BREGMAN SWEEPSTAKES | Gallen or Suarez | Cubs Baseball Rumors

BREGMAN SWEEPSTAKES | Gallen or Suarez | Cubs Baseball Rumors

There’s been a lot of news that has come out about the Cubs and their search for free agents in the last couple of days. It’s been reported that the Cubs are back in it for Alex Bregman. Didn’t get him last year. Maybe this is the year the Cubs are rumored on Ranger Suarez and Zack Gowen and more. We’re going to get into that. They also signed a former Mets prospect. All that right here on the Cubs baseball channel. Like, subscribe, thumbs up, hit the bell, and be part of Avenue D. There’s our QR code right there at the bottom. MCN Nation. join that and an opportunity to win some cash, maybe some swag. It’s all free. It’s a great place to hang out. It’s our web 3 home. We want you guys to be a part of that as well. Let’s get this thing started. [Music] [Applause] [Music] What do you say everybody? Mick Gillespie, Cubs baseball channel and it is great to see you guys today as we talk about the Cubs and it’s really a lot of free agent news and talk and speculation heading into baseball’s winter meeting. Now, let’s start right here with Alex Bregman. Uh the Cubs tried to get Alex Bregman last year and the former Astros Allstar who signed with the Red Sox opted out of his contract and it appears that the Cubs are right back in the mix again. And from a lot of reports that the the Cubs are among teams like the Tigers who are interested in Bregman. Now the speculation is that he hopes to get a six-year $171 million contract. The Tigers are really hoping to get him possibly. The Blue Jays last year were in the mix. Are they in the mix now? You know, the Cubs reportedly made an offer to him last year that was uh far short of of that offer. Um it was somewhere in the neighborhood of $114 million, but it was a a shorter term deal. And he uh eventually signed with the the Red Sox. Now, the other thing that you’re hearing is that maybe part of this is that the Cubs don’t feel like Matt Shaw is going to be a long-term solution for them. Maybe they feel like he’s good, but he’s not good enough. They want someone that they can put in that third base role that’s going to be able to do more damage offensively. Shaw was good as a defender, was uh well, you know, got hot. We saw the best of him. He’s only a rookie. So, you know, maybe if the Cubs signed Bregman, they’d be willing to move Shaw. Although, we speculated that maybe he could be a utility guy. I don’t know. His value right now though, when you look at his numbers, teams could look and say, “Hey, you know what? guy was great defensively, could play middle infield, you know, or the other thing is, and we talked about this on a show a couple days ago, is that maybe the better move would be to move him to second and trade Nicoer, who has a lot of value and will be a free agent at the end of the year. But a lot of us don’t want to see Nico go because he’s been one of the most consistent Cubs both at the plate and in the field. So, uh, and plus, he’s going to be in a contract season, and you know, guys always do better when it’s their contract season. Well, most of the time they do. Now, that kind of leads me to the second thing that was talked about a lot here lately, and that’s that the Cubs are interested in both Zack Allen and Ranger Suarez. So Suarez, who I think is the top free agent starter now, the uh Philadelphia Philly, is being sought after by the Astros, the Orioles, uh according to Mark Feinstein and uh the Cubs, and of course the Phillies. Uh would they be willing to sign the uh the the pitcher who um is a guy that could come in immediately and be a difference maker? Well, I think that they are. Now, what’s the money going to look like? You know, that’s a part of this. Uh Suarez could be the guy that slides right in there next to Justin Steel and Kate Horton. And, you know, you get a lot of versatility from him. Uh the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Mets, the Phillies in that list that would love to have him as part of their rotation. You know, there’s some guys like Michael King that are out there and obviously we’ve talked about them in the past. Um, you know, this the players from Japan that that can pitch. I mean, there’s just a lot of options and you wonder now, you know, what the deal is. So, Feinstein said basically that the Phillies have made Suarez a priority, but that there’s a good market and that a number of clubs have been attached to Suarez in recent weeks. And again, you know, the Astros, Cubs, and Orioles seem to be the most serious threat to take him away from the Phillies, but then you talk about the Mets and the Tigers, and who doesn’t want a great pitcher, right? Who doesn’t want someone that can come in there and make a difference? Now, he’s, you know, had a injury history. I think all all pitchers do that. You’d have to do the qualifying offer, obviously, so you’re going to lose uh compensation for that. Um, but if he comes in and does the things that the Cubs need him to do, and that’s to be someone who could get there and be a top of the rotation guy, then it would be worth it, right? 2022, he had some back issues, I think, uh, back spasms, missed some starts. 