A report out of Japan indicates that Japanese infielder Kazuma Okamoto is now in the United States ahead of the January 4 expiration of his posting period for MLB teams. He is reportedly meeting with his agent, Scott Boras, and visiting interested teams. This sounds like what we heard over the weekend about Tatsuya Imai, whose posting expires two days earlier.
I suppose that means we need to be on the lookout for clandestine meetings at Wrigley Field this week.
The Cubs should just h...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
Although Alex Bregman is one of the most highly sought-after free agents this winter, his market has been fairly narrow and well-defined for a while now. And yet, lately, the specifics have begun to evolve.
A few weeks ago, Bregman’s market was pretty unanimously boiled down to three teams: (1) The Cubs, who made him an offer last offseason, (2) the Tigers, who made him an offer last offseason, and (3) the incumbent Red Sox, who signed him last offseason. Today, that looks a little differ...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 3 reads
It is, I suppose, a testament to the 2025 Cubs season that all five of these games — plus one of the two “honorable mention” games — were in the season’s first half. That’s when the Cubs offense was cruising and they put together a division lead. Of course, you know about the struggles in […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 1 read
Because we’re now just five days away from the posting deadline on Tatsuya Imai (Friday, January 2), I feel obliged to offer some kind of update on the Japanese ace. Reports have long had the Cubs as one of the interested parties, but, as we’ve discussed , details beyond that are ultra slim. It’s starting to look a whole lot like the Munetaka Murakami situation, where the ultimate signing team may be a relative surprise.
Maybe even to Tatsuya Imai, himself!
Consider some comments he ...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
The Cubs haven’t made any major signings to date this offseason. This, you know. Not bringing you any new information here. Jed Hoyer and Co., however, have signed a flurry of new relief pitchers to the staff. As of the time of this post, one of those signings has not yet been officially announced by […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
Just a few more days left of having to catch myself when trying to reference the previous season and the following season, without simply being able to say “this year” or “last year” in a very clean and easy way.
It’s TBD what it’ll actually mean , but The Athletic is reporting that, “The expectation is for Baltimore to remain in the market for starting pitching help” even after re-signing Zach Eflin last night . My hope is that they’re out, so that they aren’t additional competition on...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow the various narrative paths. “Maybe I called it wrong, but it’s official.” — Tom Connolly, HoF Umpire. Happy birthday to Kevin Hart* and other former Cubs. You think you have tribbles? Today […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
On the first day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meAn Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages, On the second day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meA $2 scorecardAnd an Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages On the third day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meThree Schwarbombs in the first All-Star Game Home […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
This one’s pretty easy, because it says “Jackie Robinson Day, April 15, 2007” on the message board beneath the Wrigley Field scoreboard. Credit again goes to BCB reader Clark Addison. In fact, it’s the very first Jackie Robinson Day, and Griffey was the player most responsible for making that happen. April 15, 2007 was the […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
DA BEARS ARE THE NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS . That’s not the end goal in a season that has become as compelling as this one, but it’s absolutely something you want to achieve when the year starts. And something very few would’ve predicted back in September. So I’m gonna smile about it. (Now go get that number one seed …. )
We’ll have more analysis on the Hunter Harvey signing , because, like I said, I love the potential upside there. Here, though, I wanted to talk about the various implication...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 1 read
You might think the Cubs should transition to starters now, having filled the bullpen with over-30 arms yet again. Ken Rosenthal believes in Owen Caissie. *means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments. […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
On the first day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meAn Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages, On the second day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meA $2 scorecardAnd an Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages On the third day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meThree Schwarbombs in the first All-Star Game Home […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 1 read
The fourth day of Cubsmas: Four postseason wins
The third day of Cubsmas: Three Schwarbombs in the first All-Star home run swing-off
The second day of Cubsmas: A $2 scorecard
The first day of Cubsmas: One Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 1 read
This Cubs offseason appears to be, at least so far, “Sign All The Relievers Except The Big-Name Ones” year for Jed Hoyer. Next up: Hunter Harvey was the Orioles’ first-round pick (22nd overall) in 2013 out of high school in North Carolina and eventually wound up with the Nationals, where he had a couple of […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
There’s a surprise signing, filling up our cups between Christmas and New Year. It’s a pretty significant – and risky – upside play in the Chicago Cubs’ bullpen, and this time it’s not a soft-tossing 2025 Rangers reliever ! Mold broken!
