Officially Free Agents

The time to present a Qualifying Offer to any potential free agents has come and gone and the Chicago Cubs have NOT elected to offer any of their free agents a QO. This isn’t too much of a surprise, but it does officially make some fan favorites free agents and they will likely not return to the Northside next season.

An important note, Nicholas Castellanos was ineligible to receive a QO as he was acquired via a trade during the season.

Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels had a 11-10 record with the Cubs since he was acquired in 2018. His 3.30 ERA made him a strong starter, and his experience was certainly an asset for the entire staff.

The Cubs did pick up his $20 million option for the 2019 season. However, in an offseason in which the Cubs appear to want to shed salary, offering the veteran lefty the $17.8 million QO was not in the clubs cards. It is unlikely that Hamels will get much more than a two-year deal, especially at his age and the way free agency has been hard on older pitching.

While there hasn’t been a lot of players that have accepted QO’s, Hamels may have been a candidate. As mentioned, his age is a factor in any future deal and the last two offseasons have had less and less money going towards older pitchers. He appears to like Chicago, and $17.8 million being waged against a long free agency that could end in a much smaller deal is a reality.

No one should be surprised if Hamels goes back to Philadelphia. They only have three starters slated for the 2020 season, an overall young team that can utilize some veteran leadership, and have money coming out of the seams to land free agents. Hamels also has his charity based in Springfield, MO., which could put the Kansas City Royals or St Louis Cardinals on his radar.

Ben Zobrist

While the hiring of David Ross looks like the organization is embracing 2016, allowing the World Series MVP walk sure feels like they are distancing themselves from that team. Ben Zobrist had a very difficult season. One I don’t know if any of us can really understand or appreciate. I’m not saying that none of us have experienced similar marriage issues, but we haven’t done so while in the public eye.

The expectations that the fan base, public, and professional sports as a whole puts on athletes is immense. Then add the added pressures of maintaining a happy and healthy home life when both parties have crazy public schedules.

Zobrist is another guy that it would be dangerous to offer a QO as he won’t command that much in salary on the market. Heck, his 2020 still might be in jeopardy, but $17.8 million could be enticing enough for Zobrist to accept the QO. I love Zo, but he shouldn’t be paid $17.8 million in two seasons, let alone one.

I feel Zobrist still makes sense for the Cubs, just at a much smaller deal. It could be a one-year offer, something in the $5-8 million range? I’m not convinced that Nico Hoerner breaks spring with the big league team in 2020, and Zobrist offers a rookie manager yet another quality guy in that dugout. He also makes sense to move out west and play for Joe Maddon and the LA Angels, I can see him taking a value deal to go back to the Royals, or I can legitimately hanging up his cleats after a challenging year personally and professionally.

What’s Next?

Since the Cubs did not offer anyone a QO, the next big event for the Cubs will be the GM Meetings in Scottsdale. This is where teams will begin to put the framework on potential deals, and by the end of the month, you will start seeing the first real free agents get offers.

I do have to mention, Pedro Strop unceremoniously was not offered a QO either, and thus has become a free agent. The Cubs will still have a window to negotiate with their players, but it is expected that each of the named players have become free agents today.

I would like to see Strop and Zobrist back, but they would both need to come to the Cubs price point and not their price.