The Chicago Cubs did not today land Tatsuya Imai, who is instead signing with the Houston Astros. They will have to find a starting pitcher elsewhere.
Meanwhile, there are other ways to improve the team for 2026 outside of the rotation, even if they seem a little less likely to take place.
For example, we’ve long talked about the possibility of the Cubs signing Alex Bregman to play third base, with Matt Shaw thereafter serving in a utility role (which upgrades the offense AND the bench). We know there was an active pursuit there last year by the Cubs, with Bregman ultimately choosing a deal with the Red Sox, where he very well may ultimately return.
Jon Heyman today mentions two other third base options for the Cubs, one he’s discussed before, and one he has not.
Heyman says the Angels are actually not expected to use their Anthony-Rendon-generated savings to sign Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto, as many have speculated. Instead, the Cubs, together with the Pirates, Padres, Blue Jays, and Red Sox are the listed interested teams for Okamoto, whose posting expires January 4. Heyman has mentioned the Cubs before on Okamoto, though they did not show up in other rumor reporting this week. (The Astros didn’t show up in the Imai reporting, though, so take it all with a big grain of salt.)
The reporting on Okamoto is going to pick up very soon one way or another, but it’s possible it’ll be like Imai, where that reporting is simply, boom, it’s happening with Team X.
Meanwhile, Heyman also adds another name for the Cubs, and it’s one we haven’t seen explicitly connected to them before: Bo Bichette.
Heyman’s phrasing is that three “previously unreported teams have checked on” Bichette, and those teams are the Cubs, Yankees, and Dodgers. A very convenient trio if you’re hoping to build out a market and keep the pressure on the Blue Jays to get something done, eh?
That doesn’t mean the Cubs haven’t checked – I’m sure they have! – but it also doesn’t mean they’re actively pursuing Bo Bichette.
We have to keep in mind any time you see a group of teams listed for a player, and then multiple players connected to the same team (a team that many believe has money left to spend), it could be that the connection is extreeeeeemely mild, and certain forces that be have an interest in getting the Cubs name out there as among the many involved teams. This is about both Bichette and Okamoto, though the former seems like more of a stretch than the latter.
I suppose I could see a situation where everything breaks just right for the Cubs to stick around on Bo Bichette, and then surprisingly offer him a pillow deal very late in the offseason. Short-term, opt-out-heavy, you know the drill. It’s not as if the player wouldn’t be a near-term boost for the Cubs, one way or another.
It is also worth noting that, in Heyman’s piece with the Bichette and Okamoto mentions, he also references the Cubs “fielding inquiries” on Nico Hoerner, which I discussed earlier. Because the references were bundled up together, I feel obligated to say: sure, in a world where the Cubs lined up a can’t-refuse trade for Nico Hoerner AND ALSO had a third baseman like Bichette or Okamoto (or Alex Bregman) ready to sign, then it does all kind of coordinate together to potentially improve the Cubs for both the short-term and long-term. Extraordinarily tough needle to thread, to say nothing of the risks of parting with Hoerner at all.
I wrote earlier this offseason about the possibility of the Cubs pursuing Bo Bichette, and why I wasn’t going to get too into the idea until and unless there were actually rumors indicating it might happen:
Bo Bichette’s defensive metrics have been trending down at shortstop, and this season, he was in the 1st percentile for range at shortstop (yikes) and 36th percentile for arm (not sure that gets any better from here). A move to second or third base at some point in the years ahead was probably going to be on the table anyway, so of course teams are interested in discussing it.
On the other hand: Bichette’s price tag may be inflated by his ability to play shortstop. And a team that doesn’t need him there or can’t use him there, even for a year or two, might therefore be “overpaying” relative to his value on their team as a third baseman or a second baseman.
If you love the player, who again is only going to be 28, maybe that doesn’t matter. I think we can safely say that his 2024 season was a weird blip on what has otherwise been a very consistent and impressive career at the plate:
(via FanGraphs)Who wouldn’t want that bat in their lineup? And even if he weren’t a shortstop, imagine a world where he was an average defender at third base or second base? That’s a very valuable player, still in his prime.
Bo Bichette and the Chicago Cubs
So, then, if we’ve talked about the Cubs looking at third base as an area for an immediate offensive upgrade, should they be looking at Bo Bichette?
Actually, that question is too easy to answer. Of course they SHOULD be looking at Bichette as a possibility. If it’s true for Alex Bregman, a player we know the Cubs have liked, then it should be true for Bo Bichette. He upgrades the offense in 2026, Matt Shaw plays in a utility role (which upgrades the bench and the depth at multiple spots), and then you sort out the infield composition in 2027 if Nico Hoerner departs in free agency. There are arguments here that are not difficult to make.
What’s difficult is seeing the Cubs committing $200 million on a long-term deal. Because, you know, they historically do not do that. Maybe Bo Bichette is an exception. Maybe Bo Bichette winds up getting a lot less than expected. I’ll pay attention to his market just to cover all my bases, but there is nothing in the history of this front office or this ownership group that provides actual evidence that they will outbid the market for a $200+ million player. Until they do it, my default assumption has to be that it is unlikely to happen.
That isn’t to say that Bichette’s presence on the “third base market” doesn’t matter at all, though. There’s always that teeny, tiny assist that a player’s presence on the market can provide in other talks. If most teams are viewing Bichette as a third or second baseman, then maybe it dents the Alex Bregman or Eugenio Suarez or Kazuma Okamoto markets ever so slightly. It won’t be a ground-shaking move, especially since this was already suspected on Bichette, but you never know when there’s some team out there that REALLY wants Player A, but would bid up Player B if they can’t get A. And if the Cubs REALLY want Player B, well, then there can be an assist.
So, again, until we see real evidence that there’s going to be a serious pursuit by the Cubs here, I probably will not focus too much energy on the possibility of Bo Bichette playing third base for the Cubs in 2026, even in spite of the reported past interest. But his free agency nevertheless could provide an impact in Chicago at the margins.
Still seems miiiiighty unlikely to me, but I’m sure the Cubs are happy to linger at the periphery in case the right deal never quite comes together for Bo Bichette a la Cody Bellinger a couple years ago.
Some of this stuff is going to move forward, at least a little bit, in the days ahead, because (1) Kazuma Okamoto has to decide by January 4, and (2) the Diamondbacks may soon pull Ketel Marte off the market.
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