up solid offensive numbers overall the last two years, but the power fell way off last year, the defense rates out poorly, and there wasn’t a lot of confidence that he would be a big enough bat at first base to justify the position in a full-time role (especially given how ugly things got in the second half). Hence the relatively modest deal from the Guardians.
The first base market is super thin, though, so it remains to be seen what the Cubs are going to do. Trey Mancini remains an option with whom the Cubs have met. There’s also Yuil Gurriel, though he was terrrrrible this year and is 38. Luke Voit is interesting, but has fallen off. Brandon Belt might be OK if he’s healthy. Ultimately, the Cubs might just have to do the best they can with a short-term fill-in, hoping that Matt Mervis breaks out *AND* that they can add offense elsewhere.
Or, you know, they could sign Cody Bellinger and have him also be a part-time first baseman …