All of the Stuff

Red Sox right-hander Nick Pivetta was one of the more surprising recipients of a $21.05MM qualifying offer earlier this month, but he’s likely to reject the offer in search of a multi-year deal, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who suggests that “at least” a three-year deal should be waiting for the [...]

Evan Aschenbeck – Pic va TAMU There are going to be a lot of moving parts when it comes to relievers in 2025. There are several guys coming back from injury, there are a few guys moving up, and there could be a few guys breaking out. And, like always, the [...]

Picture by Todd Johnson It did not take very long for the off-season to begin in earnest as there was a lot of news this week about the minor league system. The Tennessee Smokies released the rebranding, which I’ll talk about in a little bit. As well, the Cubs announced that [...]

Hello, hello, Chicago Cubs fans. Welcome back to another edition of the CHGO Cubs Weekly newsletter. A year ago Wednesday, the Cubs shocked the baseball world by becoming the team who lured Craig Counsell away from Milwaukee. It really was the ultimate surprise. Counsell was rumored to either return to the Brewers [...]

The Rockies announced that they have claimed right-hander Jimmy Herget off waivers from the Cubs. The latter club had designated him for assignment last week. The 31-year-old Herget split the 2024 season between the Braves and Cubs, spending the bulk of the year in the Atlanta organization. He notched 12 1/3 [...]

Drew Gray – Picture by Todd Johnson 2024 was an interesting year for starting pitching. There were a lot of injuries that resulted in the Cubs going out and acquiring several pitchers, most of whom were minor league free agents, and some more who were undrafted free agents. In addition, the [...]

We don’t do much non-player-focused content here, but when one of the four minor league affiliates is undergoing relocation and rebranding, that feels notable enough to get its own post. The Tennessee Smokies, Chicago’s Double-A affiliate, just wrapped up their final season playing their games at Smokies Stadium in Kodak, Tennessee. [...]

Antonio Santos – Pic via Tennessee Smokies We started talking about this topic on Monday and news finally broke yesterday as to who is staying with the Cubs and who elected free agency. Who Is Staying? The big righty Kohl Franklin has inked up for another year as he tries to bounce back [...]

The Rays are among the teams that have reached out to Juan Soto’s camp since the opening of free agency last week, writes Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Heyman lists a much less surprising additional six teams that have shown interest: the Yankees, Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Blue Jays and Red [...]

The Cubs are expected to be aggressive in their search for upgrades near the top of the rotation and in their late-inning relief corps, reports Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Chicago was already expected to be in the market for catching upgrades this winter. Improvements on the pitching staff have long [...]

Today is a pretty important day, whether you want to help preserve whatever this democracy is now or you want to try to burn down Parliament (don’t do that last one, didn’t work out so well for the last guy). I already did my civic duty but since it’ll be [...]

The Cubs announced that left-hander Rob Zastryzny has been claimed off waivers from the Brewers. Righty Jimmy Herget was designated for assignment in a corresponding move, and Chicago also outrighted four other players off their 40-man roster: catcher Christian Bethancourt, and right-handers Yency Almonte, Enoli Paredes, and Colten Brewer.  All [...]

Set up right behind Chicago Cubs left fielder Ian Happ on a Zoom call Sunday night was a piece of gold hardware. That would be the first Gold Glove trophy of his career, which he won as the National Leagues’ Gold Glove winner for left field in 2022. His second Gold [...]

Cody Bellinger has exercised his $27.5MM player option for the 2025 season, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan (X link).  Bellinger’s three-year, $80MM deal with the Cubs last winter included opt-outs after both the 2024 and 2025 seasons, but Bellinger will pass on the first opt-out (and $2.5MM [...]

The Dodgers overcame their bajillion injuries thanks to the talent they amassed with a very enviable and ludicrous payroll. We can’t even poo poo that because it’s kind of what we wish the Cubs would do, and while the Cubs aren’t the Pirates or the A’s, there is a gulf [...]

Arguably the biggest question facing the Chicago Cubs was Cody Bellinger and if he’d stick around on the North Side for 2025 or opt out of the last two years of the three-year, $80 million contract he signed in late February. As reported by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan on [...]

The Cubs have declined their end of a $10MM mutual option on left-hander Drew Smyly, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He’ll be paid a $2.5MM buyout and return to the free agent market. Smyly, 35, pitched to a 3.84 ERA in 58 2/3 innings over 50 relief appearances [...]

What's up, friends. Welcome to the MLB offseason. With the World Series now two days in the past, the 2024-25 MLB offseason has fully begun. That means free agency has started. That means the rumor mill will start heating up. That means we only have a little over three months until pitchers [...]

The Cubs plan to hire Quintin Berry as third base coach, report Will Sammon, Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of the Athletic. The 39-year-old has spent the past six seasons on the Brewers’ staff, the last four of which have come as first base coach. Craig Counsell managed in Milwaukee for [...]

The Chicago Cubs are set to make their first addition to manager Craig Counsell‘s staff this winter. They’re planning to hire Quintin Berry to be their new third-base coach, sources confirmed to CHGO on Thursday. Berry’s hiring, which was first reported by The Athletic, has not yet been made official by the [...]