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The Cubs Still Haven't Signed a Single Free Agent. What's Going On?



 There hasn't been a flood of signings like most years, but there has been quite a few, even a couple major ones. I'll give a few of the recent ones:



Also some trades and extensions: 

So, it's not as if nothing is happening because all of the teams are afraid to make any moves because of the CBA negotiations. On the contrary, insiders like Rosenthal and Heyman have indicated that top-tier free agents like Seiman and Seager will sign before December 1st.

But the Cubs have not made any moves like that. Of course they claimed Miley off waivers, and did some front office moves, but no free agent signings, no trades, no extensions. So, what's going on? Are the Cubs "afraid" to make a move like that before the CBA negotiations end? Or can they not reach any agreements with FAs or trade teams? Or something else?

Based on things I've heard Hoyer and the front office say, and also on some puzzle pieces I've tried to put together, here are some of my explanations for their moves.

  • Note it is only Nov. 22. The Cubs still have 8 days to sign free agents and make trades, and just because they have not made any moves yet doesn't mean they won't in the next week. An advantage of waiting for the last few days before "lockout" would be that players might be more willing to negotiate with a team so they can plan ahead knowing what team they'll be on.
  • I fully expect the Cubs to sign someone before Dec.1st. They obviously have a lot of needs, with starting pitching, shortstop, possibly third, and some outfield holes. If they only signed one player before lockout, I would say it would be shortstop, meaning probably Corey Seager. Insiders indicated that the top-tier shortstop market would be seeking contracts before the lock-outs.
  • Hoyer has reiterated "spending intelligently" this offseason, which can certainly mean a lot of things, but also means they're only going to jump at the right deals. If the player just isn't coming to the Cubs price range, they're probably not going to sign him, because that would be spending "unintelligently". 
  • We don't know for sure how long this "lockout" would last, but most expect it to last all the way to Spring Training at least. That would leave a small window of time to get FAs, leaving  approximately a month. However, if the Cubs had their targets all picked out, and had had some conversations with them all ready, they could easily snatch enough FAs to fill the roster holes. 
Again, I'm not Hoyer or Hawkins, and I'm not sure exactly what their plans may be, but hopefully this will be some kind of an explanation of what's going on with the Cubs. I view them as stealthy: sneakily waiting their opportunity to pounce on the players they've been eyeing. I'm excited, but also not thrilled at the idea of waiting a few months with absolutely no baseball action of signing, trading, etc.

That's all for now, so follow me on Twitter and have a great day!

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