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Anthony Rizzo

Latest On Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez

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The Cubs entered Spring Training hopeful of securing long-term contracts with multiple pending free agents but weren’t able to come to terms with any of Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez or Kris Bryant. Fans in Chicago are holding out hope that some of the team’s 2016 core can be retained, but Rizzo gave little reason for optimism today when appearing on the Kap & Hood show on ESPN 1000 radio (Twitter link via Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago).

Rizzo, who already indicated that he was “at peace” with the lack of progress just prior to Opening Day, said that he feels the Cubs have had a “fair” opportunity to get a deal done both in 2021 and in years past, but nothing has come together.

“I don’t see any reason for us to listen,” the first baseman said in response to the Cubs’ recent efforts. Obviously, a sizable increase in years and/or dollars would surely change that thinking, but the team’s reported initial offer — five years and $70MM, per The Athletic — didn’t get the ball rolling.

The 32-year-old Rizzo has already inked one club-friendly deal in the past and delivered considerable surplus value to the Cubs over the life of that contract. For some context, Chicago’s reported offer of $70MM clocked in at just  north of half the five-year, $130MM commitment the Cardinals made to Paul Goldschmidt for what will be the same block of his career (his age-32 through age-36 seasons).

Of course, Goldschmidt was coming off a brilliant run with the D-backs at that point and had slashed .290/.389/.533 in his final season prior to being traded to St. Louis; Rizzo’s .222/.342/.414 slash in last year’s shortened season was his least-productive showing since 2013. It’s understandable both that Rizzo would feel the offer to be well below market and that the Cubs may be a bit cautious with their long-term overture after a down year in 2020. As things stand, the disconnect between the two sides seems prohibitive, although president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said last week that he remains “confident” an accord will eventually be reached.

As for Baez, he’s not speaking in such definitive terms. The shortstop told reporters after yesterday’s game that his representatives and the Cubs continue to talk, though his personal focus is on the field at this point (links via Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times and Jordan Bastian of MLB.com).

Baez was, however, happy to discuss Francisco Lindor’s recent extension with the Mets and the manner in which it benefited next year’s class of shortstops. The 28-year-old called the Lindor contract “huge” for other shortstops in the game — next year’s class of free agents in particular. (Baez, Corey Seager, Trevor Story, Carlos Correa and Marcus Semien will all hit the market next winter.) “No one was going to get more than Lindor, and you’ve got to be honest about it,” Baez said. “[But] he opens doors for other people.”

Like Rizzo, Baez is attempting to put an uncharacteristically poor 2020 season in the rearview mirror. The former NL MVP runner-up batted just .203/.238/.360 through 235 plate appearances last year, but he’s not far removed from a .286/.321/.544 showing from 2018-19. Baez connected on his first homer of the season yesterday and has swiped a pair of bases already after stealing just three bags in 2020.

However, Hoyer made clear that a fast start to the year for any of their players won’t necessarily change the calculus in the team’s offers. Said Hoyer (via Dorsey): “These guys have long track records, and how a guy’s hitting in April — positively or negatively — is not going to impact our perception of that player’s value.”

Jed Hoyer “Very Confident” Cubs Will Extend Anthony Rizzo

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MARCH 31: President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said the Cubs are still “very confident” they will extend Rizzo, Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago tweets. The Cubs are willing to continue discussions into the season, but it’s unclear whether Rizzo will adjust his Opening Day deadline.

MARCH 29, 7:10pm: The Cubs made Rizzo a five-year, $70MM extension offer, Mooney and Ken Rosenthal report. It was a front-loaded proposal with escalators that could have kicked in toward the back end of the deal.

11:35am: Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo told reporters today that extension talks with the team have stalled and a new deal now looks unlikely (Twitter link via The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney). The slugger added that after speaking with his family and his representatives, he feels strongly about his previously set Opening Day deadline and has told his agents to stop talking to him about a contract (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers). Rizzo is “at peace” with the lack of a new contract and plans to shift his focus to the 2021 season.

Rizzo is one of three prominent members of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series roster that is currently slated to hit the open market after the season. The others, Javier Baez and Kris Bryant, have also been considered potential extension candidates. However, Rizzo was seen as perhaps the likeliest of the trio to sign, given his lengthier tenure with the club, his age and his expected price relative to those younger teammates.

