This weekend, Michael discussed the new MLB Pipeline top-100 prospects list, which largely matched the Baseball America list that had dropped a couple days earlier . Namely, the Chicago Cubs have two prospects in the top-100, Moises Ballesteros and Jaxon Wiggins. Lots of recent graduates, some trades, some stalling out, and a lack of huge breakouts from deeper in the draft or in International Free Agency over the last five years have left the Cubs’ system relatively thin on impact-caliber tale...
Third in the series. Today we look at the Cubs’ young DH/C/1B. In previous episodes, we looked at the Cubs’ two catchers, Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly, indulged in a little speculation, and had video of some of their exploits. As we move on to the rest of the roster, it seems reasonable to look […]
Last week, even as the Cubs were signing outfielder Chas McCormick to a minor league deal, Dylan Carlson was spotted working out in Arizona with the team . Fair to wonder, then, whether the Cubs were also going to try to bring in Carlson on a minor league deal as additional depth/upside/bench competition.
Greg Zumach hears that, yes, Carlson is coming:
There was some ambiguity about whether the Cubs would sign Dylan Carlson with Chas McCormick and Justin Dean in the organization, but...
Another Chicago Cubs player is going to be participating in the most star-loaded World Baseball Classic yet. Outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who had to miss the WBC last time around because of an ill-timed oblique injury, will be suiting up in March for Team Japan ( also, very cooly, known as Samurai Japan ), consistently one of the best teams in the international tournament.
Suzuki’s comment to the official team site , via translation: “I regret not being able to play last time, so I’m going to...
One of the things the Cubs lacked in their 92-win team in 2025 was a good, traditional backup outfielder. They had Vidal Bruján backing up Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field, and that, as you know, was hardly optimal. Willi Castro and Jon Berti also played outfield for the Cubs last year. Apart from Ian Happ, […]
THE CHICAGO CUBS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL! AS IN, THEY WILL BE PRESENT IN MY MIND THERE! BECAUSE NO MATTER WHO ACTUALLY WINS, THE CUBS SEASON STARTS IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER! SOMEHOW THAT WORKS IN MY BRAIN! WOO! FOOTBASEBALL!
I have been thinking about Javier Assad from time to time, as one does when discussing the possibility of the Cubs adding another locked-in starting pitcher to a group that already goes at least five deep with other locked-in types, plus another five deep in swing...
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. Steve Trout* and others are traded for, plus the expanded strike zone and more! Where […]
This is a really good view of a bygone era at Wrigley Field, also sent to me by BCB reader Joe Coney. I had to enhance the colors a bit; the original photo as sent to me was a bit washed out. This also made it easier to read the matchups on the scoreboard, and […]
On June 7, 2019, Craig Kimbrel signed a three-year, $43 million deal with the Cubs. And his first (half) season in Chicago was a disaster: 6.53 ERA, 8.00 FIP. And his second year (the COVID-shortened 2020 season) got off to an equally brutal start: 7 ER through his first 2.2 IP.
But after that, he was a changed man.
Kimbrel finished the 2020 season with a 1.42 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 12.2 IP — yeah, that’s a 53.1 K%. And he began 2021 on an equally impressive hot streak: 0.51 ERA, 4...
The gloves are still on. But the Cubs are ‘going for it’, and there aren’t so many kids playing. Maybe Kevin Alcantara breaks camp with the big kids. Otherwise, it’s pretty much a veteran squad. Jaxon Wiggins might change that some, but he isn’t expected any time soon. He’ll be handled with the proverbial sartorial […]
Here’s another photo sent to me by BCB reader Joe Coney. I sleuthed one of his scoreboard photos last weekend and this is another one. So, what do we know about this photo? The Cubs are playing the Giants. Again, as in the last photo, it has to be between 1978 and 1981, because the […]
Welcome to the weekend. We can expect some winnowing around the edges, but it looks like the personnel are settled, more or less. I have some concerns about the handedness of the bench but it’ll work out. Or it won’t. Ability counts more, really. But I like balance. Apparently I’m not alone. I understand that […]
The Cubs had played a bit better after the All-Star break in 2022, but were still far out of first place, or indeed, any contention. They had picked up Franmil Reyes on waivers from the Guardians in early August. Just one year earlier, Reyes had a 30-homer season for Cleveland (and had hit 37 for […]
The Milwaukee Brewers play big. The zythophilian juggernauts of the NL Central have the same number of division titles as the Dodgers over the past half decade. They’ve been punching down on the incompetent and/or uncompetitive clubs in their division, while managing to outmaneuver the Chicago Cubs, and pushing the St. Louis Cardinals into their […]
31-year-old Carson Franklin Kelly had a real nice year in 2025, registering 3.6 bWAR and a slash line of .249/.333/.428 with 17 home runs and 50 RBI in 421 plate appearances. Not too shabby. Yeah, he wasn’t Cal Raleigh, but then, neither is anybody else. That was easily his best year in MLB, surpassing the […]
At the same time Chas McCormick’s deal was being reported, the Cubs actually had another probably-gonna-have-to-take-a-minor-league-deal-although-formerly-good outfielder at their facility in Arizona for a workout of some kind.
