The Chicago Cubs have been wheeling and dealing with American League contenders this week. First, bringing in Kyle Tucker from the Houston Astros, and then swiftly shipping outfielder Cody Bellinger to the New York Yankees.
While the trades did not alleviate Chicago’s “problem” of having too many talented outfielders, it did leave the Cubs without a proven big-league third baseman.
Chicago has seemed more amenable to trading this winter rather than spending big on free agents. It has been proposed that the Cubs pull a “double raid” on the Astros by signing free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman, however, Brett Taylor of Bleacher Nation has another intriguing idea: trading for Bo Bichette of the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Blue Jays are “fielding interest” in Bichette, who is coming off his worst big-league season by far and is an impending free agent next winter.
Toronto has been, again, missing out on several of the top free agents this offseason. After missing out on the playoffs last season for only the second time since 2019, there is an impression that “Canada’s Team” may have missed its opportunity to bring a World Series north of the border for the first time since 1993.
Both Bichette and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are set to be free agents next season, and the Blue Jays face a very real threat of losing both of the team’s top talents after the 2025 campaign.
While Bichette has played shortstop for the entirety of his time in Major League Baseball, the impression is that he could transfer to third base in the same manner many big-league stars have done in previous seasons.
The Cubs, who are saving north of $20 million in each of the next two seasons by trading Bellinger, are in a position to offer long-term contracts to both Tucker and, if he were to land in Wrigley Field, Bichette.
The only question is, would chairman Tom Ricketts — who Rosenthal has repeatedly called out for running a big-market club with a small-market mentality — actually spring for two long-term, big-money deals?
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