Lining up on a new contract was likely difficult for myriad reasons, though. Rizzo has already signed what proved to be a very beneficial deal for the Cubs once in his career. That contract, a seven-year, $41MM extension inked in May 2013, ultimately wound up spanning nine years and paying Rizzo $75MM after a pair of club options were picked up and after he triggered some escalators based on a trio of fourth-place finishes in MVP voting. Having already taken what now looks to be a discount once, he may not have been as keen on doing so a second time.

It’s also tough to project Rizzo moving forward after he turned in one of his worst career showings at the plate in last year’s 60-game sprint. Rizzo appeared in 58 games for the Cubs and tallied 243 trips to the plate, but he batted just .222/.342/.414 along the way. His strikeout and walk rates remained strong, but that output obviously pales in comparison to the hearty .276/.379/.499 slash he logged from 2013-19. The Cubs likely have at least some trepidation as a result of last year’s downturn — particularly since Rizzo will turn 32 this August.

The lack of a deal this spring doesn’t guarantee that Rizzo will be playing elsewhere after the 2021 season. It remains possible that the Cubs could come back to the table with a late offer that is more in line with the 31-year-old’s asking price to this point, just as it’s possible that he could play out the ’21 season, reach free agency and ultimately still opt to re-sign with the Cubs. Owner Tom Ricketts has been quite averse to long-term spending over the past three offseasons, but at least on the surface, Rizzo would seem like a possible exception due to his nine-year tenure as a Cub, his role as a team leader and the role he played in the franchise’s curse-breaking championship run.

Latest On Cubs’ Extension Talks

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With Opening Day looming on Thursday, it doesn’t appear that the Cubs will have any contract extensions finalized with Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo, or Kris Bryant prior to their first game, according to both NBC Sports Chicago’s David Kaplan and ESPN.com’s Jesse Rogers.  This doesn’t necessarily mean at least one deal won’t eventually be worked out, since the Cubs “do not view Opening Day as a hard deadline,” Kaplan writes.

Of the trio, Bryant seems the least likely to sign an extension, as there hasn’t been much indication that the two sides have gotten far in negotiations.  (As of March 10, Bryant said there hadn’t been any talks.)  The outlook could be a bit more positive for both Baez and Rizzo, since Baez has already expressed that he and his representatives were willing to keep negotiating into the season.

The large majority of players prefer to restrict any contract talks to the offseason, so as to not have any lingering concerns or distractions impeding their focus once the games begin.  Rizzo has himself expressed this same preference, though Kaplan points out that Rizzo’s previous extension with the team (a seven-year, $41MM contract in 2013) wasn’t made official until May 2013.  Rizzo expressed some optimism a few weeks ago that the two sides could reach an agreement, and according to Kaplan, “club sources are confident that a deal will eventually get done.”

That seven-year, $41MM commitment has now grown into a nine-year pact, as the Cubs exercised their club options on Rizzo for both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, paying the first baseman $16.5MM each year.  That initial investment has paid off very handsomely for the team, as Rizzo hit .284/.388/.513 with 179 homers from 2014-19 and became one of the key figures of this championship-winning era of Cubs baseball.

Rizzo turns 32 in August and is coming off a down year (.222/.342/.414 in 243 PA) by his normal standards, though given the unusual nature of the 2020 season, it’s hard to say whether Rizzo is actually experiencing any sort of decline.  With this in mind, it will be interesting to see what type of contract Rizzo lands if he and the Cubs do agree to an extension — or, in lieu of an extension, what type of free agent deal Rizzo might receive on the open market if he delivers vintage numbers in 2021.

