https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/166/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/michael-busch-first-base-third-base-defense-metrics-scouting-reports/546Thu, 11 Jan 2024 22:06:14 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/destination-the-show-episode-19-r543/In this episode, Jeremy and Jamie discuss the ins and outs of the international signing window, which opens on January 15th. The fellas discuss the signing rules, bonus pool allocations, rules for trading funds, and the problematic nature of the current setup for international prospects. They ta...543Thu, 11 Jan 2024 20:33:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-acquire-michael-busch-yency-almonte-dodgers-pitcher-scouting-report/The Cubs are set to acquire right-handed reliever Yency Almonte from the Dodgers. First on the news was Juan Toribio, a veteran Dodgers writer. Almonte, 30, is out of options, so this is a bet by the Cubs on their ability to make (and keep) him a solidly MLB-caliber reliever. He's h...545Thu, 11 Jan 2024 18:07:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/shota-imanaga-signed-cody-bellinger-josh-hader-rhys-hoskins-matt-chapman/First, who is still available? Quite a few players are still available via free agency, including (but not limited to) the following: 1B/OF Cody Bellinger LHP Blake Snell LHP Jordan Montgomery 3B Matt Chapman LHP Josh Hader (RP) DH/OF Jorge Soler...542Thu, 11 Jan 2024 12:52:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/shota-imanaga-contract-details-shoulder-injury-incentives-opt-outs/Late Tuesday night, Jon Heyman tweeted a sketch of the details on the deal between the Cubs and left-handed starter Shota Imanaga, which is still not official but should become so Wednesday. Jim Bowden of The Athletic offered a similar (though equally incomplete) outline....541Wed, 10 Jan 2024 10:49:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/nico-hoerner-fastball-vaa-exit-velocity-approach-second-half-obp/There was nothing quiet, exactly, about Nico Hoerner's breakout campaign in 2023. He stole 43 bases and played sparkling defense at second base, racking up highlights along the way. Because of the shape of his batting profile, though, it can be easy to gloss over the value he delivers with that...539Tue, 09 Jan 2024 16:31:29 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/hayden-wesneski-pitch-mix-sweeper-sinker-slider-movement-pitch-design/Last week at Baseball Prospectus, the excellent Mario Delgado Genzor wrote an insightful piece about the art and science of pitching. Specifically, he broke down something he calls the Pronator's Triangle, and discussed how pitchers' wired-in physical movement preferences might inform the constr...537Mon, 08 Jan 2024 20:20:40 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/do-we-need-more-irrationality-on-the-diamond-r536/Have you ever looked at the leaderboard for career double plays turned by outfielders? I have. I do it probably once a month, not because it changes that much, but because it hasn't changed since I first stumbled upon it, and it probably never will again. I circle back to it because there's some...536Sun, 07 Jan 2024 13:25:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/connect-four-the-best-remaining-free-agent-fits-for-the-cubs-r534/Yesterday, I wrote a short blog post highlighting something that Brewers podcaster Ryan Topp tweeted, alluding to the fact that the list of the top 50 free agents for the 2023/24 offseason via MLB Trade Rumors, has officially reached the point where nearly half of them have been signed by MLB te...534Fri, 05 Jan 2024 12:52:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/free-agency-shota-imanaga-posting-window-deadline-scouting-report-fastball/While he won't sign for anywhere near as much money as the Dodgers recently gave Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga is an exciting talent in his own right. No pitcher who appeared in last year's World Baseball Classic showed better raw stuff than Imanaga. His fastball was cranked up into the mid-...533Thu, 04 Jan 2024 12:42:59 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/free-agency-josh-hader-closer-edwin-diaz-contract-jed-hoyer/It's not as though Josh Hader is represented by some hayseed lawyer out of the same rural slice of southern Maryland from which he himself hails. He's signed up with CAA Sports, the second- or third-largest agency for MLB players. It's just that, be it CAA or Wasserman or Octagon or anyone else,...532Wed, 03 Jan 2024 12:17:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/free-agent-reliever-signing-colten-brewer-japan-stats-pitch-mix-scouting-report-cutter-slider/It won't have anyone crossing Josh Hader or Robert Stephenson off their wish lists, and it's not even likely to be a big-league deal, but the Cubs have inked right-handed reliever Colten Brewer for 2024. Breaking the news on New Year's Eve: Brewer himself.  In parts of five big-league...531Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:55:00 +0000