The Cubs are reportedly adding hard-throwing righty Hunter Harvey:
Reliever Hunter Harvey and the Cubs are in agreement on a deal, pending physical, league sources tell me and @sahadevsharma . — Will Sammon (@WillSammon) December 27, 2025
T...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 1 read
Here is another photo courtesy of BCB reader Clark Addison. This is obviously taken from the concourse behind the right-field bleachers, sometime before a game started, early enough so that no starting pitchers have been posted. All we have are the matchups, and we know this is a day game and the Cubs are hosting […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
Gonna try to ACCOMPLISH A LOT today. Just feels like one of those Saturdays. Best of luck to you if you decide to do the same … (this is a subliminal message for Jed) …
We mostly focus on free agent starting pitching around here these days because (1) there are still several impactful starters available and they WILL sign at some point, (2) the Tatsuya Imai posting deadline is just a week away , and (3) there was a little flurry of starting pitcher trades and the prices looked kinda nut...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
This is traditionally one of the slowest weeks in Hot Stove Season. But January may bring some movement. *means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments. Food For Thought: Please be reminded that Cub […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
The Cubs had struggled early in 2018, but a 16-7 run from May 27 to June 20 had put them into a first-place tie with the Brewers at 42-29. Then they went on a disastrous road trip to Cincinnati and Los Angeles where they lost six of eight. The third of those games was against […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
As we await some more signings to go down, and specifically await a couple key postings from Japan to resolve, I got to thinking about Chicago Cubs starting pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins. If all goes well for him in the first half of 2026, there’s a very good chance he could impact the big league team in the second half, much like Cade Horton did in 2025 ( I’ll be realistic and not dream on THAT much impact, but still – doesn’t even have to be that much to be significant! ). And that’s all r...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
On the first day of Cubsmas My true love gave to me An Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages, On the second day of CubsmasMy true love gave to meA $2 scorecardAnd an Anthony Rizzo retirement for the ages Like everything in society, the cost of going to a baseball game to enjoy America’s pastime […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
There are a couple of massive bullpen meltdowns in this group of losses. There are also a couple of games in which the opposition would simply not stop hitting home runs. I promise you there will be a “5 best Cubs games of 2025” article coming up next week, but I thought we’d start this […]
From Bleed Cubbie Blue
| about 1 month ago
| 3 reads
With postings for righty Tatsuya Imai and corner infielder Kazuma Okamoto coming just after the calendar flips to 2026, and with the Chicago Cubs still popping up in what thin rumors and speculation we see on these two guys, I said something off the cuff for fun.
Get ’em both:
Maybe the math won't work in the end, but it'd sure be fun as heck if the Cubs landed both Tatsuya Imai and Kazuma Okamoto. — Brett Taylor (@Brett_A_Taylor) December 23, 2025
I hadn’t really put any ...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 0 reads
The offseason has been relatively slow for the San Diego Padres. They re-signed pitcher Michael King and signed free agent Sung-Mun Song, but there has been little else to speak of since the 2025 season ended against the Chicago Cubs in the Windy City. If the months since have been slow for San Diego, the […]
From Gaslamp Ball
| about 1 month ago
| 2 reads
Dreamt I was taking batting practice at Wrigley Field, which would’ve been the best Christmas gift ever. I kept peppering the center field wall, frustrated that I was making really good contact but couldn’t get one out of the park. So I remembered that I needed to get out in front and try to pull the ball to achieve my best power. Did it, and finally yanked one out, just barely.
In other words, I literally dream about players needing to pull the ball in the air more frequently if they wan...
From Bleacher Nation | Chicago Sports News, Rumors, and a Reasonable Level of Obsession
| about 1 month ago
| 1 read