Cubs Stuff

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 [...]

The World Series is over, unfortunately a bit sooner than I’d like since one team showed up and the other one kept tripping over themselves. Then again, it appears that full on free agency will begin on Monday, which happens to be five days after the Dodgers clinched. They already [...]

11-year MLB veteran Doug Bird passed away late last month, according to an obituary from a North Carolina funeral home. The former Royals, Phillies, Yankees, Cubs, and Red Sox right-hander was 74 years old. A California native in his early years, Bird was drafted by the Royals in the summer of [...]

Hello again, friends. Welcome back to another edition of the CHGO Cubs Weekly newsletter. The World Series begins later tonight, which means we're that much closer to the beginning of the MLB offseason. And while Cody Bellinger's decision and how they address the catching position and the bullpen will be among [...]

Though the World Series begins in two days, the Chicago Cubs' offseason began three weeks ago. Now, we have our first big piece of player news that's left a bit of a murky immediate future for a former Gold Glover. Monday afternoon, the Cubs announced that Nico Hoerner, who just completed [...]

The Cubs announced that infielder Nico Hoerner underwent right flexor tendon surgery on October 11, with Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune among those to relay the news on X. The club hasn’t yet provided an estimated timeline for his recovery. The news comes out of nowhere, as there was no [...]