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Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette are three of the top free agents still on the market. Among other top teams, the Chicago Cubs have reportedly been keeping tabs on the trio.
On Saturday’s episode of “North Side Territory,” The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney offered his honest opinion on Bregman, Tucker and Bichette’s chances of ending up in Chicago. According to Mooney, the probability of the team signing any of the top free agents on a huge contract is low.
“When you see the top three names on the Athletic big board – Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman, you do start to wonder, more in a theoretical sense,” Mooney said (Timestamp: 14:57). “This is not (based on) having hard information, but I’d imagine (for) the Cubs, this is their job. They sit around the front office and be like, ‘Hey, what if this happens? What would it take to sign this (player)? What would make sense for us?’ You know, there’s a small group of agencies that generally represent the tip-top group of players.
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“So they’re already talking to Scott Boras. He has Bregman. Kyle Tucker’s represented by Excel. I think we have not focused on Bo Bichette. I think that would make a ton of sense as a long-term piece. However, I just don’t see them going all-out on any sort of mega long-term contract for a premium free agent at this moment. Maybe fans don’t want to hear it, they have some money to spend, but not as much as people would probably want.”
Insider believes the Cubs might have “won” by missing out on some of the free agents they were interested in
In addition to the aforementioned trio, reports also claimed Chicago were keeping tabs on free agents Dylan Cease, Michael King, Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto.
In an article published on Sunday, insider Paul Magno of “Chi City Sports” argued why the team may have “won” by missing out on these players.
“The 7-year contract Cease got could be seen as an agreement to throw away at least two or three full years as the hard-throwing 30-year-old righty moves well past his prime and his arm loses some of its potency,” Magno wrote. “It’s already been widely noted that when Cease can’t fireball, he struggles. King struggled through injury last season and has two years as a full-time starter.
“Imai, meanwhile, has never pitched in the majors before and many have legitimate doubts about his durability and long-term MLB viability. Okamoto is an unknown entity and, realistically, even in a best-case scenario, not that much of an upgrade over Shaw at third– plus he’d cost about $14 million more than the sophomore Shaw. So, it could be said that the Cubs may have actually won by losing these reported targets.”
Though this argument may prove to be true, the Cubs’ roster still needs some reinforcement ahead of the 2026 season, and fans will be hoping the organiztion can get the players it needs for the best chance of success.
Edited by Raghav Mehta