That’s Dylan Carlson:
Pre-Spring Training; 1-22-2026 Cubs Camp Outfielder #DylanCarslon showed up around 12:45pm, warmed up and took OF flyballs. @MiLB @cubprospects @realcubsinsider @Cubs @BleacherNation @brendan_cubs pic.twitter.com/QHABAQeKO0 — Ray R....
I am thinking of a pitcher. He made 17 starts early in his career and the results were not good: 5.49 ERA, 1.341 WHIP, his teams were 5-12 in those 17 games. Then this pitcher was traded — twice in one offseason, incidentally — and converted to relief. Almost immediately he became a dominant closer, […]
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. Hack Wilson finds another new team. Happy birthday, Jeff Samardzija* and other stories for the discerning […]
We always say there’s no such thing as a bad Minor League contract, and we mean it. The risk there is non-existent, so you might as well load up on depth and upside when you can. So it is tonight with a report that the Cubs have signed 30-year-old outfielder (and former Alex Bregman teammate) Chas McCormick to a minor league deal.
And I really like this one.
Cubs Sign Chas McCormick
The Astros’ beat writer from The Athletic, Chandler Rome, first broke the news .
The Chica...
Episode 46 of the Bleacher Nation Cubs Podcast is officially live!
In this week’s episode, Brett and I talk about the explosion of roster changes the Mets underwent, especially this week. And that includes, of course, a healthy discussion about the Freddy Peralta trade. We keep coming up against this wall wherein we know the trade is a good idea, but can’t bring ourselves to want the Cubs to do something similar.
In the middle of that conversation, we go off on a wide tangent about M...
The 2026 International Free Agency period just opened up, with the Chicago Cubs going for a more spread-the-bonus-pool-around strategy than in years past. That meant there weren’t as many big-name, huge-bonus prospects in the class, and not much chatter about the signings in advance.
Interestingly, Francys Romero just reported a new expected signing for the Cubs for the 2027 class:
Sources: Cuban catcher prospect José Muñiz is expected to sign with the Chicago Cubs for around $1.5M w...
Amaya needs a little more proofing but is penciled in as the full-time starter for 2027. He’ll start more as the season goes on and he is healthy and having success. Miguel Amaya, a 26-year-old Panamanian native (he turns 27 on March 9) was well on his way to winning the job outright when he […]
Probably most important to say up front that (1) we don’t know Justin Steele’s exact return timeline yet, (2) we will know a ton more by the end of Spring Training, and (3) even if he’s “ahead of schedule” in his rehab right now, that may not actually impact the volume of regular season innings he puts up. It would simply be good and happy news for today.
Steele and the Cubs are going to be VERY careful to ensure that his return from elbow surgery is optimally timed for his long-term heal...
Baseball America announced their preseason Top 100 prospects for 2026 and two Cubs prospects were named to the list. Catcher Moisés Ballesteros was named the 36th-ranked prospect and right-handed pitcher Jaxon Wiggins was named the 78th-best prospect. Recently-traded outfielder Owen Caissie, now of the Marlins, was named the 43rd-best prospect in the game. Additionally. two […]
Taylor Rogers was one of the Cubs’ deadline acquisitions last year, and, although he’s long been an effective reliever, his role always felt pretty marginal with the Cubs. Candidly, as you can see up there, I never even had a good opportunity to retrieve a Rogers-in-Cubs-uniform image during his 17-appearance tenure with the team. Kinda telling.
That isn’t to say the trade, which sent outfield prospect Ivan Brethowr to the Pirates, was a dud for the Cubs. It was a fine move on paper, it w...