NL Notes: Padres, Preller’s Winter, Cubs, Extension Talks, Shelby Miller

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There was a point in the offseason when Padres’ GM A.J. Preller almost acquired Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, and Joe Musgrove on the same day, he said on Jon Heyman and Tony Gwynn Jr.’s Big Time Baseball podcast. Ultimately, it took a span of roughly three weeks to get all three arms dressed in brown, white, and gold. The deals took some finagling, as at one point, at least one of the players who ultimately went to Tampa Bay was slated for both the Snell and Darvish deals. Once the Snell deal went through, Preller and the Cubs had to renegotiate and swap in new names. Preller did not say which of the Rays’ new prospects was also coveted by the Cubs. But he did touch on their pursuit of one-time free agent and current Los Angeles Dodger Trevor Bauer. Preller and the Padres felt Bauer was going to take his time making a decision, and they didn’t want to be left holding the bag, so to speak, if he chose to go elsewhere. The Padres executed their trade plans instead, completing the most dramatic winters in recent memory. Despite the myriad additions, the Padres will have room for an in-season addition, should they feel the need, noted Preller. More on the Cubs…

  • After months – years, even – of trade speculation around their star core, the Cubs see varying levels of uncertainty around the respective futures of Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, or Kris Bryant, writes Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. Bryant seems destined for free agency. Rizzo is confident that he’ll remain a Cub beyond 2021, and the Cubs’ affection for Rizzo has never wavered. He’s the likeliest of the trio to receive an extension. Baez wants an extension, but given the potential options in free agency next winter, the Cubs would be wise to wait unless the Wasserman client succumbs to team friendly terms. Our speculation need not end on April 1st, however. Unlike some other players seeking extensions – namely and most apropos, Francisco Lindor – Baez has no problem continuing extension talks into the season, notes Wittenmyer. It’s worth noting that Wasserman also represents Kyle Hendricks, with whom the Cubs worked out an extension late in March, 2019.
  • Newfound command of his slider has helped Shelby Miller make a compelling case to make the Cubs’ roster, per Meghan Montemurro and Lamond Pope of the Chicago Tribune. Said Miller, “Opposing hitters have to respect a whole other pitch that they haven’t seen. I’ve just got to keep throwing it, and hopefully it gets better. And I’m just going to go out there and get outs. That’s all I can say really.” Miller is a long shot to make the rotation out of camp with Hendricks, Zach Davies, Jake Arrieta, Trevor Williams, Alec Mills, and Adbert Alzolay ahead of Miller in the pecking order. He’s in the mix for a bullpen spot, however. A lot may depend on whether Alzolay is granted another option season. If not, he’ll be on the roster in one form or another. Miller is a non-roster invitee who would need to be added to the 40-man roster to make the team. The Cubs have one open 40-man roster spot.

Central Notes: Rizzo, Mondesi, Reds, Cardinals

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Cubs cornerstone Anthony Rizzo is scheduled to become a free agent next offseason, but the three-time All-Star first baseman said Friday he’s “optimistic” about reaching an extension with the club, Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweets. Rizzo suggested he’d like to get it done by Opening Day, which doesn’t leave much time for the two sides to hammer out a deal. But there’s plenty of goodwill between the Cubs and Rizzo, who helped them to their first World Series title in 108 years in 2016 and has been a gem for the franchise on and off the field. Unfortunately for Rizzo, he seems to be vying for an extension at an inopportune time, as the 31-year-old recorded an uncharacteristically mediocre line of .222/.342/.414 with 11 home runs in 243 trips to the plate in 2020.

  • The Royals and shortstop Adalberto Mondesi have recently discussed an extension, Robert Murray of FanSided reports, but it doesn’t seem as if an agreement is imminent. A source told Murray there’s “a lot to work through” in order for a deal to come together for Mondesi, who is only in the first of three arbitration-controlled years. The 25-year-old will earn $2.525MM this season after slashing .256/.294/.416 with six home runs and a major league-leading 24 stolen bases over 233 plate appearances in 2020.
  • With right-hander Miles Mikolas out for the beginning of the regular season, fellow righty John Gant is in line to open 2021 as the Cardinals’ No. 5 starter, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes. Daniel Ponce de Leon, Jake Woodford and Johan Oviedo are still competing for the role, but Gant is the favorite to join Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright, Kwang Hyun Kim and Carlos Martinez in their rotation, per Goold. Gant, 28, hasn’t started a game since 2018, though he has put up useful numbers from both the St. Louis rotation and bullpen.
  • After the Reds added infielder Jonathan India and left-hander Brandon Finnegan to their major league spring roster on Friday, manager David Bell told Mark Sheldon of MLB.com and other reporters that “they’re officially” in the running to make the team. India, the fifth overall pick in the 2018 draft, reached the Double-A level in 2019 and batted .270/.414/.378 with three homers, four steals and almost as many unintentional walks (22) as strikeouts (26). Finnegan, once a top 100 prospect, appeared with the Reds in each season from 2015-18, but shoulder problems had a negative effect on him during that stretch. He put up a 7.40 ERA with 15 unintentional walks and 14 strikeouts over 20 2/3 frames in his most recent MLB season.

