Thirteen players have received a qualifying offer this year, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The list is as follows: This year's QO is valued at $22.025MM. All 13 players will have the next 15 days to decide whether to accept that one-year offer or decline and become a free agent. They can spend that time gauging the open market to determine interest in their services.
The short answer is that it probably doesn't, as the combination of circumstance and sample makes a Yesavage redux nearly impossible to duplicate. Paul Skenes never should have pitched in the minors at all, yet the Pirates kept him at Triple-A for seven starts last year. Whatever brain genius decided on that path cost Pittsburgh a draft pick and a year of service time, which is all the more hilarious to me because of their skinflint owner.
The World Series starts tonight, but for Cubs fans, it's merely an impediment between this chilly Midwest morning and the official start of hot stove season. Most of us would love a sweep, though few outside of Los Angeles will root for the Dodgers as a prohibitive favorite. I can't help but dream of the time that Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. were linked to the Cubs in trade rumors. Oh, what might have been!
The 2025 Fielding Bible Awards gave even more credit to the Cubs. Sports Info Solutions (SIS), the company that developed Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), honors the best defenders each year. It is the 20th season of the awards, although some recent changes have been made. Patrick Bailey of the San Francisco Giants won the third annual Defensive Player of the Year Award, while the Cubs were named the Defensive Team of the Year.
The back-and-forth between Brewers and Cubs fans has quickly become tiresome - and it's even more prosaic when White Sox fans get involved - but it shouldn't absolve Jed Hoyer. Analytics and voodoo magic aside, Chicago's North Side Baseballers have finished behind Milwaukee in the NL Central in every season since the 2018 tiebreaker game. That has to change. Hoyer may have to re-blueprint his roster as well. The potential loss of Kyle Tucker means finding left-handed power to replace him,
Looks like Jed Hoyer isn't the only one who's going to have something cooking this offseason. Had things gone according to plan, the Cubs would actually be preparing to play in LA with Cade Horton on the mound for Game 1 of the NLCS. As it is, they're back at Wrigley to put a bow on things before heading to wherever they call home in the winter.
Hey Cub fans, are you making the trek up to Cream City to watch the Cubs and Brewers play in the event of the century, a winner-take-all affair in the retractable dome just off of I-94 that many like to playfully call Wrigley North? Let me tell you, the Windy City's red-headed stepchild is pulling out all the stops to keep you from invading their turf.
Since time has no meaning, my brain didn't twig to the fact that Boyd was starting on short rest until about an hour before game time, despite spending a bunch of time crunching the numbers to write the preview and I didn't even notice. Boyd had absolutely nothing in the tank in this one, and a completely uncharacteristic / Devil Magic induced error by Nico Hoerner turned it from bad to worse.
AL East Blue Jays and Yankees are both at 91-68, with the Blue Jays holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Red Sox can't win the division now so it'll be one of those two. If the Jays merely keep pace with the Yankees, they'll win the division. Whoever doesn't win the East will get the top wild card, and the Red Sox will need to win at least two of their next three to stay ahead of the other wild card contenders (if those chasing them don't just lose anyway).
