Another To Cubs Bregman Link | The Arms Race | Cubs Baseball Rumors

Another To Cubs Bregman Link | The Arms Race | Cubs Baseball Rumors

Winter meetings, they’re in the books. And what we know, well, a relatively quiet winter meetings for the Cubs, although some big news around baseball, including Kyle Schwarber signing with the Phillies. Well, lot of smoke coming out of the where is Kyle Tucker going sweep stakes. We’ll talk about that. the Cubs looks like and the more that we listen that they’re serious about adding an ace to the rotation. But don’t forget about the bullpen and that’s something that we’ve talked about a lot on here. But even more proof that the Cubs are looking for backend bullpen support and the rule five draft happened and the Cubs did not lose anyone which was kind of surprising but that’s good news and bad and I’m going to talk about that. They did pick up three guys in that rule five draft and we’ll get in to that in the minor league phase. No one in the major league phase. All that right here on the Cubs baseball channel. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, hit the bell, do all those things that we ask you to do and let’s get this show started. Great to see you guys today. Go Cubs. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey everybody, Mick Gillespie, Cubs baseball channel. And here we are talking about the Cubs again as we always do with now winter meetings in the rear view mirror. And uh what with the Cubs, did you expect something big to happen? Well, it didn’t. At least not in the hey, the Cubs are doing this category. Now, one thing that did happen is that Kyle Schwarber signed with the Phillies. So, that took him off of the table. Another thing that happened is that Pete Alonzo, the polar bear, went to Baltimore. The reason I say that is leading you to this Kyle Tucker sweep stakes. Uh Baltimore apparently kicked the tires on Tucker before they signed Alonzo. I can’t imagine a small market team like them being able to go out and and nab two of the most expensive high-priced free agents out there. Now Tucker is at the top of the pyramid and uh he’s projected now according to the athletics some of their insiders to get about $427 million which would be amazing. Uh that’s a lot of money. Now it’s not the biggest contract ever, but it’s amongst one of the biggest ever. And if he signed with the Cubs for that, it’d be the biggest contract they’ve ever given out. Now, the list of teams that are interested in Tucker, uh, I’m sure a mile long, but that actually have the ability to sign him include really a handful of teams. One of them being the Toronto Blue Jays. They would love to have whatever it takes to get one more run in the seventh game of the World Series. Then they’d be World Series champs right now. So, they’re they apparently have some cash. And then the New York Yankees obviously haven’t signed Cody Bellinger. That spot is opened. And look, Tucker would be a great fit in New York in that big baseball market, maybe the biggest baseball market, or is LA the biggest baseball market now? the Dodgers. Uh, they have endless means and we talked about this on other shows and I’ll reiterate it right now that the Otani contract gives them the ability because it’s so backloaded to uh just continue to go out and sign the best of the best. And we saw that with Edwin Diaz, the best closer out there available. Well, now the Athletic and other sources are saying that don’t be surprised, Ken Rosenthal, saying that the Dodgers are seemingly um in this Tucker mix. maybe not to the tune of six or seven years, but that they are interested in signing Tucker. Would they be able to do that? Now, um could Alex Bregman end up signing with the Dodgers? Are the Dodgers off the table for Tucker? And if that were the case, how far does that drop his value? Right. So again, this off season, one of the other most coveted pro uh players is Alex Bregman. And the Tigers and the Red Sox and the Cubs are all interested in Bregman. And even Craig Council was asked about Bregman in a MLB Network spot. Hey, you know, what do you think? He’s like, he’s great player. And he just talked about what he would mean. Now the Cubs won’t necessarily get rid of Matt Shaw, who was their third baseman last year, but I’m sure they could figure out a way to make both of them work. And if you’re the manager, that’s probably what you’re thinking. Hey, I’ I’d love to do that. So, it’s just so interesting to me. So, if the Dodgers aren’t willing to go six or seven years for Tucker, does that remove them from the list