NL Notes: Turner, Mets, Cubs, Reds, Pirates

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The Mets are interested in free-agent third baseman Justin Turner, though the two sides aren’t seeing eye to eye on either contract length or value, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. It’s quite unlikely the two will bridge the gap, according to Andy Martino of SNY. Turner has at least four teams after him, but as Rosenthal notes, the Dodgers – his longtime club – remain the favorites to sign him. A Mets deal would be interesting, though, as they let Turner go after he spent 2011-13 with them. The 36-year-old has since blossomed into a star with the Dodgers.

Now for a few items from around the National League Central…

  • The Cubs are planning on discussing contract extensions with some of their important veterans during spring training, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer revealed (via Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago). It’s “almost” certain they’ll talk new deals with first baseman Anthony Rizzo and shortstop Javier Baez, Wittenmyer reports, though it’s unclear whether the Cubs will make a spirited effort to retain third baseman/outfielder Kris Bryant for the long haul. All three players are only under team for one more season. Bryant has been part of plenty rumors in recent weeks, so he seems the most likely of the trio to be part of a trade.
  • Reds general manager Nick Krall said right-hander Lucas Sims would be “delayed” heading into 2021 because of elbow tightness, per C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. However, Sims tweeted Monday that he’ll be ready for opening day. That’s welcome news for the Reds, as the 26-year-old Sims turned in a quality season out of their bullpen in 2020. He threw 25 2/3 innings of 2.45 ERA/3.34 SIERA ball with a well-above-average strikeout rate of 33 percent. Sims also averaged a career-best 94 mph on his fastball.
  • Although he was involved in a car crash that took three lives in his native Dominican Republic in September, Pirates infield prospect Oneil Cruz should be with the club for the start of spring training, according to Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic. “We are not aware of anything that should prevent him from being on time at this point,” a team spokesperson said.

Central Rumors: Cubs Extensions, Cardinals, Kluber

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The Cubs’ trade of Yu Darvish cleared $62MM from the books over the next three years, but Russell Dorsey of the Chicago Sun-Times writes in his latest mailbag column that it’s still unlikely the team will agree to a contract extension with any of its pending free agents prior to the start of Spring Training. Each of Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant is set to hit the market next year, and while the latter of that trio has seen his name prominently circulated in the rumor mill, Baez and Rizzo have broadly been considered extension candidates. A long-term arrangement could come together once camp is underway, Dorsey notes, but only if the “right situation presented itself.”

Of course, given that no deal has come with Baez despite years of negotiations and that Rizzo already has already signed one team-friendly deal, it’s hard to see either player inking a deal that heavily favors the Cubs. The fact that both players are coming off down seasons only further muddies the matter. Both players have considerable career earnings already and may prefer to bet on a personal rebound rather than selling themselves short after a lackluster 2020 showing.

More out of baseball’s Central divisions…

  • In his latest Q&A with readers, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Cardinals aren’t actively pursuing rotation upgrades outside of a potential reunion with Adam Wainwright. The Cards aren’t being particularly aggressive in their efforts to re-sign either Wainwright or fellow franchise icon Yadier Molina, per Goold, instead continuing to wait out a glacial free-agent market. Should Wainwright ultimately sign elsewhere, the Cards might pivot and look for a low-cost deal with a comparable veteran, but they’ve “continued to position themselves as a team that will reduce payroll,” Goold writes.
  • The Tigers are expected to be among the teams on hand for free-agent right-hander Corey Kluber’s showcase in Florida on Wednesday, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News tweets. It figures to be a well-attended event to watch Kluber, a two-time American League Cy Young winner in Cleveland who endured injury-plagued years in 2019 and ’20. A fractured forearm limited the longtime workhorse to 35 2/3 innings in his last season as a member of the Indians, and then he threw just one frame last year as a Ranger while battling shoulder issues. Still, the 34-year-old looks to carry plenty of appeal as a buy-low candidate. In Detroit’s case, the 34-year-old could help improve a rotation that received dismal production from Matthew Boyd and Michael Fulmer last season, perhaps while mentoring much younger hurlers such as Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning.
  • The Twins, whose interest in Kluber was previously reported, will also be at Kluber’s showcase, per La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. Kluber has ties to Twins chief baseball officer Derek Falvey, who was part of the Cleveland front office that acquired the former ace.
  • The Cubs are yet another Central team that will take in Kluber’s session, Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic relays. They’re in clear need of rotation upgrades beyond Kyle Hendricks and Zach Davies, but they’re not in big-spending mode. It remains to be seen whether Kluber will end up in their price range.

