The Chicago Cubs are facing major competition if they are interested in signing this free agent target.
As the Chicago Cubs continue their pursuit of landing a star player this offseason, it seems likely that they will have Cody Bellinger back in the mix for 2024.
The slugging lefty has yet to be replaced in their lineup and many see the Cubs as the frontrunners to land him.
But, perhaps the most glaring need for Chicago is at third base.
They have yet to lock down a consistent everyday player there who brings upside at the defensive end and at the plate.
Christopher Morel doesn’t seem to be the choice based on comments from manager Craig Counsell and Nick Madrigal is not the threat offensively that they are looking for moving forward.
Because of that, free agent third baseman, Matt Chapman, seems like an obvious fit.
Not only has he won four Gold Glove awards, winning another in 2023, but his career OPS+ of 117 and slugging percentage of .461 would be an upgrade on offense.
However, it seems like the San Francisco Giants remain the biggest threats to sign the Cubs’ target this offseason according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
“Farhan Zaidi, the Giants’ president of baseball operations, is quite familiar with Chapman, who was drafted by the Athletics in the first round in 2014, when Zaidi was part of Oakland’s front office. So is Giants skipper Bob Melvin, who managed Chapman in Oakland from 2017-21,” he writes.
The connection between front office, manager and the player is not something to ignore.
Besides money, free agency comes down to relationships a lot of the time, and the Giants have that in spades.
They also have plenty of money to spend after missing on their top targets Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Chicago has been hesitant to hand out large amounts of money this offseason, despite saying their goal was to massively upgrade the roster to build a contender.
If they are interested in signing Bellinger, it seems unlikely, based on their actions, that they would turn around and hand out another megadeal to Chapman.
Of course that could change, but right now, it seems like the Giants could land the best third baseman on the market and leave the Cubs with the same issues at that position they had last year.
