I’ll preface this by saying that (1) there were indications that Evan Longoria had a very limited group of teams to which he would go and keep playing, (2) the Cubs were never connected to him, and (3) the Cubs have never indicated that third base is where they were going to add their “bat” this offseason.
But given the options available at first base, you wouldn’t have hated seeing them consider this and then accommodate the “third basemen” elsewhere:
Longoria, 37, has hit .252/.333/.466/118 wRC+ the last two years with the Giants, albeit in heavily-optimized matchups. He’s no longer great defensively at third base, like he used to be, but he’s still passable there. There are also, of course, starts available at DH. Just a nice, solid, veteran player to have on a one-year deal. A good get for the Diamondbacks.
Again, Longoria wasn’t going to just sign anywhere at this point in his career, and there was no connection with the Cubs. You could’ve imagined a situation where the Cubs would bring him in, though, and then have Patrick Wisdom make some starts at first base. Other third base options like Christopher Morel and Zach McKinstry figure to move around a lot in any case, so … I don’t know. I think it wouldn’t have been crazy for the Cubs to consider third base options this offseason, but that just never seemed on the radar.
… unless they’re holding out for Rafael Devers, of course.
UPDATE: A very modest deal: