Saturday, November 15

Welcome back to the Cubs Beat newsletter. Jordan Bastian has covered baseball for MLB.com since 2005, including the Cubs since the 2019 season.

CHICAGO -- The Cubs have spent years not only making their presence felt in markets overseas, but trying to make Chicago a desirable destination for players looking to make the jump to the Major Leagues.

Most recently, the Cubs saw lefty Shota Imanaga push to join the team two winters ago. That came after Chicago successfully recruited and signed outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who acknowledged that Yu Darvish’s time with the Cubs influenced his decision. This past season, the Cubs took on the Dodgers in the Tokyo Series in front of a global audience.

“When you’re talking about a market for Japanese players or Korean players,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said at the General Managers Meetings in Las Vegas earlier this week, “there’s not 30 teams that are, in theory, going after those players. Because a lot of teams just don’t have the infrastructure set up.

“So I do think we have that advantage. We’ve done that. We’ve proven it. And the players have not only had success, but they’ve enjoyed it.”

With needs throughout their pitching staff this winter, the Cubs plan on surveying the free-agent options from the top of the market down into Minor League free agency, and also poring over the trade possibilities. And once again, Hoyer said Chicago plans on looking at what might be available on the international market.

“There’s a lot of good players,” Hoyer said. "There’s a lot of good Japanese players coming over. [There’s] some good Korean players coming over. There’s a number of good American players coming back over. So yeah, I expect to be engaged in those markets, for sure.”

The top pitching option available will be 27-year-old righty Tatsuya Imai, who is expected to be posted by the Seibu Lions on Wednesday. He spun a 1.92 ERA with 178 strikeouts against 45 walks in 163 2/3 innings last year, giving him a 2.21 ERA since the start of the ‘22 season. Imai’s fastball sits in the mid-90s and he features a six-pitch arsenal, which includes a slider and splitter.

Hoyer noted the “American players coming back” this winter, and there are two in particular who stand out this winter.

Right-hander Cody Ponce, 31, went 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA and 252 strikeouts, compared to 41 walks, in 180 2/3 innings for the Hanwha Eagles last year in Korea. That came after some mixed results in Japan in the previous three years and an unspectacular MLB showing from 2020-21 with the Pirates (5.86 ERA in 55 1/3 innings).

Lefty Foster Griffin -- a first-round pick by the Royals in 2014 -- was brilliant in 14 outings for the Yomiuri Giants last season in Japan before a knee injury got in the way. Across 78 innings, the 30-year-old Griffin spun a 1.73 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 18 walks. He has a 2.57 ERA in the last three years for Yomiuri, featuring as many as seven pitches at times, including a splitter.

“The Japanese market, it’s exciting,” Cubs GM Carter Hawkins said, “because obviously there’s a lot more guys coming over. There’s a lot of great talent over there. We’ve shown that we have the infrastructure to be able to support them.”

Both the GM Meetings and the All-MLB Awards ceremony took place this week in Las Vegas. Here are some of the stories from a week that always helps set the tone for the offseason:

• Adding multiple arms is Cubs’ top priority this offseason. Read more >>
• Cubs prepared for possible loss of Kyle Tucker in free agency. Read more >>
• Pete Crow-Armstrong named to All-MLB Second Team. Read more >>
• PCA joins Corbin Carroll among early Team USA commits. Read more >>
• Cade Horton finishes as runner-up for NL Rookie of the Year. Read more >>
• Cubs pitching great Kyle Hendricks is calling it a career. Read more >>

Crow-Armstrong finished ninth in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award. Who was the last Cubs player to place higher than ninth in MVP voting?

A. Dansby Swanson

B. Cody Bellinger

C. Javier Báez

D. Ian Happ

There are three transaction deadlines looming in the coming week:

Tuesday: Deadline for eligible players to accept/decline Qualifying Offer

The Cubs extended a one-year, $22.025 million QO to both Tucker and Imanaga. Declining the offer is a no-brainer for Tucker, who is regarded as the top offensive player in the market. Imanaga may give it some thought, but it seems likely he will reject it in favor of seeking a multiyear deal. If either player declines and signs with a new team, the Cubs would receive Draft pick compensation.

Tuesday: Deadline for adding players to 40-man roster as Rule 5 Draft protection

The Winter Meetings in December will wrap with the Rule 5 Draft, which gives some non-rostered prospects perhaps blocked in one organization to get an MLB look with another team. The catch is that any player picked in the Rule 5 must remain in the big leagues all year, or be offered back to his original team. Clubs have until Tuesday to remove eligible players from the Rule 5 pool by adding them to their roster.

Friday: Tender deadline

This is the deadline for tendering 2026 contracts to any unsigned players, including those eligible for arbitration. Players who are non-tendered will become free agents. For the Cubs, the arbitration class includes Javier Assad, Reese McGuire, Eli Morgan and Justin Steele. McGuire and Morgan are potential non-tender candidates.

Suiting up for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League offered Owen Ayers a chance to end his '25 campaign on a positive note. The Cubs catching prospect did even better -- he returned from a broken right hand and was named the AFL’s Breakout Player of the Year. In 20 games, the 24-year-old catcher hit .379 (25-for-66) with eight extra-base hits, 16 RBIs, 22 walks compared to 10 strikeouts and a 1.130 OPS.

MLB.com’s Jesse Borek has more on Ayers’ fantastic AFL showing in this story.

C. Javier Báez

Báez finished as the runner-up to Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich for the NL MVP in 2018. Since then, the Cubs have only had two players place in the Top 10: Bellinger (10th) in '23 and Crow-Armstrong this year. Michael Busch (16th), Nico Hoerner (19th) and Seiya Suzuki (20th) also garnered down-ballot votes for this year’s MVP.

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