2023, had a left elbow strain, a right hamstring strain. Uh, still made 22 starts that season, 24, lower back soreness on the IIL. uh last season started the season on the IIL to again give him his back issues and um you know that’s that’s the issue with Suarez but when he’s out on the mound he’s a bulldog and then you put him in that rotation and it’s like well you got Boyd and Horton and Tyone and Iaga and Colin Ray and and you know Suarez did I say no uh Assad and you know you go Jackson Wings I mean you got a lot of guys that you could possibly put in there, but the Cubs really want to have someone that they can uh count on to get them through the season at the top of the rotation. Now, the other guy that I think the Cubs will probably end up with is or a better shot is Zack Allen. And I think the reason why is that the 30-year-old is going to be someone who’s more affordable. And you’re talking about Baltimore again and the Braves along with the Cubs. He was a a star with the Diamondbacks, but the Giants and the Angels and the Tigers are looking at him as well. I mean, there’s just a bunch of different teams that would love to have Gallon. Gallon’s velocity hasn’t ticked off, but the walk rate has. And he’s progressively gotten worse, right? 2022, you remember that season came out of nowhere and ended up with a 254 RA and a 4.2 war, which was great. Then 2023, even better than that. he had a 5.2 war um in 34 starts. Then in 2024, you kind of slid down to a 365 ERA and a 2.8 war. And then last year made all of his starts but had a war of 1.1. And you know that that has significantly dropped what his value would be. So you could get him uh on a you know on a bargain. I think the other part of it too is that the Cubs, you know, feel like they like those guys that can, you know, throw four seamers and and the cutter, you know, keep the ball down, right? Uh, you know, the sinkers, the guys that aren’t going to give up a bunch of home runs, and I say that and show Manager gave up a ton last year. Uh, but, you know, they put these guys in the in the pitch lab and all of a sudden, like, you know, you’re talking about difference makers, right? That’s the exciting part about him is that he’s one of those guys that could potentially be there. And you know, you’re talking about whether you look at it from a four-year perspective where it’s you’ve seen him basically kind of put at 480, 475, you know, depending on, you know, what you’re looking at. Fan graph says, hey, maybe he gets two years for 22 million a season. Um, you know, the Athletic had them at two years, 21 million a season, you know, but that’s two years. The Cubs like the shorter term contracts. They don’t like getting stuck with these guys that are basically um, you know, you can’t get rid of them and they’re hurt, right? And pitching is one of those things. I mean, it’s it’s a it’s a deal where guys get hurt and then you’re stuck with them, right? You the reason you have so many guys is that you love the versatility. Um, so, you know, we’ll see what happens there, but um, it is good news to see that the Cubs are serious about that. Reports are saying that they’re going to have $50 million to add to the payroll. They’re they want a front-end starter. Uh, I think that they’re serious about Bregman. Don’t think Tucker’s coming back. And I think if you get Bregman, doesn’t seem like they’re in the Schwarber sweep stakes. I wish they were. That’d be so fun to bring him back, but it just doesn’t feel like that’s a possibility. And we’ll see what happens there. Now, the last thing I wanted to get into on the show today is that the Cubs signed former Mets prospect Jace Beck. Um, I mean, not really anything significant about it other than he used to be a prospect with the New York Mets. You know, some of these guys though, I mean, think about it. When when the Cubs got Pomerance, were you thinking that that uh you know, Pomearance was going to be that much of a difference maker? And he turned out to be an excellent hire, right? Uh you know, or trade. They they got him. He was a minor league guy uh pitching with Seattle and they kind of just had him as a throwaway and then all of a sudden, boom, here he is making a difference. So, you know, you’re talking about a big dude in Beck, big tall kid. Um he really has never obviously you know panned out but he’s 25 years old 6’9 spent uh from 2019 to last year with the Mets and uh made it all the way to high last year had a 580 erra and um struck out 13.6 six batters per nine innings according to Greg Hos who covers uh Cubs minor leaguers for Out of the Vines, right? Does a great job. So, we’ll see. I mean, you you always look at these guys and say, “Hey, um you know, you get a big dude that’s got good stuff. Maybe you you figure something out. You you your pitch lab finds something, he matures, and then you hope that you’ll be able to kind of turn that guy into uh a helper, whether it be a bullpen piece or a starter. So anyway, that’s it for the show today. Obviously, have a great weekend. Uh we’re keeping an eye on everything, rolling towards winter meetings. Kind of curious to see if the Cubs are going to sit back and wait or they’re going to attack when it comes to adding to this um this roster. They’ve got spots open. They’ve got money. What the the the thing that I look at is the past and the the track record of these guys, they like to sit back and wait and let the market bear itself and then and then attack it late, you know? So, sometimes you lose good players because of that, but you can make better financial decisions and I think that that’s probably where they’re at. So, anyway, like, subscribe, thumbs up. Thank you guys for being here. Really appreciate it. We’ll do it again tomorrow. [Music]

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This Episode:
– The Alex Bregman Sweepstakes II
– Cubs Rumored in on Ranger Suarez & Zac Gallen
– Cubs signed former Mets prospect Jace Beck

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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