of teams that would be interested? and and you really don’t hear the Cubs coming up a whole lot in this Tucker sweep stakes. Doesn’t mean they’re out, but it does mean that they’re waiting to see if something happens and maybe he’ll do a lot for a one-year deal or a two-year deal or something where he has an opt out, a mutual opt. I’ve said that before, too. I I don’t think they’re out of it until he signs, but I know that they’re not going to spend an exorbitant amount of money for him. Now, one thing that you keep hearing and Craig Councel talked about it in the same interview was, you know, and and it kind of was a, you know, one of those comments that you have to hear it a couple of times, but they asked him about last year and and and the bullpen and he says, “What we thought about the bullpen going into the season, we were wrong. We were pretty wrong on it. We ended up pitching pretty well, but at the start of the season, it wasn’t the guys we expected to do it. And that is where the Cubs are attacking right now. And if you think about it and you put, you know, did you expect Daniel Palencia to be your closer? You know, you went and made the trade to get a closer, you know, you went and made the trade with uh Cleveland for Morgan. You expected him to be somebody or did we sign him as a free agent? I don’t know. he gets hurt. You know, Keller ended up being a big part. We didn’t even know if he was going to make the team at the beginning of the season. You know, it’s weird how that happened. So, if the guys that we thought were going to be there ended up mixing with the guys who ended up being there, the Cubs could have had a fantastic bullpen. But that’s not what happened. So, it’s all, you know, just kind of interesting how how he said that. And it also leads to what I think the Cubs are looking at right now in free agency. Now, before I say that, I want you guys to again be part of MC Nation Avenue D, our web 3 home. Yeah, there’s the QR code right there. And it’s free. We give away swag. We give away cash prizes. You get to pick games. You know, obviously it’s not baseball season right now, but uh we do football and you know, maybe we’ll put on some free agent stuff, whatever. It’s it’s where we’re going to eventually have our store and we have just had so much fun there building our our base and our web 3 spot. So, we appreciate and for those of you that have been there before, thank you. Now, this is where this is all leading me is what are the Cubs thinking about in free agency? They’re serious about Bregman and from all intents and purposes, everybody seems to think that they’re also very serious about adding another starting pitcher. And not just a starting pitcher, but like a frontline starting pitcher, like someone that’s going to be able to come in and make an immediate impact, right? Is that Zack Allen who was rumored to have signed already? You know, is is that I who we talked about yesterday on the video. Um the Cubs are with a lot of teams wanting Amai and and Baltimore’s names being mentioned there. Um anybody that needs pitching, right? Kind of looking at that going. But the other thing too, and and we’ve kind of talked about this, it could be one of those situations where the Cubs make a trade for a starting pitcher. And with McKenzie Gore’s name popping up there, the Cubs were rumored to have had discussions last year with the Nationals, he’d be a good one. the the two pitchers on the Marlins um and and Alcantara and um and Cabrera, you know, both of those guys you feel good about. Sandy Alcantara was a Sai Young award winner, right? And and came on at the end of the year, too, by the way, which we weren’t really sure because he was so bad up until the trade deadline. So, you know, would you would you go and make a move there? Maybe the the Marlins get that payroll off the books. to get a lot of prospects back. I’m sure Jackson Wiggins would go in any of those trades and then maybe you use your free agent money on a Braggman and then some backend bullpen help. But listening to council talk about the bullpen made me think that, okay, Hoyer’s mentioned pitching and now council’s mentioned pitching. Guess what? The Cubs are serious about pitching. They didn’t sign Kyle Schwarber. It doesn’t seem like they’re going to sign Kyle Tucker unless something drastically changes and it’s Alex Bregman and pitching. So, however they get to that point is what we’re watching for this off seasonason. Now, the last thing is the rule five draft. So, what was it about a week ago? We talked about the players that the Cubs