Cubs Exercise Anthony Rizzo’s 2021 Option

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TODAY: The Cubs officially announced that Rizzo’s option has been exercised.

OCTOBER 30: The Cubs bought out left-hander Jon Lester’s option Friday, but first baseman Anthony Rizzo won’t get the same treatment. The team’s planning to pick up his $16.5MM option for 2021, which will be Rizzo’s last season of team control, Patrick Mooney of The Athletic reports.

Retaining Rizzo shouldn’t come as a surprise, but as we’ve seen this week, all bets seem to be off in baseball’s current economic climate. And while Rizzo has generally been fantastic since he first became a Cub in 2012, the 31-year-old took sizable steps backward this season. Rizzo put up a pedestrian 103 wRC+, his worst since his debut with the Padres in 2011, and batted .222/.342/.414 with 11 home runs in 243 plate appearances. Moreover, Rizzo’s .339 expected weighted on-base average was his worst since the Statcast era began, and it was a 55-point drop from the .394 mark he logged in 2019.

While Rizzo will return to the Cubs for another season and hope for a rebound, their lineup might look quite a bit different otherwise. After a first-round playoff exit this fall, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein suggested an offensive shakeup is forthcoming. That could put other Cubs mainstays (Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, to name a couple of examples) in jeopardy of sticking with the team in 2021.

Gold Glove Nominees Announced

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The 2020 Rawlings Glove Glove Award finalists have been released, with the Cubs netting the most nominations with seven. The Mets, Nationals, Phillies, Brewers, Rays, and Red Sox were shut out.

The awards for defensive prowess will be handed out based on defensive metrics alone this year, since managers and coaches weren’t able to see players outside their regional bubble. Moving to a metrics-based system, even for a year, certainly make for interesting television, especially since these awards can make an impact on arbitration cases. Considering the uncertainty of a 60-game season, awards could carry greater weight than usual in those proceedings, thought that’s just speculation. Without further ado, here are this year’s nominees:

AL Pitcher

NL Pitcher

AL Catcher

NL Catcher

AL First Base

NL First Base

AL Second Base

NL Second Base

AL Third Base

NL Third Base

AL Shortstop

NL Shortstop

AL Left Field

NL Left Field

AL Centerfield

NL Centerfield

AL Right Field

NL Right Field

Nicky Lopez of the Royals was originally left off the list, but he is in fact a nominee at second base, one of four nominations at the keystone in the American League. It’s the only position with four nominations.

There are a few other interesting things of note. Perennial candidates like Andrelton Simmons and Matt Chapman did not make the list this year due to shortened seasons, nor did last season’s Outs Above Average leader Victor Robles. Both Gurriel brothers earned nominations this year, with the younger Lourdes (LF) joining perennial candidate Yuli (1B).

There are also a couple of largely part-time players that made the cut, like Hoerner of the Cubs and Mendick for the White Sox. Neither was the everyday second baseman, but they did reach the inning minimum of 265 total defensive innings. They qualified at second because that’s where they played the most innings. Mendick, for example, registered just 226 innings at second, but with 27 innings at third and 15 at shortstop, he ended the year with 268 total defensive innings played.

Catchers required a minimum of 29 games, which is how we got a pair of White Sox catchers making the top-3. Pitchers had to throw a minimum of 50 innings.

The winners will be selected using the SABR Defensive Index and announced on November 3rd, per sabr.org.

