The Winter Meetings so far are notable for one thing: The lack of major signings. The “biggest” thing that’s happened so far is Steven Matz, formerly of the Cardinals, signing a two-year deal with the Rays.
Meanwhile, Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer talked relief pitching:
After signing veteran reliever Phil Maton, team president Jed Hoyer says the Cubs remain interested in adding another high-leverage reliever.
“We’ll be in that market,” Hoyer said. “Whether we end up signing someone or not, I don’t know. Depends how other teams value them. I think we’ll definitely be in that market, and we’ll obviously sign more relievers this offseason.”
Based on information from league sources, the Cubs showed interest in Emilio Pagán late in the process before he signed a two-year, $20 million deal to return to Cincinnati. The Cubs remain interested in a potential return of Brad Keller. Pete Fairbanks is someone they’ve kept tabs on as well.
Hoyer has, as you know, been pretty good about cobbling together good bullpens off the scrap heap. Here, the team seems interested in relievers better than that. I think we’d all like to see Brad Keller back, and Pete Fairbanks would be a good addition.
In addition, Hoyer addressed the starting pitcher market, first addressing Shōta Imanaga’s acceptance of the qualifying offer:
“We knew there was a possibility he would accept it,” Hoyer said Monday at the Winter Meetings. “Clearly, we wouldn’t have offered it if we weren’t excited to have him back or if we were going to be handcuffed by it. We weren’t blindsided at all.”
Confirmed names on Chicago’s radar, per team and league sources, include Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Imai; Michael King, a right-hander with big upside coming off an injury-plagued season; and Zac Gallen, who had been a multiyear Cy Young Award contender before a down season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Regarding Hoyer’s comment about Imanaga, it was reported at the time Shōta accepted the qualifying offer that the Cubs were, in fact, “blindsided.” So, believe whichever version you want. At this point it doesn’t matter much, since Imanaga is, in fact, back.
The three “confirmed names” listed above are all pitchers I’ve written about here previously. Any of them would be a fine addition to the Cubs rotation and give them considerable starting pitching depth.
As was the case yesterday, this post is for general Winter Meetings discussion today. If the Cubs do make any sort of significant move, there will be a separate front page article.
One other Winter Meetings note: The Hall of Fame announced this morning that Paul Hoynes, a long-time baseball beat writer in Cleveland, has been elected as the 2026 winner of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award. He’s covered baseball in Cleveland for more than 40 years, including the last three World Series there — and, of course, you know the result of the most recent one in 2016. The Hall says:
Hoynes will be honored with the award that is presented annually to a sportswriter “for meritorious contributions to baseball writing” during the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s Induction Weekend July 24-27 in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Congratulations to Paul Hoynes on this honor.