protected, you know, that they put on their 40man roster to keep them from being taken by other teams. And I remember one of those guys was James Trianttos. Somebody might have taken him. Rule five draft happened. The Cubs didn’t lose anyone. What tells you that the good thing is that they didn’t lose anyone. I mean, sometimes you lose your best minor league players to the rule five draft and that means another team just takes them. The good thing is that we didn’t lose anybody. The bad thing is that the rest of baseball didn’t look at the players that were available and decide they were worth taking. So, it’s a two-edged sword, right? You don’t want to lose players, but at the same time, you want to have enough talent where it kind of gives you an idea of where your organization is when, you know, you got all those rounds and and and none of your players are taken. Now, part of that could be you put your best guys on the 40man, maybe you you traded some of them, maybe you, you know, whatever. But, um, you know, I no one took a a chance on some of these guys. And, uh, I think that’s a good thing for the Cubs. you know, when you when you you look at it and you go, “Okay, um we’re we’re not we didn’t have our, you know, our our minor league system gutted because of the rule five draft.” Now, the big league phase of the rule five draft, as you guys know, is if you take a guy uh from another team in the big league phase, they have to stay on your 40man roster. And not a lot of teams do that. and then and then if they you take them off then that player has to go back to that team. Um as far as the minor league phase of the rule five draft, uh the Cubs were active. They took uh right-hander Adam Stone in the AAA phase. He was a big tall hardthrower from the Yankees. They they took Zayn Mills, right-handed pitcher from our friends in St. Lewis, little Cardinals action. Uh, did you know that Jody Davis was taken by the Cubs from the Cardinals in the rule five draft and then Devin Ortiz who is a third baseman in the Padres’s in the um the AAA phase three and that was it. So, the Cubs, you know, they ended up taking three players in the rule five draft and and you know, we’ll see where those guys end up. Interestingly enough, uh a a a net gain of three in that aspect of things. Uh congratulations to Owen Casey who is going to play for team Canada in the World Baseball Classic. Not a shocker here. It’s one of the uh best Canadian prospects ever to play baseball. And I think when it’s all said and done, we’ll look back and go, he’s gonna have some I think he’ll have some big hits in in that World Baseball Classic. I bet you that a lot of people that haven’t heard of him will when it’s all said and done because he is a really good player and he’s a differencemaker. Again, guys, thank you for being here. We’re trying to get those subscription numbers up. Please help us. I say every day like and subscribe, but I mean that. Subscribe. Be part of the channel. Comment, you know, um share with your Cubs friends. be a part of the community because because we love having you here and uh I appreciate all of you guys that have helped build this channel. I mean, we’ve views consistently good and I love you for it. Uh the uh we’re doing a lot more stuff with the short content thanks to Connor. Sometimes he’ll pop on here and do some shows and uh we just got to keep building this thing. I’m trying to get to 10,000 subscribers. It’ be great. It’s hard to do, but we’re on the way to doing it. So, thank you guys for being a part of this and uh we will talk to you guys tomorrow. Go Cubs. [Music]

The Cubs Baseball Channel proud to partner with AveD! Follow the link to join Mick Nation. This includes interactive games, contacts and prizes!
https://www.aved.ai/mick-nation

This Episode:
– Kyle Schwarber Signing Highlights Winter Meetings News
– Kyle Tucker Sweepstakes Update
– The Cubs Next Ace
– Craig Counsell Talks 2025 Bullpen
– Rule 5 Draft Review
– Owen Caissie to Play for Team Canada WBC

If you’re new to the Cubs Baseball Channel don’t miss anything and join! Like and subscribe here! https://www.youtube.com/@cubsbaseballchannel

Mick Gillispie has covered the Chicago Cubs since 2007 and has been a fan of the team since the 1984 season. He has broadcasted spring training games or been heard on Cubs.com, MLB.com, 670 The Score, WGN, CSN-Chicago and Marquee Sports Network. He is an award winning play-by-play voice for the Tennessee Smokies Cubs Double-A Affiliate. He has also hosted many forums over the years at Cubs Convention including Down on The Farm