Theo Epstein On The Value Of One-Year Deals

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Theo Epstein has been prepping the Chicago fanbase for the eventual breakup of their 2016 team for a couple of seasons now. The blockbuster hasn’t come, and most of the faces of that championship team remain. After a disappointing exit from the wild card round – they managed just one run over a two-game sweep at the hands of the Marlins – Epstein’s comments again suggest changes are coming for the Cubbies.

Nine players remain on the roster from their World Series winner, and while that may not seem like a lot, it does constitute roughly 35% of a 26-man roster. Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras, Albert Almora, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Jason Heyward, and Kyle Schwarber represent the longest-tenured group of Chicago players. Technically, manager David Ross can count as a 10th member of their title team still hanging around the clubhouse. Ian Happ and Victor Caratini didn’t debut until 2017. Jose Quintana joined the team at the 2017 deadline. Yu Darvish signed as a free agent prior to the 2018 season.

The pillars of this Cubs’ run will dwindle further in the coming years. Architect Theo Epstein is likely to depart after next season. Lester is a free agent this winter. Almora seems to be out of chances and in need of a change of scenery. Odds favor Heyward or Hendricks to be the “last man standing” as they both have contracts that should keep them in Wrigley through 2023. Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, and Schwarber are each entering the final year of their contracts – assuming the Cubs pick up Rizzo’s $16.5MM option.

Epstein spoke about the latter group, providing typically candid analysis of not only the Cubs foursome, but more broadly about the value of one-year contracts. Per the Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma, Epstein said:

I think there are going to be certain fundamentals that are true of this winter and of this market that have been true for decades. One of those is especially relevant in our situation, a one-year deal for a really talented player is a valuable thing. That’s to our benefit both to what we can do in constructing the 2021 team and having an additional year of control on certain players and also potentially to our benefit in the trade market as we look to make some changes. I think that’s a fundamental.”

Essentially, it sounds as if Epstein’s offering a ’fear not’ for those who think the Cubs have waited too long to return anything of value for the final year of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, and/or Schwarber. To Epstein’s point, players on one-year deals are often devalued in the public square, but there’s a lot that can be extracted from a full year. Further, the flexibility a one-year deal affords shouldn’t be discounted – perhaps especially in our current climate. The fear of losing talent to free agency is understandable, but the more difficult gaff to overcome is the presence of “the albatross,” a highly-paid player on a long-term deal who no longer contributes on the diamond. Baez’s confounding 2020 is a testament to the swings that even talented players can experience year-over-year.

The trouble for Epstein is that Chicago’s current roster is flush with semi-expensive players on short-term deals who are coming off disappointing seasons. But to Epstein’s point – those players are still valuable. Whether the Cubs keep them or trade them, there’s always an opportunity cost. Said Epstein, per Sahadev:

There’s always a trade-off of being transactional and taking some of those players away from the current group and solidifying the future. There are trade-offs and balances that you have to be mindful of. The math simply changes as you get to a point where a lot of your best players only have one year left. It becomes less appealing to continue to invest opportunity cost in simply the present.”

Epstein has hit on a similar refrain in each of the last couple of years, and some changes have been made. They hired David Ross as the manager, they refrained from big-money free agent deals since signing Darvish (with the exception of Craig Kimbrel, who has only one more guaranteed season left on his deal), and they poured considerable energy into exploring trade options and/or extensions for their stars – but they haven’t made any of those deals.

Therein lies the rub for Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer. After years of exploring their options and walking the difficult path to try and sustain contention, they’re running out of time to pull off one of those – in Epstein’s words – “impactful, significant moves.” Whether or not they’re able to consummate that brand of deal this winter may depend on whether the 29 other GMs agree with Epstein about the value of talented players one-year deals.

Of course, Mookie Betts represents the most recent superstar player to be dealt on a one-year deal, and Indians’ shortstop Francisco Lindor is among those players who could be available this winter. Both players are probably more valuable in a vacuum than any of the Cubs’ foursome. Still, the Betts deal is instructive in so far as it necessitated the Red Sox’ willingness to take a step back, even though they received a major league regular as part of their return. The Cubs also have the option of packaging a couple players in the same deal, something he’s done in the past to extract additional prospect value..

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