{"id":101911,"date":"2024-03-08T18:08:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T18:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/?p=101911"},"modified":"2024-03-08T18:10:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T18:10:47","slug":"cubs-linked-to-perfect-free-agent-projected-for-110-million-deal-hong-nhung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/cubs-linked-to-perfect-free-agent-projected-for-110-million-deal-hong-nhung\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Linked to \u2018Perfect\u2019 Free Agent Projected for $110 Million Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<p>Getty\u00a0Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer seems willing to spend on a &#8220;win-now&#8221; 2024 season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Chicago Cubs\u00a0have demonstrated a willingness to spend big to improve their playoff chances in the immediate future, signing\u00a0Cody Bellinger to an $80 million deal\u00a0and\u00a0Shota Imanaga to a $53 million one.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1928151927_170b58-e1709829538127.jpg?quality=65&amp;\" alt=\"Cubs Linked to 'Perfect' Free Agent Projected for $110 Million Deal -  Heavy.com\" width=\"493\" height=\"278\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But their offseason spending might not be over yet, with an\u00a0anonymous MLB competitor telling the New York Post\u2019s Jon Heyman\u00a0that the Cubs are an ideal match for free-agent southpaw Jordan Montgomery, who is projected to earn a six-year, $110 million contract,\u00a0per Sportrac.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMonty would be perfect for the Cubs,\u201d the source said. \u201cThey can afford him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Heyman added that, even after signing Bellinger, the Cubs \u201cstill look like barely the cream of a middling NL Central,\u201d suggesting the team could use another significant acquisition to make the most of their recent investments.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Jordan Montgomery Could Lead the Chicago Cubs Rotation<\/h2>\n<p>Even after the team\u00a0lost Marcus Stroman to the New York Yankees\u00a0in free agency, starting pitching does not currently project to be a major weakness for the team. The rotation is\u00a0set to be led\u00a0by Justin Steele and Imanaga, making it relatively strong at the top.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspect some teams are going to kick themselves that the Cubs got Imanaga this cheaply,\u201d\u00a0Dan Szymborki wrote for FanGraphs, with the site\u2019s ZiPS model projecting a close race in the division. \u201cZiPS is projecting a skosh of regression from Justine Steele, but some of that is simply the realities of projecting pitchers; both Imanaga and Steele fall just outside of the top 10 in NL starter projections, but with inning counts that are a little behind the league\u2019s elite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Montgomery, however, would likely surge to the top of that order, particularly where inning counts are concerned.<\/p>\n<p>In\u00a0seven big-league seasons, Montgomery has maintained a 3.68 ERA and netted 140 total starts. In 2023, he pitched for a 3.20 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Texas Rangers, which he ultimately led to a World Series Championship. He is seen as a relatively durable workhorse, with at least 157 innings pitched in each of the last three seasons.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>What Kind of Deal Will Jordan Montgomery Sign?<\/h2>\n<p>But even with an anonymous competitor telling Heyman that the Cubs \u201ccan\u201d afford Montgomery, the projected cost of signing him seems to be why he\u2019s still on the free agent market well into Spring Training.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the Cubs, the only way a deal would likely make sense for Montgomery would be if it were a short-term deal, perhaps similar to the one they gave Marcus Stroman when he inked a three-year pact with the club prior to the 2022 season,\u201d\u00a0James Neveau explained for NBC Sports Chicago. \u201cA longer-term deal would likely be seen not only as a block on pitchers like Cade Horton and Ben Brown, but would also take the Cubs out of the mix if they decided to jump back into the free agent market next year for a pitcher like Shane Bieber or Max Fried.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Montgomery\u2019s willingness to accept less than the $110 million market value that\u2019s been projected, there are mixed reports.\u00a0Jim Bowden of The Athletic reported\u00a0that \u201cit doesn\u2019t sound like\u201d he\u2019d accept a \u201cpillow contract\u201d similar to Bellinger\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0Bob Nightengale of USA Today\u00a0suggested both Montgomery and fellow premier free agent Blake Snell would be open to such a compromise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are now willing to exchange long-term deals for flexible, short-term contracts, if necessary, just as Bellinger and (Matt) Chapman did,\u201d Nightengale reported.<\/p>\n<p>If Montgomery is listening on shorter-term offers, the Cubs would likely see significant competition to add him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty\u00a0Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer seems willing to spend on a &#8220;win-now&#8221; 2024 season. The\u00a0Chicago Cubs\u00a0have demonstrated a willingness to spend big to improve their playoff chances&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":101913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}