2025 Winter meetings: Separating fact from fiction as Cubs become frequent name in rumor mill

ORLANDO — Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer was surprised by how quickly the relief market moved this offseason, as top names signed before Thanksgiving.

“That’s unusual,” Hoyer said at baseball’s winter meetings Monday. “You’re constantly trying to gauge when things are going to move or how that’s going to happen. . . . That’s a constant source of conversation.”

But since the Cubs took their own early swing at the reliever market, signing Phil Maton to a two-year deal worth $14.5 million, they've been cited in more rumors than concrete news. One was even debunked in a matter of minutes.

To be fair, there was no concrete news to be heard in the lobbies of the Signia and Waldorf Astoria hotels, despite the influx of baseball executives, agents and reporters — a slow first day that again showed the unpredictability of the markets. Until that activity ramps up, untangling the rumor mill is as informative as anything else.

Let’s start with the facts: Hoyer confirmed Monday that the Cubs, who also are expected to be chasing high-end starting pitching, would continue to be involved
in the undoubtedly high-leverage reliever market.

“Whether we end up signing someone or not, I don’t know,” Hoyer said. “Depends on how other teams value them, honestly. But we can definitely be in that market, and we’re obviously going to sign more relievers this offseason.”

You can add a similar asterisk to their quest for starting pitching: It’s unclear whether they’ll be out-bid on the top available pitchers.

Hoyer confirmed the Cubs are looking for another starter and said they could — if counting swingmen — add multiple pitchers who could make starts next season. As soures confirmed to The Athletic, the Cubs were involved in the bidding for free-agent right-hander Dylan Cease until it reached $200 million.

That bit of information, however, took on a life of its own in a game of aggregation and analysis telephone. The resulting interpretation that the Cubs were runners-up, or offering just a hair below $200 million, was incorrect, according to sources, and did not accurately reflect The Athletic’s initial report.

In other words, as talks progressed with Cease and his representatives, the Cubs were comfortable within the previous bidding range, but the jump eliminated them. Cease ultimately signed a seven-year deal with the Blue Jays worth $210 million.

Then, of course, there was a quickly rescinded report by USA Today that the Cubs had signed right-hander Zac Gallen — a saga that at least showed they’re back to being big enough players that such rumors are believable.

On the position-player side, there has been buzz around the Cubs’ reported interest in veteran free-agent third basemen, including Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suarez.

“I’ve been surprised by the number of media reports that link us to different guys,” Hoyer said when asked about the team’s confidence in third baseman Matt Shaw ahead of his second season. “There’s zero lack of confidence in Matt. Actually, I would say the opposite.”

Hoyer described Shaw’s early struggles at the plate as “expected.” He evaluated Shaw’s defense by the end of the year as “Gold Glove quality.” Shaw was a Gold Glove finalist.

“I actually thought there were a lot of huge positives last year,” Hoyer said. “If you told me at the beginning of the year that this was going to be the totality of his season, I would have been like, ‘I’m good. I think we’re in a good place.’ ”

That wasn’t a denial of the Cubs’ survey of the free-agent landscape at the third, only a show of support for Shaw. League sources confirmed this offseason that the Cubs have shown interest in Bregman, whom they also pursued last spring.

There are certain to be more rumors and misinterpretations as the offseason goes on. But at some point, there will also be signings and trades. Traditionally, the winter meetings help fan the flames.

“We have a lot of energy,” Hoyer said. “We have a real focus on a lot of areas. I think it’ll lead to activity — I can’t tell you when. We could have an active December. We could have an active January. We’re not going to do bad deals just to do something quick.”